More and more businesses are discovering the benefits of nearshore development. If you are unfamiliar with the term, it refers to the outsourcing of software development projects to a nearby country, often within the same time-zone or at least a minimal time-zone difference. Typically, countries utilizing nearshore development are working within a country adjacent to their own. For companies based in the United States, this means working with Latin American countries such as Mexico, Brazil or Argentina – just to name a few.
Why You Should Outsource
Outsourcing to a nearshore development company offers a ton of advantages for businesses. The biggest reason for outsourcing is to address staff shortages. As they say, good help is hard to find – but not if you think outside the box (or border). Nearshore developers come with a ton of experience in their field, providing both the skills and flexibility your business needs. Additionally, they usually come with a range of experience, having worked with different countries, which means they can blend in seamlessly with your unique business standards and practices.
Northshore development companies offer a larger pool of talent to select from. And from there, you’ll discover unique insight of potential hires that help your business flourish. This ensures that your new hires are not restricted by the knowledge of your current team. And since they are in closer proximity with your business, you can be sure that communication will be clear and there are no language barriers to deal with. And should you ever need to meet with your nearshore developers, you can expect reduced travel costs compared to traditional IT outsourcing.
Nearshore development and IT outsourcing in general is a growing industry. More businesses are discovering the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing, while also having the advantage of geographical proximity.
How to Choose
With such a large pool of talent to choose from, it won’t be easy to make a decision, but it will be ultimately worth it. There are some key things you should consider during the hiring process and also preparation beforehand.
You want to start by assessing the skills of your current team. Where are their strengths? Where are their weaknesses? You’ll want to determine what skills you still require and fill in those gaps. When selecting potential candidates, you want to make sure they have the skills you are looking for and that means you’ll want to ask plenty of questions.
After you have created a short list of candidates, you’ll want to verify their expertise. One way to do this is to search for testimonials about the software development company you are considering, but you can also try communicating with them directly. Look for reviews on third-party websites and brose their social media channels for input as well.
Companies to Consider
If you are looking for a good starting point, the following are some popular and reputable nearshore developers that may have the services and expertise you require:
Belatrix Software: Belatrix Software is a nearshore development company with headquarters in Argentina, Peru, and Colombia. They perform software development, testing, and maintenance and have worked with notable clients such as Adobe, Disney, and AOL.
BairesDev: BairesDev is headquartered in Argentina, with offices in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Spain. They specialize in software development, AI and machine learning, and DevOps and have worked with notable clients such as eBay, Google, and HP Inc.
iTexico: iTexico is a nearshore software development company with headquarters in Mexico and offices in the United States. Their skills lie in software development, mobile app development, and cloud services.
Intellias: Intellias is a company based in Ukraine with offices around the world. They specialize in data engineering, cloud services, and DevOps, among other things.
The Myths of Outsourcing
There’s a bit of stigma surrounding the use of outsourcing in business but much of it is surrounded by common misconceptions. One misconception is that businesses outsource in order to save on labor costs. While it is true that outsourcing and nearshore development can help you cut costs, as we mentioned a greater point is to be able to choose a more diverse range of talent, and sometimes someone with greater expertise at a lower cost. On that same note, hiring someone overseas is just as safe too, in terms of your privacy and security.
Another myth is that outsourcing is only available for big businesses, when in fact outsourcing is used by companies big and small. Although nearshore development companies may be attracted to larger corporations, they aren’t going to outright turndown business just because a company is smaller.
Of course, the big elephant in the room is the myth that outsourcing takes away jobs from Americans and weakens the economy. This is a disastrous misconception because it blatantly ignores the bigger picture. Ultimately outsourcing works to grow and develop your company as a whole, which means the ability to hire more in-house talent. And cheaper labor also means cheaper products that customers can more easily afford, which means they buy more, thus stimulating the economy.
And as for the ethics of paying someone from another country less than you would an American worker, it’s important to realize the wages they earn are actually relatively good when you consider the cost of living in the country. In other words, you are giving someone a good job that one might otherwise have to accept for less pay at another job in their own country.
Conclusion
Nearshore development is offering businesses more opportunity than ever for growth in their software development. Through the ability to hire new experts with unique insight, at a lower cost, companies can better compete in the ever-expanding world of technology. By carefully choosing a nearshore company for your software development needs, you’ll be closer than ever to evolving your company strategies and achieving its goals.
