Talent platform of 4,200 coders launches in Finland

The launch of Allies Digital to tackle Finland’s ever-worsening talent shortage was extensively covered in media by Tivi, Taloussanomat and others.

PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGO November 19th 2020 at 08.00am (EST)

Allies Digital, funded by Finnish venture capital fund Gorilla Capital, aims to solve the dire talent shortage within Finland’s ICT sector by launching an international platform of thousands of coders. Talent shortage in the Finnish software developers’ market has already exceeded 10,000 employees and the number continues to grow. As a result, the growth of the software development market has hindered by an annual rate of 20–30 percent during the past two years.

Allies Digital launches a new talent platform of international coders in Finland, which capitalizes on the current remote work trend in relying on virtual talent import. The company has been building its ecosystem of software developers for two years and has already created a talent pool of 4,200 top professional in the Baltics and Poland, where it has entered into collaborations with 135 software houses.

”The worth of the programmers’ talent fulfilment market — which is of utmost importance to Finland — was 75–100 million euros in 2019. It has grown with an annual rate of 25–40 percent but the need for talent outpaces the supply provided by the growth of the internal market. The market valuation of instantly vacant coders through Allies is 35–55 million euros, which is equivalent to no less than a 50 percent increase in worth compared to the prevailing talent market in Finland,” says Priit Pavelson, CEO of Allies Digital.

Making market more efficient is not enough

The theoretical market value of Finland’s coder shortage is up to one billion euros and, according to Pavelson, it cannot be fully solved by merely making the industry more efficient, that is, by maximizing the talent potential that already exists in the market.

“There are only about 1,000–1,600 freelancer coders in Finland. In order to create a sufficient amount of expertise in the market, Finnish companies must look outside of their own borders: the cure for the disease that is stalling growth of the ICT industry, is acquiring talent from abroad. Our competitive advantage is being able to conveniently draft in a large pool of senior developers with rare competences from outside of Finland and then to make these resources easily available for Finnish companies,” Pavelson states.

400–600 new employees to Finnish market through Allies Digital in 2021

Next year, the number of instantly vacant senior developers through Allies Digital will reach 400–600.

“Through careful vetting of all coders we are able to offer the best fit for each client. We know our talent pool down to detail, not just their skills and tech stack but the team setting and client culture that they are used to working with. I can’t put too much emphasis on how important it is that the resource we provide will answer the client company’s needs both in terms of being culturally fit and having the right skills to do the job,” Pavelson says.

Pavelson is outspoken about where he wants the company to set the bar: Allies Digital is determined to become one of the leading players in the market.

“Finland is in the front line of digital development, but a lesser known fact is that the digital maturity of Finnish companies is still relatively low. Due to this we can anticipate an ever-growing need for engineering power for the next decade, at least. When you look beyond the internal market, there are hidden talent pools available with the necessary know-how and skill to adapt into different kinds of company cultures,” Pavelson remarks.

Collaboration with Siili One proof of remote work trend shift

Allies Digital has entered an agreement with Siili One to provide them with talent fulfilment services, through which the talent pool of 4,200 coders is available for Siili One.

“Until last spring, our ability to use remote work from outside of Finland was quite limited and restricted just to certain technologies but the Corona crisis has created our customers new needs in terms of ways of working that we are able to better respond to,” Mika Rosslyn, Sourcing Director of Siili One, describes the trend shift being experienced in the industry.

Link to Finland Coder Talent Market Report 2020 (available in Finnish).