Ensuring Outsourcing Success: Avoiding the Proximity Myth

There is a widely spread notion that the further away your engineering team is, the lower the quality of the engineering team or work they will do. Firstly – bad results can happen anywhere for many reasons ❌. Most often, poor quality outcomes come from poor quality choices. The most common poor choice we see is to focus only on the cost of engineering. You tend to get what you pay for. Other common reasons include misaligned communication or misunderstood objectives, which may be the result of language or cultural barriers.

Below, we describe each of the three categories of outsourcing based on their distance from the in-house team, as well as the anticipated pain points and expected behaviours associated with each model.

1. Onshoring:
Outsourcing within the same country as the in-house engineering team. Example: Outsourcing to Arizona if your team is located in California.

Ideal for: projects utilizing staff augmentation or high levels of integration. Most appropriate for 1-3 hours of time zone difference, if any at all.

2. Nearshoring:
Outsourcing to a neighboring country or region of the in-house engineering team. Example: Outsourcing to the US or Mexico if your in-house team is located in Canada.

Ideal for: integrated teams using between 60%-100% integration between the in-house and outsourced team. Suitable for 3-7 hours of time zone difference.

3. Offshoring:
Outsourcing to a country distant from your engineering team's country. Example: Out

What if I Choose the Wrong Model?

Selecting the wrong model for your outsourcing needs goes beyond project delays and lost revenue, it can extend to the creation of end-user pain points, affecting your employees and even your customers. These pain points can be navigated by understanding and aligning your expectations with the behaviors commonly seen and anticipated in each model ✅.

Onshoring: Pain Points and Expected Behaviors

Pain Points:

• Higher cost for local talent.
• Talent retention risks due to high demand 📈.
• Limited scalability with a smaller, select talent pool.

Expected Behaviors:

• A considerate budget, relative to the project's needs and developers' cost.
• Competitive compensation package 💰.
• Flexible timeline for scaling, as the selection pool is smaller.

Nearshoring: Pain Points and Expected Behaviors

Pain Points:

• Security and IP considerations.
• Communication barriers such as language and accents 🗣️.
• Cultural differences and misalignment between hot and cold cultures.

Expected Behaviors:

• A thorough onboarding process, prioritizing security and legal compliance considerations.
• Upfront expectations for communication, from platforms for day-to-day conversations to team sprints and to meeting etiquette 🙌.
• Focus on culture fit during the interview and onboarding processes.

Offshoring: Pain Points and Expected Behaviors

Pain Points:

• Offshore development teams typically require more coordination and structured project management.
• More business-domain context is required for more advanced or niche technologies 🖥️.
• Some offshore locations experience high turnover rates as developers frequently move between jobs, often due to competitive local markets

Expected Behaviors:

• Use effective project management tools (e.g., Jira, Asana, Trello) to keep everyone aligned and track tasks, deliverables, and timelines.
• Share product or project-specific training, create a centralized knowledge repository, and pair new offshore hires with mentors from the onshore team 👥.
• Promote engagement and loyalty by recognizing the offshore team’s contributions and integrating them into the company's culture.

How can Outforce help?

Navigating the complexities of IT outsourcing is crucial, and closer doesn't necessarily mean better. The right outsourcing proximity can propel your projects forward, while the wrong choice can lead to setbacks. At Outforce.ai, we understand that each company's needs are unique, so we specialize in crafting customized outsourcing strategies.