Technology advancements present myriad opportunities like the ability to outsource work to people regardless of their geographical location. The software development industry hasn’t been left behind. More than before, decision-makers like CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, and engineers are turning to outsource projects to persons outside the company through nearshore, onshore, and offshore outsourcing methods. Outsourcing helps to save operational costs and time. If you’re looking to try out outsourcing your IT projects, nearshore software development would be the best place to start. But you’ll need to go through a nearshore software development company.

How does this work? You’re probably wondering. We’ve put together this comprehensive guide to help you understand everything you need to know about nearshore development and nearshore development centers. So, let’s get to it!

What Is Nearshore Software Development Center?

What is a nearshore software development center, you ask? A nearshore software development center is a committed software development team based in a nearby country and shares a similar time zone, culture, and values as your company.

The three most important aspects of nearshore software development are dedicated teams, IT staff augmentation, and software outsourcing.

1. Dedicated Team

This is an independent team comprised of the right talent to handle your project successfully. A dedicated team is versatile and includes front-end engineers, back-end engineers, QA engineers, UX/UI designers, DevOps engineers, business analysts, and project managers.

A dedicated team is often ready to start immediately once you give the green light, helping to save on time. In addition, the team pulls together ideas to ensure the project outcome is desirable.

2. IT Staff Augmentation

IT staff augmentation is a sure-fire way to reach your goals faster and at a lower cost. The main advantages of IT staff augmentation are access to an easy to integrate notch talent and flexibility. Another benefit is that it helps to boost scalability and efficiency.

3. Software Outsourcing

Nearshore development companies use the nearshore software development outsourcing model. This model presents an opportunity to outsource partial or entire software development projects. The collaboration is more efficient when the time difference between the two countries is less than three hours.

Also, it works perfectly when distance, language, and culture aren’t a barrier. That way, the outsourcing manager can take a quick flight to attend briefing meetings or discuss project progress. For companies operating in the USA, this can mean outsourcing to Latin American countries like Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, or Argentina.

Nearshore Software Development Benefits 

1. Reduction of Operation Cost

Hiring local software developers can be hectic and costly. However, nearshore outsourcing presents an opportunity to reduce the operating costs required to run the project. The model helps businesses save utility bills, office rent, stationery, and hardware and software, which can be significantly high when dealing with large teams.

2. Improved Communication

Nearshore software development thrives when the distance between the two countries is negligible. Being in the same geographical location favors good communication between the involved entities. How does that work, you ask?

Often, the same geographical location means sharing a common language, helping to clear out the possibility of miscommunication between the involved parties.

3. Similar Time Zones

The recommended time difference between countries involved in a nearshore software development project is between one and three hours. Anything above that can be detrimental to the project’s success. Being in similar time zones is convenient and goes a long way to smoothen operations.

4. Shorter Flight Time

You need to catch the next flight and be in the other country in under three hours. However, this is only possible when the nearshore software development company is nearby. Virtual meetings are great for meeting over the internet.

Nonetheless, the success of nearshore outsourcing lies in more physical rather than virtual meetings. So, the last thing you want is to sit in a plane for long hours while traveling to meet the other team.

5. Same or Near Same Culture

Often, the beauty of coming from the same geographical location is shared culture. This goes a long way to act as an ice breaker between the involved entities. The trickle effect is smooth collaboration, corporation, and teams integration. A lot of time can be lost trying to bond teams. However, this shouldn’t be a big deal when there’s something they share.

6. Access to Readily Available Foreign Talent

Hiring local talent can be daunting! Nearshore outsourcing presents an opportunity to link up with readily available foreign talent, sometimes more skilled than local talent. Also, they have better resources and infrastructure to complete the project on time.

Shortcomings of Nearshore Software Development 

There are two sides to every coin. Despite the many benefits of nearshore outsourcing, some people still get it wrong! Below are the disadvantages of this model.

  • Can be costly than other alternative outsourcing models: Besides nearshore software development outsourcing models, alternative models are offshore and onshore outsourcing. The problem is that nearshore outsourcing can be pretty expensive than these alternatives.
  • Fewer nearshore software development companies: Often, there are fewer nearshore providers than offshore providers, limiting your options of the best providers to partner with. It may also take unusually long to onboard a new team because you have to test many providers to find the best fit for your in-house team. This can be time-consuming.
  • Constant monitoring is necessary: Nearshoring is a great way to outsource portions of your project for quick turnaround times. Nonetheless, you still need to monitor the progress to ensure everything runs smoothly.
  • Shortage of skilled foreign talent: Besides encountering fewer nearshoring companies, the other challenge is finding non-skilled foreign developers, which can hurt your project outcome.

What to Look for in a Nearshore Software Development Center

A Nearshore Software Development center at night.
Two female programmers working on new project,

Finding the best nearshore provider can be a hurdle. How do you ensure you get the best-dedicated team? Below are the things to look out for.

Expertise in Your Industry

According to a DAXX report, the value of the IT outsourcing market is expected to grow by about 5% every year between 2020 and 2024. This confirms nearshore software development industry is thriving, and many new providers are sprouting.

While this can be beneficial because of increased supply, it also presents the risk of many non-experienced nearshore companies. The best way to counter the risk is to ensure the company you choose to work with is adequately experienced. To be sure, ask for testimonials, reviews from previous customers, and live demonstration of abilities before agreeing to work together. In addition, the right nearshore outsourcing company should have expertise in a wide range of services. This helps cut the time and cost of outsourcing to many different providers when you can get everything you need under one roof.

Access to the Right Resources to Complete the Project Successfully

The team you choose to work with should have appropriate resources like the right software and hardware to make the project a success. This should also include a favorable work environment to ensure the work runs smoothly.

They should have at least the same resources and technology as your company. The partnership becomes juicier when they have better resources and tools, which enhances efficiency and helps to create the desired outcome stress-free.

How do you verify these, you ask? The best way to go about it is by visiting the company in person because a virtual meeting can get you short-changed.

All Round Compatibility

The team you outsource parts of the project becomes part of you, though operating from a distance. You want to ensure there’s top-notch compatibility between your in-house and the team you outsource to.

The compatibility should include a favorable time zone, shared language, similar cultural orientation, and shared value system. This acts as an ice breaker and creates an enabling environment for nearshore staff augmentation.

How Nearshore Software Outsourcing Can Help Your Business

Adopting the nearshore software outsourcing model is a sure-fire way to influence your bottom line if you’re running a software development business. Overall, nearshore software outsourcing can help your business reduce operating costs such as labor, office rent, and equipment purchase. Also, nearshoring helps cut the time to complete your projects, enabling you to reduce launch time.

Looking to Get Started in Nearshore Software Outsourcing?

Are you ready to start your next software development project? You can use some help by outsourcing some of the work to nearshore software development companies. This is the best outsourcing model and a sure-fire way to build cost-effective, loyal, and solution-based software engineering teams.

The good news is, ParallelStaff is your best shot at building parallel teams with unparalleled talent, IT staff augmentation, and dedicated teams. Our mission is to help organizations connect with the most affordable, loyal, and skilled IT talent in Latin America.

By using our nearshore outsourcing services, you have access to over 50,000 top-notch and English-fluent software developers. Above all, we help you cut high operation costs while boosting your efficiency. Feel free to schedule a call now to learn more.

Mike Hernandez
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