Ciklum Purchased Activities from Mondo's Bankruptcy
Torben Majgaard
Ciklum CEO
On December 7, 2009 Ciklum ApS has signed an agreement with the liquidator of Mondo A/S (www.mondo.dk) to take over the main part of Mondo's remaining business activities. This purchase concerned Mondo's outsourcing business which includes 150 employees in Denmark, Ukraine and Pakistan, and some Danish and a few foreign customers.
The transfer began on the 7th of December and most of the projects are already fully functional. The customers are no longer affected by the disruption which the bankruptcy has caused.
Ciklum is already a well-known professional outsourcing services provider with 700 employees primarily in Ukraine so we see this acquisition of 150 new employees and the continuation of the work to be easily consummated. Ciklum's organic growth just in November was 26 people, giving us confidence to expect 1000 employees headcount already in Q2 2010.
Ciklum is working almost exclusively with long term contracts, where customers have their own development teams. We ensure a high degree of networking among our customers so that they learn from each other. With the new customers of Mondo this networking will be even better for both the existing and newly arrived customers.
In our industry it is important to be focused, have a good control over the costs and skills. We see the acquisition of Mondo's activities to strengthen us so that we in 2010 can provide an even better service to all our customers.
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Ciklum's Dedication in 2009 to Professionalism and Unification of the Ukrainian IT Community Culminated in IT Jam 2009
On the 5th of December 2009, around 700 software developers attended Ciklum's IT Jam 2009, the annual non-commercial Meet and Mix organized by the company for the Ukrainian IT Community.
Last year's pilot IT Jam 2008 received a welcoming feedback in the IT crowd resulting in Ciklum's commitment to turn it into an annual event. However, this year the IT Jam took a new format. While last year it had only a networking and social theme, this year Ciklum has added a full day of mini barcamps focused around five main topics ran in parallel:
- Dynamic Programming Languages
- Mobile Development
- Agile
- RIA
- CMS
Developers were also given a chance to question representatives from the leading IT companies in Ukraine. A two hour panel discussion "Software Development Ukraine 2012" was focused on the future of the Ukrainian industry, including what the developers can do themselves for the community.
IT Jam 2009 was organized under Ciklum's determination to invest into development of professional expertise in hot technological areas in the country in order to maintain Ukraine's image as a solid player on the World's IT arena and an attractive outsourcing destination. Other leading IT companies that have joined the panel discussion saw great value in what Ciklum has initiated and some have already expressed willingness to become co-organizers of IT Jam 2010.
Key quotes:
- "I see the future of Ukrainian software developers in improving business understanding of the industry they are in and the companies and/or projects they work for. This will ensure that they will win the competition over the cheaper Chinese and Indian developers," says Torben Majgaard, the CEO of Ciklum.
- "We consider IT Jam 2009 a success for our industry though for the future we note that besides technical expertise people need to be educated in business matters. Next year we plan to involve our clients in Ciklum's educational events so that developers can learn better how to walk in clients shoes," says Alexandra Lipes, Ciklum's Head of Retention Department.
- "IT Jam as a conceptual event is unique in Ukrainian IT industry. We wanted to create an environment where software developers and managers of all levels, including the C-one would be able to meet, learn from each other and network. Given this we still believe in supporting other more typical events of various scales such as seminars, camps, conferences, etc. In 2010 we are going to continue supporting the development of our Ukrainian IT Community, which we believe will make Ukraine altogether stronger and more competitive," says Marina Vyshegorodskikh, Ciklum's HR Director.
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Ciklum Became an Exclusive Provider of Ukrainian IT Specialists for Sitecore
On the 10th of November, 2009, Ciklum has signed a partnership agreement with Sitecore (www.sitecore.net) under which Ciklum became a provider of competent and highly skilled nearshore IT specialists in Ukraine and has got access to the educational and technical support facilities on the full range of SiteCore's platform and products.
Sitecore provides web content management (CMS) and portal software for organizations to create compelling website experiences. Sitecore's broad range of features, combined with a strong development architecture enables Marketing people, Content Editors, other Key Stakeholders to rapidly implement a successful online business strategy, and measure and manage that ongoing website success.
We believe that this partnership has opened various opportunities for cooperation between our companies and customers in terms of Sitecore resources as well as education and trainings in Sitecore products.
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