Nearshore software development is the process of optimizing your development strategy by outsourcing it to professionals and vendors in nearby countries. It involves delegating your business processes or certain tasks to software vendors near you’re the headquarters of your organization.
Nearshore offers several advantages such as having access to resources with similar culture and time zones, enhanced quality control, and cost savings resulting from lower labor costs. Furthermore, most nearshore vendors possess specialized teams of experts acquainted with solving intricate business needs.
Different Ways to Outsource Development
There are three common outsourcing approaches used by companies to drive development: nearshore, onshore, and offshore. Nearshore outsourcing, as mentioned above, is the process of outsourcing your software development to vendors in nearby countries. Meanwhile, offshore outsourcing entails outsourcing work to a vendor located in a distant country or region.
Lastly, onshore outsourcing is the process of obtaining development services from someone outside your organization but within the same country.
Why Consider Nearshore Software Services
There are many advantages to choosing nearshoring for your business. The main reason companies nearshore is because it is more cost-efficient than using vendors in your own country or hiring an in-house development team . This is because the fees charged by nearshore development vendors are usually much less than onshore vendors.
Advantages of Nearshore Software Outsourcing
Nearshore developers are highly competent professionals who know how to deliver. Working with such qualified engineers ensures project success and reduces quality issues in the final product.
There could be a small-time difference between the client and the vendor, if any, which makes it easier to interact and schedule meetings on regular working hours. They are also culturally similar to the client, so there are very few collaboration issues between them. If required, you can always schedule face-to-face meetings with the vendor.
Moreover, since they both speak English fluently, the vendor and the customer can efficiently understand each other and work together towards a single goal. Effective communication between the two teams also allows stakeholders to maintain visibility and control the project flow. Additionally, with a full workday overlap, the nearshore vendor has a quicker response time compared to offshore vendors.
Disadvantages of Nearshore Software Services
Even though nearshoring is a great development technique with several advantages, there are a few disadvantages too. Firstly, even though nearshore outsourcing is less costly than onshore outsourcing/ in-house development, it can be more expensive than offshore outsourcing.
Secondly, this type of development causes you to be too dependent on a vendor's location. It means that you become limited by the talent pool of your nearshore vendor's location. This can be problematic if the developers you hire don't have the required expertise to handle your project.
Thirdly, even though nearshore developers are culturally similar to you, they may still have different national and public holidays. This can disrupt your project schedule and delay your deadlines.
Furthermore, if there's a natural calamity in your vendor's location, it hinders your development progress unless the vendor has a disaster recovery protocol in place.
How to make nearshore outsourcing more effective and trustworthy?
You need to clearly define the scope of your work along with your success metrics. This will allow service delivery leaders to guide their teams toward a common goal and measure the project's success.
You should also use performance tracking tools such as Jira, Assembla, or ServiceNow to monitor productivity. To do this, break the task into chunks and create individual tickets for them.
Tracking individual tickets will improve project visibility and enable you to control the project direction. You can also set up an internal review with the development team to discuss project priorities and adjust the scope of work if required.
Communication is the key to nearshore outsourcing. You need to set up clear lines of communication between the development team and you to ensure project success. This is also required to ensure that any queries (related to project understanding, data, and domain expertise) are resolved on time.
What are some of the key factors you should consider when choosing a nearshore software development partner?
There are a few things you should keep in mind before hiring a nearshore vendor.
Expectations and cost of the project
As discussed above, it's important to have a clear conversation with the outsourcing vendor about the project expectations and goals. This includes both the functional and non-functional requirements of your project.
Furthermore, you should also discuss the direct and indirect costs associated with your project with the vendor. These terms must be defined in an SLA agreement and should be signed by both parties.
Cultural compatibility
You should always choose a nearshore vendor that is culturally compatible with your organization and team. They should also speak the same language as you.
This will reduce the communication gaps between your team and the outsourcing vendor and enable them to effectively communicate their progress. This will also help you maintain project visibility and reduce miscommunication issues.
Ability to deliver
Before choosing a nearshore vendor, you should thoroughly research them to ensure they have the required expertise and infrastructure to complete your project. They should also have a good reputation and presence in your location.
Benefits of nearshore software development at Jalasoft
You should always conduct thorough research on nearshore vendors before selecting one. You should also look at reviews and client testimonials to see if we have good project deliverability metrics.
Jalasoft is a leading outsourcing firm with our HQ in Bolivia and talented Engineers from all across LATAM for nearshore software development. With over 20 years of experience in software development and delivery, we have worked with some of the biggest clients in the industry.
We specialize in software development, QA and test automation, DevOps services, and other on-demand services such as data science, blockchain, and cloud computing. With a team of 1000+ engineers, we are a pioneer in the field of project outsourcing and staff augmentation. You can have a look at the full range of services we provide by clicking here.
