Building a software application from scratch to launching it in the market entails numerous steps and countless sub-steps too. Although the entire lifecycle moves as per estimates, it does take time to get the application ready and running.
Even after IT outsourcing, enterprises strive to formulate strategies that can further speed up the time of delivery of software, without compromising on its quality. As a result, the rise of near-shore development centers is a phenomenon to reckon with. Companies are deploying software development projects to places near their place, which is being termed as the nearshore development model.
There are certainly significant benefits of opting for this model of software development.
- Ease of coordination
Companies are gradually preferring to outsource software development to countries that share a close time zone with them. The time difference between countries often makes it very difficult to coordinate with their counterparts. Either party has to stay awake at odd hours if they need to discuss something important over the phone call. For time-critical projects where prompt responses are mandatory, like production support projects, a lag in time can mean a breach of SLA which is again, a serious concern.
Besides, cultural alignment is also an important aspect of coordination, because it allows teams to be easily integrated and work together for a long time.
- Expenses involved
The expenses involved in developing software are perhaps the key driving factor in opting for the nearshoring strategy. For instance, with respect to US-based businesses, Latin America is the most effective in terms of cost. If a local US resource is employed the average charge will range as high as $170 an hour whereas the same work can be outsourced at roughly $70 an hour in Latin America. Outsourcing to India or any other South Asian country is also a possibility, however, the same issues of time and cultural differences will kick in then. Plus, if a developer needs to travel to onshore, the travel expenses will also be high compared to Latin America.
- Facilitating digital transformation
With the onset of digital transformation, clients nowadays want things to change and evolve – starting from the core working strategies to the method of software development. That is the reason why the Agile method of software development coupled with nearshoring has gained high momentum in recent years. Clients want to leverage the latest advanced technologies like Augmented Reality, and machine learning to develop strong applications. Hence, they look forward to operating with them side by side and communicate with all the parties involved, in real-time. Nearshoring facilitates these considerations easily, which is another reason for its prominence.
It is worthwhile to mention here that Agile is the most preferred mode of software development where nearshoring is involved. This is simply because it provides ample scope of constant adaptation and newer requirements that crop up from time to time. But apart from all this, nearshoring will only be effective when work is interspersed with physical visits to the offices because an in-person presence ultimately creates a world of difference and solidifies work relationships.