How to choose the best nearshore/ offshore provider?

Soldevelo- nearshore/ offshore provider

Understanding when to invest in nearshore, or offshore provider can have a greater impact on your business than you may realize.

When it comes to outsourcing a nearshore / offshore service provider to help you out, it is important that you consider a number of factors. The process can be tricky to navigate for new business owners, but SolDevelo can provide the tools and understanding that it is necessary to make the right choice.

Nearshore vs Offshore Outsourcing

In order to make a choice that is right for your business, you must first understand the differences between nearshore and offshore outsourcing providers and services. Ultimately both methods of outsourcing provide the same final result, but there are differences between hiring locally and globally that should first be considered. Not all businesses operate the same, and generally, one type of outsourcing will be more productive than the other, depending on a company’s individual needs.

 

Nearshore Outsourcing

Nearshore outsourcing service providers are those which pair up with businesses and workers who share similar time zones and geographic locations. In other words, nearshore outsourcing is when a business hires local workers or teams to help them out with a particular task or ongoing project. These staff may be in the same country but just in a different city, a form of outsourcing which is sometimes also referred to as onshore outsourcing. Nearshore providers can also be situated separately in a neighboring country. For example, businesses in America often outsource work to other companies in Canada or Mexico.

 

Offshore Outsourcing

Soldevelo- nearshore/ offshore provider

 

Conversely, offshore outsourcing refers to the practice of hiring workers in completely separate countries. Offshore work tends to be given to staff and companies in developing nations, many of which may be on other sides of the globe or on different timezones.

 

Choosing the Best Nearshore/Offshore Outsourcing Provider

Outsourcing work for any business can be a difficult decision to make, no matter what method is chosen. Both nearshore and offshore options provide their own pros and cons, and it is important to weigh these against the circumstances and situation regarding your own business. Each company operates differently and will have different expectations and requirements for outsourced work.

Because of this, it is vital that you consider the value of offshore and nearshore workers as they pertain to your specific needs. Understand the factors that will influence what form of outsourcing is going to work best for you, according to your current situation and priorities. In most situations, running through these factors will help you to come to a decision that ensures your work is in the hands of a capable team that are fully capable of meeting the standard of service you require.

Factors to consider include

Budget

Most companies will already have a predetermined budget for outsourcing work on an ongoing basis, or for a short-term project. This should be one of the first factors to consider, as it is relatively objective and can help to swiftly narrow down choices. All companies that accept outsourced work are going to operate at different rates but as a general rule of thumb, offshore providers are a lot cheaper.

Offshore providers tend to be based in developing nations, where the cost of hiring a team is a lot lower than hiring a similar taskforce in a developed nation. This is aligned with different costs of living in different situations – the cheaper the cost of living is, the lower staff wages tend to be. Conversely, hiring a team in a nearshore location often means that their cost of living is similar to yours, and therefore would cost the same as doing the work within your company.

 

Of course, there will be exceptions to this, depending on the location of your company. There may be no difference in the cost between nearshore and offshore workers. Regardless, it is always important to have an initial budget estimate, in order to establish what kind of outsourcing providers are even viable for your company or project.

 

As both, nearshore and offshore providers, SolDevelo is ready to complete the client’s team with a team of professionals or a single industry expert to help your business take advantage of modern skill-finding techniques. Moreover, the price of the project depends on the cooperation model. In the ‘time & material’ model, which is mostly chosen by our clients, and we prefer, the amount is based on the time our experts spend working on the project. If you wish to cooperate in a different model, just let us know- we are open to discuss. This will allow you to choose the right plan for your specific needs!

 

Standard of Service

When choosing a nearshore or offshore service provider, it is essential that you consider the standard of service that you expect from your staff and from the output/outcome of work.

There is no way to determine whether onshore/nearshore services are better than offshore services when it comes to the quality of service they provide. In many instances, companies found in nearby cities may have similar business standards and workplace cultures, leading people to believe they are the best choice for the job. This is not always true. Different teams will offer different quality services regardless of location, a fact that is true of every industry.

