how to build a nearshore team
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How to Build a Nearshore Team. Tips and Tricks

The shifting of non-core business processes to the countries, which are geographically located near to the native country and the cost of accomplishing that particular business process is much lower, is known the nearshoring model of hiring. This is a type of outsourcing business model, which includes offshoring, nearshoring, and onshoring.

 

The total volume of global offshoring business is about $85.6 billion. A huge portion of that outsourcing business accounts for the nearshoring service. Information technology outsourcing (ITO) is the core component of the outsourcing business. Nowadays, the nearshoring team building is taking over the offshoring and outsourcing models of hiring.

What Is Nearshore Team?

The nearshore software development team consists of developers, testers, QA engineers, and managerial professionals that are geographically located to the countries very near to the country of business origination.

dedicated team

The nearshore custom software developers are hired in the global marketplace for reducing the software development cost and improve the efficiency of the business process. According to the latest study conducted by Virgo Capital suggests that nearshoring can save about 20% of the cost of the software development process.

The popularity of nearshoring in North American and nearshoring Europe has become so popular in recent years owing to the problems associated with offshoring and remote outsourcing. North American countries develop the teams of nearshore app developers in the Caribbean countries, Mexico and other Latin American countries. On the other hand, Western European companies choose the Eastern European markets for nearshoring the software development process.

Nearshore Team Benefits

Before we talk about how to build a nearshore team, let’s have a look at the major benefits of nearshore teams:

nearshore team benefits

How to Build a Nearshore Team?

How to build a nearshore team is a lengthy and complex process in the modern marketplace. It takes many steps and stages of hiring processes to complete the formation of a good nearshore team for your software development projects. Many businesses rely on talent sourcing services to find the best candidates for their nearshore team building. These services can save companies time and resources in the hiring process.

The major steps of how to build a nearshore team are mentioned below:

Step #1 Search, assess, and analyze the nearshore company that offers the nearshoring services

Step #2 Look at the tech talent skills, experience and expertise of the company and profile all aspects of the nearshore web app developers

Step #3 Analyze the approaches and management teams of the company that will help you to make a successful team of nearshore web app developers

Step #4 Analyze for the software development infrastructure and work environment of the company

Step #5 Check for the sources and modes of communication for establishing effective communication with the nearshore custom software development teams

Step #6 Check for past experience and project success rates of the company and its teams

Step #7 Analyze your project requirements and make a good document for the same

Step #8 Make workflow of the software development process that you want to follow

Step #9 Have a screening of a large pool of tech talent and shortlist the most suitable developers

Step #10 Take a technical test to know about the depth of knowledge of the tech resources

Step #11 Take remote interviews through video calls for a few minutes

Step #12 If needed take the second interview for narrowing the number of shortlisted candidates

Step #13 Make an offer to the selected candidates of the nearshore custom software development team members

Step #14 Onboard the selected tech talent in the nearshore web app developer’s team

Step #15 Assign the task to the team

Step #16 Provide full details, objectives, and targets of the project transparently

Step #17 Monitor and track the progress of the nearshore custom software development team  

Step #18 A better formation of the nearshore team would help you complete your software development projects more smoothly and efficiently.Useful

Tips for Building a Successful Nearshore Team

Building a successful nearshore team is a very professional work, which requires the skills, acumen, and expertise in the technology industry and human resources best practices. It is always a great idea to follow the useful tips that are commonly used in the industry for building a successful nearshore team. A few very important tips are listed below:

  • Always choose the best geographical destination that is easy to reach
  • Analyze the complete profile of the nearshoring company
  • Analyze the experience, skill-set, and expertise of the developers and testers
  • Always negotiate for nearshore dedicated development teams with full control over the project team
  • Time-zones, language, and culture should be considered as core factors
  • Always negotiate for the better quality and development cost
  • Always make detailed contracts with the nearshore teams and their providers
  • Make a detailed non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before finalizing the team building
  • Always include a detailed service level agreement (SLA) as part of the service
  • Get full details of the development infrastructure and work environment
  • Check for the personal skills of the team carefully
  • Check for the past success ratio
  • Have personal meetings with the team and management of the service provider before issuing final approval of the team
  • Focus on building long term relationship

Useful Tips on Managing a Nearshore Team Effectively

After building a good nearshore team, you need to make most of the following useful tips for managing a nearshore team more effectively.

  • Communicate, communicate and communicate with the team consistently
  • Establish a transparent and traceable communication system
  • Always keep your team motivated
  • Meet with the team personally whenever possible
  • Share the progress, changes, and new requirements clearly and transparently
  • Check for continuous testing and development
  • Use the right tools and platforms for the development
  • Onboard the all required roles for developing high-quality products
  • Set high, clear, and achievable targets
  • Benefit from nearshore staff augmentation services if required

What is a nearshore team, and how does it differ from offshore and onshore teams?

A nearshore team is a group of professionals located in a nearby country, typically within the same time zone or a few hours difference from the company headquarters. It differs from offshore teams, which are located in distant countries with significant time zone differences, and onshore teams, which are based in the same country as the company.

What are the key benefits of building a nearshore team?

The main benefits include cost savings, access to a larger talent pool, cultural and time zone alignment, improved communication, and easier travel arrangements for in-person meetings if needed.

How can I choose the right country for building a nearshore team?

When choosing a country, consider factors such as language proficiency, time zone compatibility, cultural similarities, education and skill levels of the workforce, and the country’s political and economic stability.

What are the best practices for integrating a nearshore team with our in-house staff?

Best practices include setting clear expectations, using effective communication tools, fostering a collaborative culture, ensuring regular check-ins, and organizing team-building activities to create a cohesive working environment.

What are the common challenges of managing a nearshore team, and how can I overcome them?

Common challenges include communication barriers, cultural differences, and potential time zone misalignments. To overcome these, establish a strong communication plan, provide cultural awareness training, and create a flexible schedule that accommodates both in-house and nearshore teams.

Nearshoring Developers: A Perfect Development Solution

Outsourcing is a multi-billion industry in the world today. It started from the basic outsourcing and traveled through the offshoring and reached at nearshoring now. The experience of the industry has figured out certain challenges and problems in the outsourcing and offshoring models. The solution to those issues was offered by the nearshoring model.

The service of nearshoring developers is a perfect solution for software development due to the following reasons:

  • It is geographical easy to reach
  • It is less expensive
  • It is cost efficient
  • It breaks the language, culture, and time-zone barriers more effectively
  • It offers faster delivery and higher productivity
Angelika is a Blogger and Content Marketer passionate about the topics covering IT resources optimization, building nearshore R&D centers in Eastern Europe and outsourcing business processes. She has over 5 years of experience in managing IT projects and discovering the ways to optimize business processes inside technological companies.