For many years, companies have outsourced software development to reduce costs. However, the time differences between teams can create costly productivity issues. Your choice between offshore, onshore and nearshore outsourced development will drastically affect the communication of your team and the success of your products.
In offshore outsourcing, companies choose a third-party outside the United States – perhaps India or China. Under this model, talent acquired is more affordable and maybe less experienced, but definitely less controlled. Companies using off-shore developers often encounter several communication roadblocks, including major differences in time zone and comprehension.
Nearshore outsourced development improves your team’s work environment and is worth exploring. In nearshore, your contractors are located in nearby countries like Costa Rica and Peru. They are experienced and familiar with American culture and work expectations. Perhaps most important, unlike offshore outsourcing, nearshore includes time-related benefits.
Avoiding the Language Roadblock
A common problem encountered by remote teams scattered across different time zones is the frustration of language. How can you understand the needs and expectations of your team members when you can’t properly communicate with them? This is often a precursor to larger miscommunication problems that can drastically affect the success of your project.
Fortunately, in nearshore outsourcing, developers have a strong understanding of the English language allowing you to save time by avoiding miscommunication.
Similar Time Schedules
When your team is forced to collaborate across distant time zones with developers in India, China or other offshore development areas, it may seem as though you can work around the clock. Coordinating planning sessions, daily standups, product releases and troubleshooting means one of the teams is constantly logging on late at night or early morning. This isn’t a good long-term strategy.
The hourly differences between parts of the Americas are minimal. At Excel SoftSources, our development team in Costa Rica is in the Central or Mountain time zone (no daylight savings). No matter which US time zone you’re in, our developers can be online and available during normal daytime work hours.
No Breakdown in Coordination
Coordination is the management of your team in relation to your common goal. When coordination breaks down, certain members are forced to pick up the slack, finishing large sections of the project that were never assigned to them. Similarities in language and time zone make it possible to speak frankly and promptly to team members that fail to complete their work, getting your project back on track.
Close Proximity
There’s a certain amount of dependency that’s acceptable in a remote team setting. Being able to take a short flight to meet your development team improves the changes of building an accountable and reliable outsourced team. Our clients find great success in spending a few days each year in Costa Rica working with their team as well as bringing key developers to the United States to participate in trainings or events at the company site.
For teams to work together efficiently, consistent collaborative communication is critical. The further your team is spread out, the more difficult and costly for everyone.
At Excel SoftSources, we offer nearshore collaboration with talented contractors. Our experienced team encourages employee retention and quality assurance to meet your project needs. To learn more, get in touch with us today!
