We at Nearshore Portugal, as a nearshore partner, count on knowledge and experience to help you achieve your needs, vision, and goals.

Whilst scouting the market for an outsourcing partner, it’s normal to focus on two distinct aspects: track record and pricing. Commonly, pricing is on the top of the list regardless of the service at hand. However, what if you’re faced with a potential nearshore partner at a lower rate than the rest of the competition? It seems like the right partner and price so, you might jump on what it looks like a major opportunity.

Although it might seem like a match made in heaven, somethings really are too good to be true. Pricing makes a difference, but it isn’t the only variable to consider. Remember, the wrong vender can actually do more harm than good. If you’re wondering what can be more valuable than that Black Friday-like discount, this is what you need to know

Total Cost of Ownership

The total cost of ownership or TCO, as it’s commonly referred to, is the purchase price of an asset plus the costs of operation. As a way to assess the total cost of ownership, one must step back in order to see the bigger picture. In other words, to understand what the product is and what its value is over time. Before making a decision to buy, buyers should examine the short-term and long-term price: the total cost of ownership. When it comes to software engineering, the TCO is based on the cost of the application, as well as its development, support, maintenance, and possible additions. What does this mean? Simply put, what you thought was an incredible price is actually an incomplete price.
How can you better prepare yourself? Buy searching for key factors:

Method

When it comes to the success of a project, the methodology is crucial and it all rides on teamwork. That’s right, teamwork is the bread and butter of any project and what supports all the effort is a compilation of methods, procedures, best practices, and behaviors. Keeping that in mind, it’s truly important to count on a nearshore partner that shares and understands your vision and equally important, who’s methodology is like yours.

Output

Getting the most out of your team is the objective. After all, the higher the productivity levels are, the better. Naturally, the right team will make speed the clock, unlike working with a junior team who will probably slow the clock down. This is turn can lead to mistakes, money spent, client relationship down the drain, and loss of future opportunities.

Once again, what you need is an A-team, a group of experienced developers focused on scaling your business while answering project requirements. Mixing your team with seasoned professional and junior members can create a dynamic environment based on learning, challenges creative thinking, increasing your output.

Build to last

As you know, the process of developing software isn’t a walk in the park nor is it inexpensive. It takes skilled professionals to create custom software that can cover all your needs a well as future necessities that are still in the far far future. The goal is to build it to last. In other words, if your application is badly built, you will without a doubt, need to make several fixes. Resulting in more investment, whether it’s money or time, both are too valuable to waste

Security with a nearshore partner

Preventing risks is a top priority, this is especially true in the IT industry. The mission is clear: prevent potential risks and to do so, it’s critical they get detected before it’s too late. Working with an experienced partner can give you two things: peace of mind and less investment needed down the road.

At the end of the day, achieving the technological support you need is all about that one provider that grasps not only the market but the entirety of procedures involved, from methodology to security working towards your product as you envisioned it whilst providing you with a service value that will have its return.

Outsourcing is the name of the game and picking the right partner to help your business grow is crucial. Yet, there is more than just choosing the ideal ally – you guessed it – location, location, location. More than ever, Portugal has shown the world that it’s ready to play the leading role in the world stage and the future looks promising.  However, from north to south and within the potential of all cities, Lisbon is still the center point. So, the question is, why a nearshore Lisbon team?

Portugal has become a tech hub and Lisbon is the doorway. This is due to the internal and external investment, the start-up blowout, attention from big-name companies and the relocation from the web summit, which provided major growth and media attention.

Getting to know Portugal

Lisbon is just one of the many cities in Portugal where you’ll find an assembly of highly skilled labor. According to the IMD World Talent Ranking 2018 Portugal is ranked 17th above countries such as New Zealand (20th), Ireland (21st), United Kingdom (23tr) France (25th), Spain (31st), Poland (38th) or Ukraine (48th). Many professionals are moving to Lisbon caused by the events earlier described. This in turn makes Lisbon even more into a multicultural city. Making it an ideal location for any company searching for outsourcing solutions.

However, other factors are equally important. Specifically, social and political stability, diversity of talent, and safety, being Portugal the 4th safest country in the world. In other words, any company can find the tools needed and we at Nearshore Portugal know it. After all, we are all about talent.

Key advantages

If you’re still not sure about a nearshore Lisbon team, there are other factors to consider. Portugal is known for being very cost-efficient when compared to other countries. If you want to optimize your business, you should choose a nearshore destination such as Lisbon which guarantees a healthy cost of living. Of course, technological infrastructures are equally important, both in telecommunications (broadband, fiber optics) and data centers, for the storage of large volumes of data and applications and Portugal does not disappoint. Lastly, language.

Portugal is one of the most multilingual European countries and has a big number of English speakers. Plus, the Portuguese people are known for having great knowledge and adaptability to other European markets and cultures. What does all of this mean you ask?

By deciding to outsource, you’ll have at your disposal plenty of options. By choosing the nearshore Lisbon strategy you’ll be able to take advantage of an attractive city, placed in a well-known country, with the same time zones as other European cities. In addition, your operation will be open to key professionals. Talent focused specifics skills and growth, and more importantly, the future, and we at Nearshore Portugal are the gateway to outsourcing solutions!

