In case you didn’t get the memo, IT staff augmentation is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. You get to work with highly qualified engineers from across the globe and create outstanding products at a fraction of the cost of hiring in-house staff.
However, to get the most out of your extended development team and avoid common pitfalls, you want to augment your staff the right way. Among other things, that includes identifying the most appropriate IT staff augmentation model for your business needs.
A financially driven reason for using IT staff augmentation is that it can turn fixed costs into variable costs. While you can bring in your software development team locally, hiring a foreign contractor is usually more cost-effective. And if you are considering venturing abroad, you have a choice to make. Should you go for offshore or nearshore staff augmentation?
What Is the Difference Between Nearshoring and Offshoring?
What Is Nearshore IT Staff Augmentation?
Nearshore IT staff augmentation is a model where some or all of the work is delegated to remote teams based in a nearby country and in a similar time zone. This approach combines cost-effectiveness and shorter travel time with the additional benefits of cultural and geographic proximity.
What Is Offshore IT Staff Augmentation?
Offshore staff augmentation delegates the software development process to a foreign contractor company in much the same way as nearshore staff augmentation. Unlike a nearshore team, though, offshore engineers are based on another continent. Popular offshore destinations include Latin America, India, Ukraine, and China.
This model can be more cost-effective than nearshore staff augmentation in terms of developer hourly rates. However, offshore development presents business owners and project managers with unique operational challenges due to longer travel times, considerable time differences, and potential cultural and language barriers.
3 Advantages of Nearshore Development
1. High-Quality Software That Doesn’t Cost the Earth
A nearshore software development team is significantly cheaper than in-house engineers. Not only do you save on salaries and hourly rates, but you also don’t need to worry about renting and maintaining office space — to say nothing of recruiting, onboarding, and training full-time developers.
What’s more, affordability does not come at the price of quality. The difference in the cost of living can be substantial even in neighboring countries, allowing you to assemble a brilliant extended development team without your business going bust.
2. Larger Talent Pool
Sometimes, the person you are looking to hire — the perfect fit for the job — happens to live on the other side of the border. With nearshoring, you can take your pick from a truly international selection of quality software professionals.
Crucially, you only get to work with partners based in nearby countries that you understand. From the local digital industry and national regulatory framework to the academic and professional qualifications of job applicants, you won’t have a hard time getting up to speed with things. This is not always the case with far-off countries half a world away.
3. Clear Communication
The cultural and geographic proximity of your extended development team also makes for more efficient communication.
Your messages won’t get lost in translation, and you won’t have to stay up until the wee hours waiting for an urgent response from a colleague thousands of miles away. Most nearshore operations are based no farther than three time zones from the main office.
What’s more, the shorter travel time between your headquarters and your extended team means that you can hold frequent physical meetings and events. This improves collaboration, boosts team spirit, and fosters a real sense of belonging to the corporate culture.
2 Hidden Costs of Offshore IT Staff Augmentation
There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
The hourly rate of offshore workers may be hard to beat, but it comes with drawbacks that could cost you a lot in the long term. After you factor in the exorbitant travel expenses and loss of productivity due to the large distances and time differences, the cost reduction might not be quite what you had in mind.
Poor Communication
When it comes to software development, cultural differences matter more than you’d think. Language barriers and different work ethics can lead to serious miscommunication between team members. And when you throw a time difference of up to 12 hours into the mix, you might as well start sending your emails to your offshore team via pigeons.
Nearshore vs. Offshore IT Staff Augmentation: Which One Is Better for You?
It’s important to note that neither offshore nor nearshore development offers a perfect solution to your IT staff augmentation needs. Both models have their advantages and drawbacks, and which one would work best for you depends mainly on your budget and project type.
Offshore staff augmentation can be a great and cost-effective solution for smaller or one-off projects, as well as for businesses with a limited budget for technical staff augmentation. In contrast, nearshore augmentation generally works better when you are looking to develop close, long-term collaboration on more complex projects.
Not Sure Where to Find a Reliable IT Staff Augmentation Partner?
Zartis Has Your Back.
In addition to software development and IT recruitment, Zartis specializes in assembling high-performing remote development teams from scratch.
Our software development centers in Spain and Poland serve clients in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain, the UK, and the United States.
For further details on our nearshoring services and how we can:
- Address your unique needs
- Improve your project management
- Get your software project up and running in no time
Simply drop us a line. Our IT staff augmentation experts will be in touch shortly.
Be sure to take action now. According to a recent survey by Whitelane Research, 74% of European tech companies reported that they planned to augment IT services at the same rate or more in the near future. Remote work is here to stay. You want to get ahead of the competition while you still can.
Want to Learn More About Nearshoring?
Check out our related posts:
- 3 Easy Steps for Setting up a Nearshore Development Team
- Widening the Nearshore Definition: Accessing Engineers in Europe
- Nearshore Teams for UK Companies – Case Study of Madrid
