Javelin Group is Europe’s leading specialist firm of multi-channel retail and ecommerce consultants, providing a full range of retail and ecommerce consulting services to retailers, brands and retail investors. Their reputation is founded upon their specialist expertise across all of the key retail disciplines in each retail channel. Evidence of their standing within the industry can be seen in their client list which includes many of Europe’s largest retailers, such as Tesco, B&Q, IKEA and M&S.

Key to their growth has been the recruitment of highly skilled consultants and developers. Simon Evetts, CTO of Javelin Group said “Our business model is totally quality focused. All of our consultants need to be very much in tune with our clients and have an in-depth knowledge of retail. Therefore it is essential that in recruiting we select only the “best of the best” candidates. We were finding that within the U.K., the number of suitable candidates was not enough to keep pace with our growth; therefore we decided to investigate other options.”

“As a people business, salaries obviously form the highest proportion of our costs. In order to remain competitive whilst delivering the same high quality work, we decided to build an in-house team overseas. Due to the fact that we work in very close collaboration with our clients, geographically we had to remain within Europe to benefit from similar time zones.“

Javelin Group discussed the issues they were facing with one of their clients, who suggested they talk to Quickstart Global. The client had experience of working with Quickstart Global in Bulgaria. The location offered an ideal combination of skilled staff, close cultural affinity and a reliable infrastructure. The In-House Anywhere™ offering from Quickstart Global provides Javelin Group with the day-to-day control over their staff, while eliminating the risk, cost and complexity involved in setting up and operating a direct presence in another country.

Recruitment then began for the Bulgarian team; this was carried out by the Quickstart Global recruitment team in Sofia, working alongside the HR staff in Javelin Group’s London Headquarters. Javelin Group uses a rigorous process to sift out the candidates with appropriate qualifications who will fit in with the passionate and enthusiastic culture within the organization. On average, only one in every forty qualified candidates will be made an offer. This proportion is the same in Bulgaria and in the U.K., demonstrating that there are suitable candidates with the appropriate developer skills outside the U.K. Candidates are also asked to take a demanding technical test with a pass rate of around 25%, only after passing this are candidates invited to enter into the interview process.

After joining Javelin Group, the staff spend at least two weeks on an induction session in the U.K. Simon commented “the speed of getting up to scratch productivity wise is the same in the U.K. and Bulgaria. We don’t notice any difference. The quality of work produced in Sofia is every bit as good as in the U.K. and the team are seen simply as an extension to our in-house team.” Javelin Group uses a highly collaborative approach in their development process. “Day-to-day communications do not present a problem to the team based working approach which we operate. The infrastructure has been established to allow instantaneous collaborative communications.” continued Simon “The developers work under the supervision of a Team Leader or Project Manager either in Bulgaria or in the U.K. Due to our training and induction program, and the quality of our staff, we do not notice a difference in output from the two offices.”

Javelin Group has now succeeded in expanding their business into Europe, with approximately twenty percent of their business coming from that region. This expansion would not have been possible without the extra delivery capacity in Bulgaria. Simon concluded “The In-House Anywhere™ offering from Quickstart Global has worked well for us. Every person who has joined us has added value to our organization. It is testament to the fact that it is possible to work well with people in other countries.