For the longest time, nearshore has had to deal with several myths based on misconceptions. This in turn results in a negative idea of what it really is about and its overall benefits. Due to these misbeliefs, many companies don’t see the advantages that providers bring to the table. For that reason, we’re debunking some common nearshore myths. Today, we bring to light the truth about this outsourcing model!

Nearshore software providers are less reliable

In the IT industry, reliability plays a major role, if not the most valuable feature sought-after and outsourcing providers have, from time to time, to deal with this statement that questions their dependableness. When it comes to nearshore myths, reliability has nothing to do about the type of outsourcing solution, geographic location, size of the software company or the number of employees. The truth is this: a nearshore provider with reliable developers and management is more reliable than others. It’s as straightforward as that.

Nearshoring is based on miscommunication

There is a common misconception concerning the language barriers that could possibly come up. Unlike popular belief, nearshore teams are proficient in English. In Portugal, 60% of the population speaks at least one foreign language so communication isn’t a problem, thanks to the highly skilled workforce. In addition, Portugal is close to many key European countries, having a great understanding of their cultural structure, enabling a more efficient and less complicated iteration.

At Nearshore Portugal, for many years we have built a model focused on the development of international projects, set on top tech talent, skilled on current technologies, and more importantly, with clear lines of communication. Regardless of what you seek, vetting your future provider is a must, playing an important role in the future health of your operation. How do you filter the good from the great? Find out what to look for in our article The value of the right Nearshore Team!

Remote teams slow down delivery

No matter the business, communications are an integral part of any endeavor. Yet, remote teams are capable of more efficient means of communication than on-premises teams. Remote collaboration tools such as Slack result in less time spent on meetings, and overall processes. In addition, there is no time spent on commuting, resulting in less consuming tasks and costs to workers. Essentially, remote teams follow a clear collaboration methodology focused on communications. This means daily meetings, constant updates on work, progress, and overall feedback. This method allows clients to be completely aware of how the project is developing minute-by-minute, thanks to the similar time-zones.

Local talent is better

Once again, this is another nearshore myth that has spread. Location doesn’t guarantee you’ll have the best talent, that can only be determined by valuable qualities such as knowledge, ability, and overall commitment to developing the best work possible. There is a shortage of tech talent all over and more than ever, developers are in high demand. As a result, many companies are hiring within their area which won’t guarantee the skilled workforce they are looking for. In fact, it’s possible you will find a more expensive developer in your city than with an outsourcing provider.

Despite the many nearshore myths out there, we hope we’ve clearered up the top misbelieves, contributing to a more understandable representation of what nearshore outsourcing is all about!

IT is evolving beyond the ability of many companies to keep up. As a result, companies are turning to a nearshore partner as it offers the ability to maintain a high level of control while transferring the cost of doing business.

But, in a rush to save money, companies often dive into software development outsourcing, quickly select a provider, and consequently, expect that team to produce great software right away. In their rush, they skip the careful evaluation required to determine which software outsourcing company best suits their needs. They don’t properly vet the provider to ensure they get the highest standards and the best service, experience, and quality of work.

Once you decide to Nearshore your IT project and start looking for the ideal Nearshore partner, make sure you choose your provider well.

To ensure that you select the best Nearshore company, we give you some tips to start:

1.  Identify your Top Technical Needs

Determine your top three technical needs and set them as top priorities in your outsourcing criteria. Focus on the technical expertise that makes the most significant positive impact on the overall quality of your software. After that, you need to make sure your nearshore partner can answer your technical needs accurately.

2. Check vendor’s experience

The more experience the Nearshore company has, the better it can solve problems quickly. Find out the vendor’s expertise in delivering services similar to the one you plan to outsource. This expertise could include the number of projects executed, types of clients, technology expertise, and so on. Ideally, the right vendor will bring vast experience from working with on software across different industries.

3. Different time zones lead to slower feedback and lack of productivity

Working with a remote team that is in a nearby country with similar, or a very close time-zone will allow you to communicate more quickly and effectively.

With a time-zone difference of only 1-4 hours, clients can collaborate in real-time with the nearshore team leveraging conference calls, video chats and email communication with little to no delays in response. This proximity dramatically decreases false assumptions and the need for extensive documentation.

Ultimately, this benefit is recognized at the bottom line regarding faster time to market and lower costs for initiatives leveraging nearshore resources.

4. Will the IT staff be working on other projects?

A good IT Nearshore partner will offer you a fully-committed team for your project.

At Nearshore Portugal each consultant works for a single client. This way we can ensure that our client has the full attention of his remote team.

5. Language skills

You’ll need a remote team that speaks your language, or, it won’t be easy to communicate! The level of communication can make or break a project’s success. Language barriers prevent new processes from being implemented, limit the necessary feedback, and hind team effectiveness.

6. Look for extra costs

If you started your quest searching for an outsourcing company to become your nearshore partner, you’ve probably noticed the massive range of prices. Prices depend on location, experience, technology stack, and many other factors.

When deciding based on prices, look at the delivery time. If the most expensive company claims to deliver your product faster, it probably means that you’ll save money with them

7. Culture and Work environment

There are many problems associated with long-distance cooperation such as cultural misunderstandings, different perceptions of time, or even misread body language and implicit assumptions. