Team nearshoring can boost you big-time

Keeping it nearshore - the rise of nearshore team outsourcing

Welcome to the age of remote work. The messy year 2020 with its demands for physical distancing forced many companies to focus on remote work and to optimize their human and financial resources for their business projects. When this proverbial smoke clears, some companies, startups and others might find themselves alive, but in need of skilled professionals. Someone to get, for example, the project development on track. This is where the service of team outsourcing or TaaS (Team as a Service) comes in.

“If the project’s big and it looks no good, who ya gonna call? Remote team!”

When it comes to HR management for relatively large-scale projects, the option of hiring external people is an intriguing one. The convenience comes in many forms, not just overhead cost cutting (more on that in a bit). External remote teams, when managed correctly, can serve as a much-needed adrenaline shot to the beating heart of the company.

The idea is simple - if you need a certain amount of hours spent on a project (such as the development of a minimum viable project of a new app), you can hire an external team with the adequate skill set to help. Or even just one hotshot FullStack developer. There is, of course, the crucial question of “Which team do I hire?”. You can enlist a completely foreign team from a different part of the world (known as offshoring), or keep it close and hire a more local, “nearshore” remote team. This approach has been growing in popularity, as companies use nearshore teams to realize their potential, as the compound growth rate of the European nearshore market hit 3.4% for 2021. As nearshore outsourcing companies arise, you can even call this trend TaaS (Team as a service).

Unboxing the perks of the “team as a service” package

In a survey conducted by Deloitte, the three most common reasons that companies had for utilizing team nearshoring featured cost cutting (59% of participants), the ability to focus on core business (57%), and capacity issues (47%). However, the benefits run deeper than that.

Flexibility
If you are understaffed, you can get as few or as many people working on your project as you need, and for a specific time period/ specific amount of hours. This enables you to adjust the amount of external remote work to your short-term capacities and needs. That way, you and your HR management can focus on core business issues.
Professionalism
The people who end up working as nearshore teams are usually specialists and very knowledgeable in their field - be it development, advertising, marketing or anything else. This speeds up the pace of research and maximizes the efficiency and ROI.
Innovation
The team you hire are no robots - they can provide valuable insight. Whilst aiming to get towards your minimum viable product, outside professionals might be able to spot an issue you had missed. Or maybe they will suggest a better technical solution or a more user-friendly approach.
Familiarity
This is one of the key advantages nearshoring has over offshore teams. Nearshore teams are not just physically close, but also know your culture, language, your customers and your work ethics. That makes communication, management and integrating with your current workforce much easier.
No HR headaches
The onboarding times, headhunting and overhead costs tend to pile up heavily and HR management of an internal or extended team can definitely be challenging. This risk is transferred to nearshore outsourcing companies if you decide to use a remote team. And on top of that - the issues of attrition, work fluctuation or unexpected health/personal MIAs do not apply for TaaS. Nearshore teams fare even better, as the international labor law issues tend to be minimal.
Cutting costs
Last, but not least, the big reason. In the end, outsourcing work to a nearshore or offshore team is much cheaper than building your own in-house team, especially if you factor in the delivery time. Of course, the overall costs and efficiency of a nearshore development team depend on how the project is carried out. That brings us to some things you might want to keep in mind when enlisting a Team as a service.

Remote control - Key tips on managing your nearshore commando

So you have a project, and you have decided to hire a few hundred hours worth of external human work. How do you maximize the effort and ensure that the project gets done on time and without too many nervous breakdowns?

The obvious, but most crucial rule - communication is key. You are working on the project “together”, so the nearshore team is, in a way, an extension of your workforce. Transparency and integration of external team members definitely help to ensure that everyone is on the same boat. And that the boat is not sinking. The “us and them” approach does not help here, you are in this together. Regular meetings, open communication lines and collaboration are the name of the game.
Another important thing is to manage control over the project. It is crucial to communicate what is being done by whom to make sure that nothing disappears in the process. This is also connected with prioritization. You only have a fixed amount of work and/or time before the external team is done and you are on your own or need to hire them again. Smart project management is in order.
Treat picking the nearshore team the same as picking employees. In nearshore outsourcing, reputation is extremely important for the external pros. However, costs are not the only issue for your company - having an external team fit into your company’s identity and work ethic can get your project going much quicker than you may think. Sometimes, it’s best to get what you pay for.

TL;DR - Team nearshoring can boost you big-time

Getting a nearshore or an offshore team may be the most effective investment your company can make to progress further. Much of the risk is not carried by you, and if you manage to clearly outline what your project needs and do not ignore the management pitfalls, you may be able to reap some juicy benefits. In the end, the perfect nearshore team is already looking forward to working with you and kicking your business into high gear for 2021 and beyond.