In today’s world, characterized by rapid technological change, increasing complexity, and specialization, only a few medium-sized or large companies are able to stay on top of the game by using only their internal resources – and why do so, when there are so many benefits of reaching out to external service providers? From lowering the costs of a project to minimizing the recruitment process, and maintaining a manageable workload for your employees, outsourcing brings many business advantages to the table. When choosing to outsource, finding the perfect outsourcing service provider can be complicated if you don’t know what steps to follow. But don’t worry. We’ve put together a checklist to help you out if you’re planning to partner with an offshore software company. Let’s start!

The difference between offshore and nearshore

Before we move on to the actual guide, you need to understand the major difference between offshore and nearshore in order to know what is the right approach for your company. Offshore software development is the outsourcing of services in a continent far from the one where the company’s office is located. By comparison, nearshore software development is outsourcing services to a continent near the country where the company’s office is located. Whether you choose offshore or nearshore outsourcing, your expectations should be the same from the external service provider: to improve, effectively execute and take responsibility for the development project you agreed on while taking care to ensure coordination and communication between your needs and the development team – this type of project management while outsourcing is vital to compensate for any deficiencies in language, culture, time difference, etc.

Now let’s move on to what interests you: how to hire an offshore software development team.

1. Do thorough research

Nowadays, everyone seems to be successful with offshore outsourcing, but finding a genuinely dedicated team is not easy. Filter the initial options by 2 primary criteria:

• online presence – a well-developed website says everything about the level of professionalism of the team you want to collaborate with
• online reviews & recommendations – they will put you in touch with the seriousness of the team and the way they perform the established tasks

Once you have gotten an idea of ​​the variety of outsourcing variants, it will be easier to choose the ideal option for your company. You want your projects to be carried out flexibly, securely, and cost-effectively, but above all with high quality and quickly. Choose a partner who understands your needs and those of your target group and who transparently fulfils them!

2. Identify the communication barriers

Ensure that your contact persons and the entire team are fluent in written and spoken English. Otherwise, the delegation of tasks will be characterized by misunderstandings, and the quality will suffer considerably. It would be best to prepare in advance the project requirements for your offshore team, taking into account the goals your company is pursuing, and to discuss them punctually during the very first meeting, in order to see if the communication process is seamless.

3. Identify the degree of flexibility

The time zone problem can be one of the biggest problems you may face when choosing to outsource software development – this is why you need to agree from the start what is the time frame you could contact the time or set meetings in, so it will be optimal for both parties. Remember that sometimes unforeseen problems can arise, so arranging a time frame for resolving them can be the ideal option.

4. Arrange an interview

Once you have selected the team you would like to work with, you should formally contact them and arrange a meeting to see if you are on the same wavelength. You don’t have to prepare a task for them as you would if you hired someone in your company, but you have to ask all the right questions from the very beginning. If you have a plan that clearly shows what budget you are willing to allocate for that project, what skills you need to complete it successfully, and when you need it ready, you need to see if the offshore software development team agrees with it and how they can improve it based on their previous experience.

Once you have established the terms in which you will work, make it clear that you do not offer them the cold shoulder but that they can always contact you for ambiguity. Organizing Q&A or brainstorming sessions could be helpful for both parties.

5. Sign the contract

Hiring an offshore software development team does not mean eliminating the need for a contract. It can assure you that everything will go according to expectations and, in case one of the parties does not comply with the agreed terms, everything can be resolved legally.

As we mentioned before, outsourcing has many advantages: lower project costs, lower training costs, more competence and experience from the IT team, and so on. Distance is no longer a problem these days – it actually makes no difference whether the coder is on the third floor of the company, in another city or in another country. If you are looking for a company that offers the best solutions for outsourcing software development, then Redbee Software is the right choice for you!

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The difference between offshore and nearshore

Before we move on to the actual guide, you need to understand the major difference between offshore and nearshore in order to know what is the right approach for your company. Offshore software development is the outsourcing of services in a continent far from the one where the company’s office is located. By comparison, nearshore software development is outsourcing services to a continent near the country where the company’s office is located. Whether you choose offshore or nearshore outsourcing, your expectations should be the same from the external service provider: to improve, effectively execute and take responsibility for the development project you agreed on while taking care to ensure coordination and communication between your needs and the development team – this type of project management while outsourcing is vital to compensate for any deficiencies in language, culture, time difference, etc.

Now let’s move on to what interests you: how to hire an offshore software development team.

1. Do thorough research

Nowadays, everyone seems to be successful with offshore outsourcing, but finding a genuinely dedicated team is not easy. Filter the initial options by 2 primary criteria:

• online presence – a well-developed website says everything about the level of professionalism of the team you want to collaborate with
• online reviews & recommendations – they will put you in touch with the seriousness of the team and the way they perform the established tasks

Once you have gotten an idea of ​​the variety of outsourcing variants, it will be easier to choose the ideal option for your company. You want your projects to be carried out flexibly, securely, and cost-effectively, but above all with high quality and quickly. Choose a partner who understands your needs and those of your target group and who transparently fulfils them!

2. Identify the communication barriers

Ensure that your contact persons and the entire team are fluent in written and spoken English. Otherwise, the delegation of tasks will be characterized by misunderstandings, and the quality will suffer considerably. It would be best to prepare in advance the project requirements for your offshore team, taking into account the goals your company is pursuing, and to discuss them punctually during the very first meeting, in order to see if the communication process is seamless.

3. Identify the degree of flexibility

The time zone problem can be one of the biggest problems you may face when choosing to outsource software development – this is why you need to agree from the start what is the time frame you could contact the time or set meetings in, so it will be optimal for both parties. Remember that sometimes unforeseen problems can arise, so arranging a time frame for resolving them can be the ideal option.

4. Arrange an interview

Once you have selected the team you would like to work with, you should formally contact them and arrange a meeting to see if you are on the same wavelength. You don’t have to prepare a task for them as you would if you hired someone in your company, but you have to ask all the right questions from the very beginning. If you have a plan that clearly shows what budget you are willing to allocate for that project, what skills you need to complete it successfully, and when you need it ready, you need to see if the offshore software development team agrees with it and how they can improve it based on their previous experience.

Once you have established the terms in which you will work, make it clear that you do not offer them the cold shoulder but that they can always contact you for ambiguity. Organizing Q&A or brainstorming sessions could be helpful for both parties.

5. Sign the contract

Hiring an offshore software development team does not mean eliminating the need for a contract. It can assure you that everything will go according to expectations and, in case one of the parties does not comply with the agreed terms, everything can be resolved legally.

As we mentioned before, outsourcing has many advantages: lower project costs, lower training costs, more competence and experience from the IT team, and so on. Distance is no longer a problem these days – it actually makes no difference whether the coder is on the third floor of the company, in another city or in another country. If you are looking for a company that offers the best solutions for outsourcing software development, then Redbee Software is the right choice for you!