Software development is a taxing process, regardless of how proficient your IT team may be. Software trends and user expectations shift constantly, and it is up to your company to accommodate those changes.
Data shows that 69% of companies have problems with talent shortage and retention, prompting many to outsource their software development. In many cases, nearshore outsourcing is a more ideal choice and can lead to much more productive relations with your developers. Let’s take a look at the differences between offshore and nearshore outsourcing and how you can make the most out of the latter in 2021.
Differentiating Offshore and Nearshore Outsourcing
Let’s start by differentiating offshore from nearshore outsourcing. In short, offshore outsourcing consists of hiring freelance specialists and agencies outside your time zone. Think of hiring German or French software developers if you are based in the US.
On the other hand, nearshore outsourcing relates to working with professionals inside your time zone (or adjacent to it). For example, hiring Spanish online experts as a UK-based company. There is also onshore outsourcing, which means hiring professionals inside your country – this one’s self-explanatory.
Working with offshore professionals can pose several issues for your workflow. Working with professionals outside your time zone can disrupt your in-house workflow considerably, not to mention potential language barrier issues. These can lower the effectiveness of your communication and cause unnecessary downtime, pushing your software development timeline and resources to their limits. Instead of hiring offshore developers, let’s instead look at what you stand to gain by working with nearshore professionals.
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Sharing the Time Zone Means Easier Workflow Management
There is plenty of value to be found in working with professionals inside your time zone. You can reach out to your nearshore developers during work hours without taking time zones into account. Likewise, it’s easier to organize team meetings or even joint working hours with nearshore developers.
Contrary to that, offshore professionals would need to work during the night or be unable to attend remote team meetings often. This makes setting goals, tracking KPIs, and otherwise communicating with nearshore developers much simpler and more productive.
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Easier Team Integration Thanks to Familiar Mentality
Even though you are professionals working on a joint project, cultural and lifestyle differences can stand in your way. If you are a company from the US, working with Canadian nearshore developers won’t pose much of an issue. Hiring Romanian, Indian, or even Chinese developers to help with your project can considerably slow down the workflow.
Having a familiar mentality and no cultural barriers with your remote colleagues can go a long way to ensure a higher quality of work done. Most importantly, working with nearshore developers will lower the chances of miscommunication or friction between the two teams thanks to similar mentalities.
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Reach Out to Nearshore Developers More Easily in Case of Project Changes
Software development is a dynamic type of work that requires an agile workflow to succeed. Delegating your workflow to offshore developers and not speaking to them for days on end can result in unnecessary fixes and downtime.
However, you can reach out to nearshore professionals at a moment’s notice to communicate any changes you’ve made to the project. This ensures a much better quality of communication and easier project management, especially if sudden changes occur in the project. You will also have an easier time testing the software for bugs and code inconsistencies if you outsource to nearshore professionals.
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Ability to Onboard Nearshore Developers Fully if They Click with Your Company
Software developers often come across scenarios where they enjoy working with remote offshore professionals. However, due to time zone, economic, and cultural differences, the relation between them stays as is or fades away over time.
Working with nearshore developers and “clicking” with them allows you to easily onboard them into your brick-and-mortar company. You can invite them to your neighboring country and help them settle down, all while working on projects together. While not impossible, this is extremely difficult to pull off when working with offshore developers for obvious reasons.
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Potential to Co-Join Infrastructure Resources in Case of Large-Scale Projects
If you land a lucrative software development project, hiring several developers from a neighboring country may not be enough. In this scenario, working with nearshore developers can be very helpful since commuting isn’t as difficult.
You can co-join two small businesses or startups on a very profitable project and combine your teams to produce a much better product. In the case of offshore development, bridging the gap between two companies from different time zones and language preferences can be tricky. Professionals from nearby countries will also be more inclined to take extended trips for presentations, team-building, and other co-joined activities.
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Streamlined Payment Options for Nearshore Developers
While sharing the passion for a project you work on together is well and good, you will still need to pay remote professionals for their commitment. By working with nearshore individuals, the payment options available to you open up drastically.
PayPal and Payoneer may be preferred options in the IT industry, but you can extend that to local transfers and bank account payments as well. While unorthodox, even cash payment isn’t out of the question given that you can easily meet your nearshore developers in person. This means that you can also use your business’ official accounts to pay out nearshore professionals without worrying about offshore transaction fees or regulations.
To Summarize
Hiring nearshore software developers may not be your first option when it comes to onboarding third-party help for your project. There are however plenty of reasons to choose them over offshore developers, not the least of which is closer cultural understanding.
Write up a plan of what exactly you need to outsource in terms of software development and look for outsourcing companies in neighboring countries. You are bound to find great freelancers and IT agencies in your region without having to reach out across the pond to find remote help.