It is now more obvious than ever – in-house teams have become less vital for modern businesses. According to Statista, nearly 70% of the workforce in tech work remotely. The events of the past years have proven that remote teams can work as efficiently as ones working from office. Thus many companies choose to tap into the global tech talent pool and be even more agile, while delivering the expected results and cutting some expenses. Outsourcing is not a new trend by any stretch, but it has gained huge momentum in the aftermath of a pandemic. And this momentum does not seem to be slowing down any time soon.
But how do you stay flexible while working with a remote team and how do you ensure the efficiency of the development process? What is agile methodology and how does it pair with nearshore development? Let’s see how a dedicated team of nearshore developers can bring more business value to your company.
What does agile mean and how does it benefit your project?
Agile has become one of the most popular project management methodologies thanks to its evolutionary nature. Its iterative approach allows the developers to make gradual progress while delivering measurable results throughout the development process. Project stakeholders can monitor the progress throughout iterations, control the development process, and make timely changes based on the feedback from users and stakeholders.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of agile in more detail:
1. Adaptability
The name says it all—this methodology allows for more agility throughout the development process. Agile teams are ready for changes at any point and can adapt to the new project requirements and business flows quite fast—any type of change can be put on the table and implemented in the following sprints. In a situation where you might need to change the goals of the project, an agile team at N-iX can quickly switch to the new objectives and pursue them without losing momentum.
2. More control
Agile allows you to receive regular updates and progress reports. You can provide your feedback to the team regularly, so that they can steer the project in the right direction. Again, if you choose to be heavily involved in the project, you can control the progress through constant communication with the development team.
3. Clear communication
Naturally, the developers must have their say in the project, and agile relies heavily on constant and clear communication between you and the team. Together, you and your team can discuss different aspects of the project, make alterations to it, improve the product as you go, and make iterations according to your business goals.
4. Predictability
Agile teams work in sprints, which last a predetermined number of days or weeks during which the team has to achieve certain goals and showcase some deliverables. This way you can understand the team's capacity and velocity, predict the outcomes of the project, and make more precise plans and decisions for the future.
Agile is focused on producing results, and you can apply specific metrics to measure the project progress. That way you will have a clearer picture of how your project has been going and where it is headed. You will also have a better understanding of the resources and time it would take to develop the product as well as the ways you could cut costs and timelines. With precise metrics, you can make predictions on what your project will cost you and what kind of ROI you can count on.
Overall, most Agile practitioners say that this methodology results in a better-quality product. Of course, the quality of the final deliverable would depend on the expertise of the agile nearshore development company you partner with and the overall approach to the project. Working with agile nearshore developers offers a number of benefits, but how does it actually work?
What is nearshoring and how is it different from regular outsourcing?
Nearshoring is a type of outsourcing in which the time zone difference between you and your vendor is around one to three hours. Nearshoring implies a minimal time difference between you and your remote team. This eliminates scheduling inconveniences and puts you much closer to your vendor in terms of both geography and work culture.
Stack the benefits: how nearshore agile development helps your business?
Many companies turn to delegate their projects to vendors abroad because it helps them tap into a wider talent pool and it is generally less expensive than hiring local custom software development experts. At the same time, though, most companies admit that outsourcing to faraway countries is associated with certain risks. Time zone and cultural differences, lack of control, and other issues might cause delays in the project delivery as well as the insufficient quality of the end product.
Nearshoring has all the advantages of standard outsourcing practices while eliminating its flaws.
The combination of nearshoring and agile can amplify the efficiency of your project in more than one way. Let’s see what other advantages nearshoring offers and how they pair with the benefits of agile methodology we’ve discussed above.
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Cost-effectiveness to drives your business choices
Obviously, cost-effectiveness is one of the most important factors driving business decisions, and that is exactly why companies choose to outsource. Agile nearshore software development gives you exactly that.
Typically, agile nearshore development projects are more cost-efficient than the same types of projects that use waterfall methodology. With increased efficiency, you can cut the cost of the project and avoid the steep price of failing the whole project.
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Flexibility to address the emerging challenges
It does not mean that all agile software development nearshore projects go perfectly smoothly. There are inherent challenges to any project and one of the main goals of the agile approach is to address those challenges once they appear without halting the entire development process.
The core idea of nearshore agile development is to be able to make incremental progress while making the right iterations to the process to address the incoming challenges. The development team remains flexible and ready to react to any alerts throughout the development process. That way, they can provide failure-proof agile nearshore software development services that correspond to the needs of the clients.
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Scalable teams and fast recruitment
Nearshoring allows you to cut the cost of hiring new experts and it also allows you to hire much faster. If you have a reliable nearshore agile development partner, you can count on them to provide you with the exact number of experts you would need to drive your project. This process might take just a couple of weeks if you work with a vendor who has a solid talent pool.
Let’s say you need five people for your project. You can go through a tiresome process of looking for the right candidates yourself, review their CVs, run interviews, and spend months assembling a team. Alternatively, you can partner with an agile nearshore software development company that already has the right people on board. They will provide you with the right set of experts in a matter of weeks and they'll join your project and deliver tangible results much faster.
Also, you can scale your team up as fast too. Thanks to the core principles of agile nearshore development, you can allocate as many experts as you need at any given time. A good vendor will provide you with sufficient talent from the get-go, and from that point on, you can expand your team according to the project’s needs.
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Details matter: work ethics and culture
There are other benefits people tend to overlook when looking for a nearshore agile software development partner, namely cultural proximity and work ethics. Neighboring culture is usually much easier to comprehend, and it is much more comfortable to work with people who are similar to you in terms of their values.
This fact is relevant to work ethics as it is much easier to work with people whom you understand well. Add language proficiency, small time zone difference, and highly skilled experts to that and you get yourself a perfect team of experts providing agile nearshore software development services.
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Maximize your business value
Combining the benefits of agile methodology and nearshoring, you will see a dramatic increase in the efficiency of your projects, cut costs, reduce time to market, and increase ROI. Work with an agile team and stack the advantages on top of each other while significantly reducing any potential drawbacks.
Why choose N-iX as your nearshore agile development partner?
N-iX offers you the combination of expertise, a vast talent pool, and high work ethics standards. When looking for an agile software development nearshore company, you need a partner who has real experience in delivering successful projects, follows the international security standards and regulations, and has a proven success track record:
- N-iX is an European vendor with 20 years of experience working in the European market and across the globe;
- We are a team of 1,900+ experts who work on projects across such domains as Machine Learning and AI, Big Data, Cloud development, the Internet of Things, Embedded Software, and more;
- Our experts have already worked on the projects for such industry leaders as Gogo, Currencycloud, Lebara, Fluke, and other Fortune 500 companies;
- N-iX complies with international security standards such as GDPR, PCI DSS, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 9001:2015, and more;
- We have earned numerous industry recognitions such as IAOP Global Outsourcing 100, Forrester NowTech, and CRN Fast Growth 150 list, to name a few.
