Nowadays, businesses are increasingly faced with the need to take measures to improve efficiency and minimize costs. This is especially relevant in the field of software development. One of the promising solutions in this area is nearshoring, which is one of the software development outsourcing strategies. This approach allows you to collaborate with development teams located in nearby countries, which helps reduce costs, as well as improve control and project coordination. In this article, we offer to evaluate all the advantages of nearshoring development.
What is Nearshore Software Development?
Nearshore software development is an outsourcing model where you hire IT specialists from a neighboring country or region that is located in the same time zone and has cultural characteristics similar to yours. Thanks to these two aspects, you get the opportunity to communicate with your contractors faster and more effectively, and therefore start working on the project faster.
In general, with nearshore development, the work on the project from your contractor is carried out synchronously with your office, which significantly improves coordination between remote project participants and, accordingly, increases the speed of task completion. It is also worth noting that when choosing a company from a neighboring country/region, the cost of IT services is usually taken into account, which is lower than on the local market, which makes this approach free from the disadvantages often encountered in onshoring or offshoring.
Compared to the onshore model, where the contractor is located in your region, and the offshore model, where you are separated by several time zones and significant cultural differences, nearshore development provides a number of advantages.
Thus, unlike onshoring, where the services of developers from your region will cost more due to the standard of living and taxes, nearshoring will offer you more loyal rates, while maintaining a high quality of work performed.
As for offshoring, where developers will be based in a country with significant cultural and linguistic differences, the nearshore team will be closer to you in mentality and, more importantly, will synchronize with your office faster.
Thus, the nearshore software development model provides a better balance between the affordable cost of offshoring and the quality of cooperation characteristic of onshoring.
Key Benefits of the Nearshore Model for Software Development
Of course, if you are lucky enough to find a reliable outsourcing partner, you will benefit regardless of the model you will use to cooperate – onshore, offshore, or nearshore. However, we can highlight a number of advantages that are specific to the latter model – nearshoring.
Cultural And Language Compatibility
One of the key advantages of nearshore development is the cultural and language proximity of the development team to the product owner. This significantly simplifies communication at all stages of the project and levels out any differences in mentality. When both parties to the project have identical cultural traditions and perceptions of business ethics, this reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings and conflicts in expectations.
Time Zones And Ease of Cooperation
Minimal or no difference in time zones is another important advantage of the nearshore model. Thus, unlike offshoring, where the time difference can reach 8-12 hours, nearshoring usually does not imply a difference of more than 1-3 hours. This allows for synchronous work in real time, when both parties to the project can be online at the same time at the workplace. Thus, they can hold meetings and make changes without any delays throughout the working day.
This feature also eliminates the need for a long wait for feedback, which speeds up the work process and generally improves the interaction experience. For example, if the development team needs to clarify some details, they can instantly contact the client, and, therefore, the development process will not be interrupted.
It is also worth noting that the proximity or complete identity of time zones creates optimal conditions for collaboration (when both the client’s office employees and outsourced specialists are involved), which obviously brings the product’s release date closer to the market.
Flexibility And Scalability
The nearshore model provides maximum flexibility in managing the contractor’s team. In particular, clients get the opportunity to quickly scale the team size depending on new needs, which is critical for large and long-term projects that regularly require new expertise.
Moreover, if work on a project needs to be accelerated, nearshoring allows you to attract new specialists to the team as quickly as possible, because the search for an expert with the necessary skills begins immediately after the corresponding request to the outsourcing provider. It is also worth noting that when the project reaches its final stages, the team size can be reduced. In general, the flexibility provided by nearshoring makes this model ideal for clients who want to achieve scalability for their team with minimal time delays.
Reduced Risks And Improved Control
Ultimately, nearshoring reduces the risks associated with project management and control of work processes. This can be explained, first of all, by the relatively small distance between the client’s office and the outsourcing team’s office, due to which it will not be difficult to organize a face-to-face meeting (for example, to deploy the created software on the client’s equipment and test it).
This advantage is also valuable for projects that must comply with very strict security policies since their owners will then be able to hand over the necessary data during a personal visit. Thus, the comprehensive control capabilities and support for multiple interaction options (both offline and online) provided by nearshore software development make it an ideal choice for companies with high requirements for the confidentiality of corporate data and the need for continuous monitoring of the project’s progress.
For What Developments Is the Nearshore Model Suitable
In fact, any project can benefit from cooperation using the nearshoring model, especially if you manage to find a contractor with relatively low prices and extensive experience in your business niche. Nearshore development is especially relevant in the following cases:
- Comprehensive corporate solutions;
- Long-term projects implemented using the CI/CD approach;
- Mobile and web applications aimed at a niche target audience;
- Projects with a high level of security;
- Startups that implement innovative technologies.
Conclusion
Nearshoring software development provides modern companies with new opportunities to optimize processes and improve product quality. Due to geographical proximity and cultural compatibility, companies can more effectively control the project, improve interaction with the team, and save on costs. If you are looking to outsource a reliable software development partner, we recommend paying attention to N-iX.
