EXECUTIVE SNAPSHOT

Arkadiy Dobkin

EPAM Systems
RESIDENCE: Newtown, Pa.
FAMILY: wife, two daughters.
EDUCATION: graduate Belarussian National Technical University, earned master’s degree in electrical engineering.
FIRST JOB: software engineer
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Born in the Soviet Union, Mr. Dobkin immigrated to the United States in 1991, where he started as a software engineer at Prudential Insurance in Newark in 1992. He founded EPAM Systems, in Lawrence, in 1993. Today EPAM is one of the largest providers of outsourced software engineering, with more than 1,000 employees and technology centers throughout Eastern Europe. Mr. Dobkin was recently recognized in Computer Reseller News’ "2004 Top 25 Executives" issue as one of the three most influential executives in the fast-growing IT outsourcing market.
What type of companies do you typically work with?
In general we outsource software engineering to clients in two general categories. One is large software houses, companies like SAP or Microsoft. We build their products. The other is direct clients, large companies like Colgate Palmolive. We build solutions or custom applications, which usually involves business analysis, design and work on site with the customer.
Outsourcing has recently been cast in a negative light, how has this affected your business?
It hasn’t really had an impact on our business. It’s all about globalization and technology. Things that weren’t possible 100 years ago, became possible 50 years later. Many things that were not possible 10 years ago, like the Internet, are today. Phone prices too are much lower. One call when I came to the United States to Russia cost $3 per minute; today it’s now less than 5 cents. Advances like these provide opportunities that companies want and will take advantage of. I don’t think it’s possible to stop.
How do you see your industry and EPAM growing in the future?
The market is definitely growing and there is more competition. Ten years ago when Indian companies started, they were really only competing with themselves. Then other geographies started to enter the market. EPAM is considered not too small, but not huge. In the outsourcing market we’re considered a mid- to small-size company. To succeed we have to find a special area to focus on to compete.
How are you different from the competition?
With technology centers in Eastern Europe we provide an advantage to our global clients. We work with companies not only in the United States, but also in Eastern and Western Europe. For companies in the United States a trip to India or Eastern Europe is not that much different, but when we work with a European client it’s only a couple hours flight and there’s more cultural compatibility. India’s explosive growth in the industry has also created some very big competition for resources. We often hear big companies complain how it is difficult to find experienced people. EPAM has the advantage of tapping into the numerous technologically and science-based graduates of the Soviet Union’s education system. We are the biggest company in Eastern Europe doing this business with a little over 1,000 people, whereas in India there are four or five major companies with more than 20,000 to 30,000 people — we have better resources in a more stable environment.