In February next year, one of the world’s leading information technology (IT) companies – EPAM Systems – will join the list of tenants of the Jauna Teika business center, confirms Linas Grinevičius, general manager of EPAM Systems in Latvia and Lithuania.
Although SIA EPAM Systems was registered in Latvia in August last year, publicly available information on the IT giant’s entry into the market has so far been rather scarce. L. Grinevičs reveals that more than a hundred people already work in the Riga office, of which about 90% are local specialists.
Currently, EPAM’s Riga office employees have the option to use the co-working spaces available to the company in the center of the capital or to work remotely, but as early as next year EPAM also plans to open a physical office , says L. Grinevičs, emphasizing that this is the next step in strengthening the company’s position in the local market. I am pleased that the number of employees in the Riga office has already exceeded one hundred and I am sure that we will definitely continue this growth by expanding our team in Latvia in the future, confirms L. Grinevičs.
How has EPAM performed in the Latvian market so far?
The Riga office mainly focuses directly on engineering and delivery services, creating complex digital solutions for our global clients, as well as providing consultancy services. At the end of November it will be a year since we have been actively operating in Latvia, and in general we must say that we have done quite well – I am glad that during this year we have managed to significantly increase both the turnover of the office and the number of employees.
Why did you choose to open an office in Riga? Have other options been considered?
EPAM is constantly expanding its network of engineering and delivery centers so that today the company is represented in more than 50 countries with headquarters in the United States of America (USA). As for Latvia, it should be noted that the field of technology in this region is quite developed, so opening an office in Riga was quite a logical step. Speaking on a national scale, we have to say that we have not yet considered other cities as a potential location for the EPAM office, because the moment we decided to expand and open an office in Latvia, it was clear that it would be located in Riga. It is the largest city in Latvia both in terms of population and land area, and we also considered the largest concentration of universities to be a significant advantage, because it means that the young specialists we need are also here. In any case, from the point of view of a global company, the Riga office is very small, so soon after we entered the market, we didn’t open a physical office in Latvia, as other companies tend to do. Until February, employees of the EPAM office in Riga have the opportunity to use the co-working spaces at our disposal in the center of the capital or to work remotely, but as early as next year they will be able to carry out their work duties at the headquarters in Jaunai too Teika. I think we have strengthened our position in Latvia and created a stable squad, so we are definitely ready for this next step.
EPAM has been operating in Lithuania for several years. Why was the decision made to start expansion into the Baltics directly with Lithuania, instead of Latvia or Estonia?
EPAM was registered in Lithuania more than eight years ago, but active activity in the office started soon after. Lithuania is the largest of the Baltic states, and at that time, renting office space was also easier to solve in Vilnius. It is for these reasons that EPAM decided to start its expansion in the Baltics directly with Lithuania, where around 1,500 employees currently work. If we talk about future plans, it should be mentioned that in the near future EPAM will probably only be represented in two of the three Baltic countries for some time, as we have not yet planned to open an office in Estonia. At the same time, I cannot argue that it will never happen – who knows how the situation changes and develops!
Read the whole article Nov. 15 in the magazine Daily business!
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