Of course, standards and expectations should never be compromised, and one should no settle for lower quality results from any outsourcing providers. The ideal service provider should offer an exceptional standard of service, irrelevant of whether the outsourcing is nearshore or offshore in nature. Understand your own expectations, and then work on finding an outsourced taskforce that can meet these standards. As another general rule, the standard of service you receive is more likely to be accurately predicted by the cost of the services. The more expensive they are, the better they should be. Do your research to find out the average price for outsourcing work in that area, whether that is local or offshore, and then use that as a guide.

Standards of services in Soldevelo are proven by some facts. Confirmation of providing the highest management standards and meeting the most demanding security expectations are two obtained ISO standards certifications: ISO:9001 and ISO:27001. Our extensive experience over the past decade further allows us to provide a premium standard of service for our partners. All of our developers undergo rigorous training and testing, and Hakerrank even ranked Polish developers as the number one Java service provider in the world.

 

Ease of Communication

Soldevelo- nearshore/ offshore provider ease of communication

When you decide to outsource some of your work to a nearshore or offshore outsourcing service provider, you will want to think about the ease of communication between yourself and the outsourced worker. Clear communication leads to a better understanding between teams and helps to ensure smooth results.

 

Depending on where you outsource your work to, offshore providers may speak a different language, and operate on a different time zone to you and the rest of your company. Although this can be overcome by planning in advance and patience when communicating, it can make things unnecessarily difficult. By contrast, nearshore workers share the same time zone and language as you and so communication with these workers may be a lot easier from a practical perspective.

If your company is not multilingual, it may be best to stick with outsourced staff who also speak English, regardless of whether they are nearshore or offshore providers. All of the developers working for SolDevelo have a strong command of the English language, providing a flow of communication from both parties. Moreover, we use many online tools like Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc. to provide clients with uninterrupted communication. For the best service quality, our employees work in a flexible timetable, to fit with clients’ work time.  You can rest assured your project or business is in the hands of someone who understands exactly what their duties are.

 

Reputation and Reviews

Soldevelo- nearshore/ offshore provider reviews

Choosing a nearshore or offshore service provider should largely be based on the reputation of the provider in question. After all, if a provider is notorious for offering poor quality services, why would you waste your money by hiring them? This has nothing to do with whether they are local or further afield and is simply a matter of reputation based on previous work.

 

The rise of the internet makes it incredibly easy to check the online reviews and reputation of nearshore and offshore service providers. There are a plethora of different websites that you could consider as part of your search for information about a particular service provider, which can help you to make an informed choice. Furthermore, many websites will also have reviews published on their own pages—but make sure to consider these carefully, as websites can easily formulate or falsify these if they are on their own website.

 

Not all reviews are necessarily trustworthy. When deciding on the best nearshore outsourcing provider or best offshore outsourcing provider, you should be careful to make sure that the reviews you are viewing are legit. Check the language used in reviews to make sure that they are from native speakers who will be expecting a similar standard of service as you.

If you have contacts with other businesses in your industry who use outsourced providers, often the best thing you can do is communicate directly with them. The grapevine gives you first-hand accounts of working with providers, and insider knowledge on what companies to avoid, and which ones you should look towards.

 

Furthermore, you should also check the overall score of the website. If the service provider you have chosen has nothing but 5-star reviews, it is worth asking the question of—do these reviews look trustworthy, or could they have been faked? This is an important consideration, as some dodgy service providers are not below hiring people to write fake, overly-positive reviews for a service that may not be very good at all. Keep an eye out for a range of different opinions in the reviews—the odd bad review here and there will probably indicate that the reviews are trustworthy and from legit sources.

 

At SolDevelo, we believe that clients should have as much information as possible in order to make the right choice for them. On our site, we offer our previous, and current clients the opportunity to leave a review of our services. Here you can read several unbiased reports from other businesses in your position, to get a better understanding of how well we can cater to your needs. We have also shared a video to watch such testimonial with one of our longterm clients on our website or YouTube Channel as well.

 

In Summary

Choosing the right nearshore or offshore outsourcing service provider doesn’t need to be difficult. Nearshore and offshore outsourcing both come with their own benefits and struggles, but most businesses will be predisposed to one or the other. As long as you consider these specified factors and make a calculated choice with a good provider, your business will thrive.

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