Cutting IT costs is key to reducing your business’s overhead to give it the boost it needs to remain competitive. While it can be difficult to know how to cut costs, reducing IT spend is key to lowering your overall business cost and generating a boost to the bottom line to remain competitive. While today’s business landscape is uncertain, remaining adaptable and modifying business will help you stay in business.
Perhaps you’ve already been considering some form of IT outsourcing for a while, but are confused about whether nearshore or offshore outsourcing would be best for your business. Maybe you’ve been reluctant about involving 3rd party services but the recent COVID-19 crisis has forced you to think more about how you can meet your company’s IT needs more efficiently.
We’re sharing what you should keep in mind when making that all-important decision of who should be your nearshore partner and how a nearshore company can help give your business the boost it needs.
You can’t stop, can you?
Stopping a project midway through is not only disheartening but also counterintuitive in most cases. “Cutting or stopping projects or services where costs have already been spent or incurred is of limited value”, says Chris Ganly, Senior Director Analyst at the global research and advisory firm Gartner.
While the coronavirus crisis has caught all of us off guard, it doesn’t mean that your business needs to stop all output now. Although none of us know what “The New Normal” will look like after the crisis, it’s always best to be prepared and implement a well thought out strategy so you can be sure your business can continue to succeed in whatever climate it finds itself in.
The consequences and risks of halting your business’s current projects can be huge financially. To keep your business running, you’ll need to be adaptable and consider new strategies that you might not have considered before.
Maximizing your budget is key to keeping your business’s projects running. While in the past you might have felt reluctant about involving 3rd party IT services, now could be an excellent opportunity to give outsourcing a chance and see how it can increase your business’s efficiency and productivity. Keep in mind that there are many different types of outsourcing, so consider what’s right for your business.
Here’s how to smoothly transition to outsourcing while putting your business’s needs first.
It’s only about costs?
According to the Outsourcing in 2020 Insights developed by the National Outsourcing Association, 35% of the organizations in the US outsource primarily for cost savings.
Top IT talent can be difficult to find in the U.S and once you’ve found it, the cost is often sky-high. A study of HR managers revealed that 86% of them have difficulty hiring for technology-related positions in companies. Building internal teams of top-quality IT employees is time-consuming and expensive with little overall benefit.
When you utilize the best nearshore outsourcing IT firms, you’ll usually find that you have access to the top IT talent without paying a premium.
Outsourcing your IT needs will help your in-house team focus on other more pressing tasks that will help your business grow. Not only will you be substantially cutting your IT costs but also freeing up the valuable time of your other employees, boosting the overall productivity of your business.
However, as a business manager, you might be worried about how your organization can effectively communicate and work alongside a third party service. What about timezones, cultural differences, and language barriers?
What kind of outsourcing is right for my business?
With offshore, onshore and nearshore outsourcing to choose from, you might be confused about which type of outsourcing is best for your business.
Offshore outsourcing
Offshore outsourcing is best described by outsourcing work to a company where the time difference is more than three hours and the company is located on another continent. There are often big cultural differences between the companies to consider and different work schedules.
For companies based in the U.S, India is an example of a country with companies often used for IT offshore outsourcing.
While offshore outsourcing is often the cheapest form of IT outsourcing, it’s important to factor in the inconvenience of timezone differences as well as different cultural approaches to work.
If cultural differences come into play, it can massively impact communication and how effectively projects are tackled as a team. While you might think you’re on the receiving end of a good deal, it’s essential to consider whether productivity levels will meet your expectations and if you’ll be able to work with a different schedule to your own.
Often language constraints, differing work styles, and cultural barriers can mean that your projects are slowed down and will result in your business actually paying more.
Onshore outsourcing
Simply put, onshore outsourcing is when you outsource services to another company located in the same country as your own. Onshore outsourcing has the big advantage that you’ll be able to select a company working in the same timezone as your own with similar work culture and schedule.
You’ll also find that workers are highly skilled and reliable, with recognizable qualifications and experiences.
With these added advantages, the price tag is higher but still usually lower than hiring your own IT talent. By onshore outsourcing, you’ll be saving your company’s valuable financial resources as well as time.
Not having to search for top IT workers will save you so much time in the long run and help your business focus on other more important tasks.
Nearshore outsourcing
Nearshore outsourcing is perhaps the option that combines the best of both onshore and offshore outsourcing. When opting for nearshore outsourcing, you’ll be outsourcing to a nearby country in a similar or the same timezone with similar communication styles and approaches to work.
Outsourcing to a company that works in the same language as you do, reduces barriers and will help keep tasks streamlined and efficient. You won’t need to sacrifice high-quality work and it will come with a reasonable price tag. Closer geographic proximity also means more in-person visits can happen, allowing both companies to strengthen ties and work more closely together.
While it might look like the price tag of nearshore outsourcing is slightly higher, it is in fact a better deal since you’ll be working with top talent without frustrating geographical and cultural obstacles that ultimately slow your projects down.
Now what?
Whether you opt for offshore, onshore or nearshore outsourcing, make sure you draw up detailed contracts to ensure your business is sufficiently protected. A thorough vetting process is also essential to ensure the company will provide you with what you need.
In short, if a good balance of top IT talent, high productivity levels, geographical proximity, and similar timezones is what you and your company are looking for, nearshore outsourcing will offer you the IT solution you need to cut your business’s costs.
With 20+ years of experience, at Tonic3 we are ready to help keep your projects running and make your IT budget go further. To learn more about how your business can achieve results by outsourcing your software development, reach out today and we’ll put together a custom team for your specific needs.
