Why US companies are hiring IT talent in nearshore locations: the benefits

Operations benefits of working with a nearshore IT partner

The nearshore business model is a shining example of how US companies can adapt to the tech talent crisis, holding on to top talent without overextending resources or committing to hiring employees in vastly different time zones and cultures.

In fact, these are the two biggest reasons to consider working with a nearshore IT partner on an operational level.

Time zone compatibility 

While in some cases it might work out cheaper to look to Asia for outsourcing, there’s one significant issue this brings up that cannot be avoided, and that is the time zone difference.

In some instances, you could argue that having a time zone difference benefits the company, as it allows you to work around the clock 24/7 and provide continuous IT and software development services to your clients.

While that may be true, it’s hard to keep your business running like a well-oiled machine if a significant percentage of your employees operate on a completely different time schedule. Communication becomes tricky, which can make coordinating on projects and deadlines a real headache.

Cultural fit

While you may wonder what culture has to do with the work environment, you’d be surprised at how much of an impact it can have.

When you outsource work to teams from distant countries, you may find that there’s somewhat of a culture clash.

This can manifest in the simple things.

For example, the team might have different ideas about how to brainstorm ideas for a project or how to push a task along the pipeline when it gets stuck. They might even have a tendency to start a little later than is usual in the US or have several breaks throughout the day instead of a single lunch break.

On a bigger scale, there may even be a language barrier to contend with. If you hire a team and later find out that they’re not familiar with US slang and tech jargon, then you may end up spending a lot of time resolving issues with miscommunication.

To streamline interactions between different teams, and ensure your overseas talent is able to integrate seamlessly into your company’s way of doing things, a nearshore IT team is your best bet.

With nearshore teams, you’ll likely find that the culture is at least similar, which will improve communication.

Business benefits of working with a nearshore IT partner

When it comes to the business benefits of working with a nearshore partner, your main concern will be how it can affect your bottom line.

The two main benefits we’d like to investigate in this regard are how working with nearshore teams can both increase the amount of money you save, and increase your potential for global expansion.

Savings

When you’re in the market for new tech talent, one of your most significant criteria will be hiring the best worker for the open position while spending the least amount of money.

When you work with a nearshore IT partner, you can tick off this box and save resources that can be invested in other parts of the business.

How is this possible?

For a start, you’ll mitigate many of the internal costs associated with the vetting and hiring processes that can eat into your company’s finances. For example, the cost of onboarding depending on the position can be high, especially if there’s a lot of software to get to grips with.

There are also overhead expenses to consider if you have to invest in a workspace for the new employee or anything else along those lines.

With a nearshore partner, you outsource a lot of the work and save yourself a lot of the money as the partner takes care of the various money-draining aspects of the process.

Global expansion

Another great reason to work with a nearshore partner is to speed up your company’s rate of expansion into the global market.

If you aren’t sure what the next steps are to building an international business, a nearshore partner can help by setting you up with top talent in nearby countries.

The primary benefit of this is that you can slowly start to adapt to working on an international scale, but while retaining cultural similarities and similar time zones. This means that you won’t have some of the traditional struggles associated with rapid expansion.

Hiring IT talent through a nearshore partner is often a much more secure way to expand, too, since the partner will free up your time by vetting the talent, onboarding them, and getting them up to speed which leaves you to deal with other aspects of the expansion.

Stay tuned for part 3 of this article series.