Offshore software development: closing the talent gap
Talent is the new oil, and the global shortage of tech experts is soaring. The US market has over 200,000 open jobs and the EU has over 75,000 unfilled positions. Companies are struggling to find, hire, and retain top specialists.
However, with a world-wide switch to remote, the walls between onshore and offshore have tumbled down. That is why more and more businesses around the world, from startups to Fortune 500 leaders, opt for offshore outsourcing. For instance, companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, Samsung, Fluke, Lebara, Travelport, and many others have offshored their software development to Eastern Europe.
Companies that benefited from offshore software development
Offshore software development vs other service models: Which one to choose?
In-house team
An in-house development team gives you more control over the development process, but comes with HR and operational overhead. It takes more time to hire and is difficult to ramp up/down.
Onshore software development
In case of onshore development, your tech partner operates in the same country as you do. It allows you to find tech experts needed, without hiring and managing them in-house.
Nearshore IT outsourcing
Nearshore outsourcing occurs when you outsource development to a company in a nearby country. It helps you to reach a larger pool of experts than you can do onshore.
Offshore software development
Offshore development services refer to partnership with a team from an overseas country. They allow you to tap into the global tech talent pool and scale up/down your team easily.
How you can benefit from offshore software development Benefits of offshore software development
Offshore development services can help you find the right specialists,
augment your expertise easily, and mitigate risks.
Access top tech talent
With years of experience and dozens of completed projects, top offshore IT companies will help you apply best technology and industry practices.
Grow your team faster
Established vendors usually have a large recruitment team (30+ people) and an enormous base of tech experts to find the right specialists for your project.
Scale easily
When you need to scale your team up or down, your offshore software development partner takes care of all HR activities and helps you avoid overhead and mitigate risks.
Enjoy flexibility
Depending on the selected cooperation model, you can choose the level of responsibility and control you want have over the project in offshore outsourcing.
Most common cooperation models in offshore software development Cooperation models
| Problem to solve |
| Input from the client |
| Communication and governance |
| Value delivered |
| Best suited for |
| Choose your model |
Offshore software development: Best practices Best practices
There are three basic models. Fixed price is excellent if you have a small, well-defined project that requires no flexibility. Time and material best suits small and midsize projects that don’t have clearly defined requirements and cannot be estimated in advance. Dedicated team is the best option for large, long-term projects with evolving requirements.
When looking for a potential tech partner in an offshore location, find out whether a company cares about its employees, provides opportunities for professional growth, and supports the local IT community. A company with a strong IT market presence and established employer brand is more likely to attract top tech talent for your project promptly.
With the amount of users’ and financial data companies collect, process, and store, the first thing you should think about is security. While choosing a tech partner for offshore software development, look for a company that is compliant with international security standards, including ISO 27001:2013, PCI DSS, ISO 9001:2015, GDPR, and HIPAA.
Thoroughly discuss with your offshore software development partner such vital aspects as intellectual property rights confidentiality, notice periods, non-solicitation terms, data protection, regulation compliance, liability, and more. Consult with your legal team and negotiate every single aspect to avoid any contract loopholes, before you sign the contract.
Effective communication is an integral part of offshore development services. To avoid misunderstandings and set the ground for an effective working environment, define the rules of communication with your team.The unification of coding practices, establishing channels of communication, promoting knowledge transfer are a great way to achieve this goal.
The knowledge that is not shared or documented is lost. Successful knowledge transfer includes: sharing knowledge before the beginning of the project in order to explain the context, business logic, and expectations; documenting the accumulated knowledge during the project; and knowledge transfer for when the project is over.
AI-powered offshore development: expertise & efficiency
Maximize your offshore development investment by partnering with a vendor whose teams bring solid AI expertise directly to your projects. N-iX doesn't just provide offshore resources; we embed cutting-edge AI throughout our development processes to build smarter, higher-quality software solutions for your business. Here are four key ways our AI expertise benefits your offshore development:
- AI-augmented development:Our offshore developers leverage AI tools for faster, smarter coding, automated analysis, and proactive issue detection, significantly boosting productivity and code quality.
- Intelligent automation & operations:We streamline your development pipeline and operations through AI-powered automation in DevOps, testing, and Cloud resource management, ensuring peak efficiency.
