Which Is Better? Offshore Vs. Onshore Vs. Nearshore Software Development Service

Posted by RSK Business Solutions on May 8th, 2018

When you are thinking about out outsourcing some of your software development requirements, you will be mainly thinking of three places - offshore, onshore, and nearshore solutions.

As it is evident from the name, an onshore service provider will be from the same place as you. Offshore providers will be from different countries, and nearshore providers are generally from foreign countries with similar time zones.

So how can the geographical locations of your outsourcing partner impact the project you are hiring them to handle? Well, for the purpose of this read, we will be tackling just that. So without further ado, here is the basic difference between Offshore Vs. Onshore Vs. Nearshore Software Development Service.

Offshore Software Development Service:

There is an evident wage disparity across the borders. If you are living in the US, then hiring developers from India, China, or Ukraine can give you tremendous cost-cutting benefits. Furthermore, all these countries have skilled IT professionals sp you will not be sacrificing on the quality in search for affordability.

However, since most offshore companies are literally across the globe, there is also a significant time difference which can affect the entire development process. If there are no overlapping working hours, then you can imagine the communication problems that can arise. Furthermore, there is also aspects of cultural differences and English fluency which can further increase the communication gap.

However, there are offshore development teams which are well organized and can overcome these issues, but they are very few in number, and also packed with one project or the other.

Onshore Software Development Service:

We just saw that working with offshore companies can bring in problems in terms of communication and proper collaboration. But that will not be a problem if you are outsourcing from a software firm in your own country. There will no trouble time differences, no cultural differences, and hence, no communication gap.

However, an onshore software development team will be much more costly than their offshore counterpart. Yes, there is the chance for cost-cutting because you will not have to maintain your own in-house team of developers and will not have to set up a dedicated infrastructure, but you will not be able to save as much money as you can with offshore alternatives.

So it seems you are left to choose between affordability or easy maintenance. However, there is a cross between this two which offers the optimal solution - nearshore software development service.

Nearshore Software Development Service:

As discussed, nearshore software services have a similar time-zone or a minimal time difference which removes half the problem we noticed with offshore solutions. Furthermore, nearshore service providers are generally near to your homeland, and so even if there be a cultural difference, both parties will have a basic idea about the other, which makes communication not that big a hassle. Frequent on-site visits are also possible which is a problem with offshore alternatives.

And in comparison to onshore solutions, you have plenty more options to find the ideal outsourcing partner which fits within your budget. Hence going for a nearshore service provider is often a win-win situation.

In Conclusion:

All outsourcing routes are profitable with the only difference being on the margin of profit. Even though offshore solutions provide the most cost-cutting benefits, as we found out, it is with nearshore software development services that we find an optimal solution to affordability and collaboration. You will have a large sample space of multiple service providers spread across many countries that have a manageable time difference. Do remember to also consider the skill-level of the IT team that will handle your project, and don’t let cost-cutting be the sole motivation.