Developing new software solutions is a time-consuming endeavor regardless of how experienced your staff may be. If you’re short on time or lack certain specialists in your company, it might be smart to consider outsourcing some of your development needs. Studies have shown that 78% of businesses look favorably toward outsourcing, with close to 300,000 projects being outsourced in the US yearly.
Working with nearshore software development companies can pay off in the long run and enable you to create more feature-rich experiences for your users. Recent data has shown that 70% of companies outsource to reduce operational costs, with 24% doing so to increase their business performance.
Moreover, the networking and word-of-mouth value alone is enough to consider working with nearshore professionals in the coming year. Let’s tackle the subject in greater detail and discuss the practical reasons to outsource your software development in 2022.
Differentiating Nearshore from Onshore and Offshore Software Outsourcing
To understand the real value of nearshore outsourcing, we need to differentiate it from its counterparts – onshore and offshore outsourcing. While the terms may sound similar, they mean very different things in practice.
Onshore outsourcing – Onshore outsourcing represents the process of attaining services from parties inside your country’s borders.
Offshore outsourcing – Offshore outsourcing represents the process of outsourcing your business’ needs to overseas companies and professionals from abroad.
Nearshore outsourcing – Nearshore outsourcing represents the process of working with companies or freelancers from countries adjacent to yours.
Even though they share the same roots, all three of these outsourcing methods are drastically different in practice. Opting for nearshore outsourcing represents something of a middle-of-the-road choice between the other two. You won’t look for overseas companies but you also won’t look for outsourcing services inside your own either. So, why go through the hassle of choosing nearshore outsourcing instead of settling for one of the other two options?
Great Reasons to Work with Nearshore Software Outsourcing
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Resource-Friendly Outsourcing Solution
Working with nearshore software developers is much more resource-friendly than finding professional companies to work with from abroad. Despite the cloud-based nature of the work, you will still need to pay for the services provided to you at a premium.
In the case of nearshore companies, you will typically find more affordable and reasonable pricing models. Nearshore outsourcing firms will also likely be open to discussion in terms of your compensation for their services thanks to your general vicinity. This can transform into long-term cooperation and B2B networking between the two software development companies as well.
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Faster Social and Cultural Alignment Between Teams
While working with international companies is commendable, it can also be more challenging than it needs to be. Asking a nearshore software developer to help out with your project instead of looking for help abroad will make the process smoother.
Your neighbors will be more understanding of your team’s culture, lifestyle, and even language. Many countries which are adjacent to one another share similar languages which can make communication far easier despite English being so popular globally. If you’re looking for a development company that will understand “where you’re coming from”, look toward nearshore solutions.
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User-Friendly Scalability Options
Given that nearshore companies are located in neighboring countries, you can easily hire more developers or scale back on your outsourcing. This won’t affect your resources as much as offshore outsourcing would – quite the opposite. You can easily shift from one company to another with nearshore, whether due to skills misalignment or because you need additional unique software development services.
Working with nearshore professionals will make it easier to outsource through word of mouth and network with developers and companies more quickly. Scaling your software development needs either higher or lower will take a fraction of the time and become much easier with nearshore collaborators in your corner.
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Higher Return on Investment from your Projects
Developing new software solutions under your business’ umbrella will naturally cost you resources. Long-term cooperation and development of software applications with offshore developers can lead to scaling creep and development bottlenecks.
Nearshore solutions on the other hand don’t rule out the possibility of one team visiting the other to work on the project locally for some time. This will lead to far better ROI for the final product once the software solution is live. Regardless of whether the software app is intended for internal company use or commercial distribution, you will experience a higher return on investment with a nearshore.
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Opportunity to Onboard and Retain Nearshore Talent
As you work with nearshore developers, you will grow accustomed to working with some over the others. This will open the door for you to onboard them and hire them full-time without any issues.
The reason for this is that nearshore professionals can easily move to your country affordably and in a short period. Visa requirements also become a non-issue because many neighboring countries have travel and living agreements with one another. Retaining offshore software outsourcing professionals is much more difficult in comparison. While not impossible, hiring and bringing professionals from abroad to work in your local offices will cost significantly more than the nearshore alternative.
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Streamlined Legal Alignment Between Companies
Finally, a business-level collaboration between different countries will require you to consider legal paperwork. By working with nearshore specialists, this will become a much easier topic to tackle. Outsourcing your services to offshore companies, especially from different continents than your own, is a legal nightmare.
While you can use freelancing platforms to avoid that, creating open networking cooperation with a software developer abroad is complicated. With nearshore, you will be able to officially partner up with software developers and outsource your needs more quickly and easily.
In Conclusion
Working with a nearshore software outsourcing company can benefit your software development project tremendously. It’s quite easy to find friendly professionals and companies who share your business’ values in neighboring countries regardless of where you operate from.
Moreover, retaining these professionals is just as easy thanks to simple and affordable commute or moving costs. Weigh your options carefully and find the best nearshore software outsourcing solutions in the coming year.