- Building AI into your products:Utilize our AI expertise to design, build, and integrate sophisticated AI/ML features directly into the software products we develop for you.
- AI-enhanced reliability: We build AI-driven monitoring and predictive capabilities into developed systems to anticipate and prevent issues, ensuring the long-term stability and performance of your applications.
How to find the best partner for offshore development services Finding a reliable partner
Choose the best outsourcing destination
- Significant tech talent pool;
- Favorable business environment;
- Decent number of trusted vendors.
Research the potential tech partners
- Explore international listings (IAOP, GSA UK, etc.);
- Check out dedicated directories (e.g. Clutch);
- Look for recommendations from industry leaders.
Narrow down the list based on
- Industry and tech expertise;
- Size and ability to scale;
- Pricing and cooperation models.
Browse companies’ websites
- Portfolio and technical expertise;
- Awards and industry recognition;
- News, careers, etc.
Send out RFI or contact vendors
- How quickly do they respond?
- Are they interested in cooperation?
- How engaged are they in the process?
Why choose Eastern Europe for outsourcing offshore development services?
1+M developers, with the largest share of JavaScript, Java, PHP, C#, C++, and Python developers
More than 4,500 companies that provide offshore development services
Excellent technical education and moderate to strong knowledge of English across the region
Why choose Latin America for outsourcing offshore development services?
Close to 2M tech professionals and cost-effective rates
Over 2,300 vendors that provide software development services
Time zone proximity to the North American market and complimentary time zones for European or the UK clients
Why choose N-iX for offshore software development services?
2,400+ professionals;
Compliant with PCI DSS, ISO 9001, ISO 27001, and GDPR standards;
Certified AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, a Microsoft Solutions Partner, a Google Cloud Platform Partner, an Opentext Services silver partner, and an SAP partner;
Custom software development, cloud, data and analytics, ML & AI, embedded software, and consulting for manufacturing, fintech, telecom, healthcare, retail, logistics and supply chain, and others;
500,000 professionals in its CV database;
70+ experienced recruiters.
Success stories Case studies
Client reviews
They supported us throughout the whole lifecycle of the product migration, handling the technical project management as well as operational support tasks.
Why did we select N-iX over others? Great culture fit, good value for cost, and company values aligned.
I think we work extremely well together with the N-iX. Reliable. In one word.
They do take time to understand your business. It's not just - here’s some developers and QA’s - it’s what is it you’re trying to achieve and how can we align with that.
The professionalism from N-iX is unparalleled. They can always get the job done.
FAQ
While choosing a vendor that provides offshore software development services, make sure your future partner adheres to international data security standards and complies with general and industry-specific legal regulations in the sector (e.g., GDPR, PCI DSS, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 9001:2015, ISO/IEC 27701:2019).
To foster effective cooperation between the teams, we set up comfortable communication channels, support both the N-iX team and managers throughout the transition period, and maintain regular feedback loops.
Each offshore software development cooperation model (staff augmentation, managed team, custom solutions) is designed to solve a specific problem. When your current cooperation model no longer suits your business needs, we can switch to an alternative model or service.
We exercise quality and performance control of our products, relying on three basic principles: determining and achieving KPIs, implementing robust QA processes, and encouraging feedback through fostering straightforward communication and collaboration.
We utilize the most efficient collaboration tools to ensure that teams stay on the same page, including Slack, Confluence, Zoom, G Suite, and Microsoft Teams. Among project management platforms, we use Jira, Trello, and Asana. However, we are flexible and can work with the toolset our clients prefer.
N-iX is the best option among offshore software development vendors. We have high-profile specialists on our roster who possess the necessary theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills in multiple business verticals, practice a customer-centered approach, and charge affordable prices for our services.
Common challenges in software offshoring include communication barriers, time zone differences, cultural differences, and concerns about data security. These issues can be mitigated by establishing clear communication protocols and regular meetings, overlapping work hours to ensure real-time collaboration, promoting cultural awareness and sensitivity training, and ensuring robust data security measures and compliance with international standards.
Offshore software development offers benefits, including access to a larger pool of skilled tech professionals, flexibility to scale the team up or down as needed, and the ability to leverage the latest technologies and best practices from experienced vendors. This model can help businesses address talent shortages and accelerate project timelines.
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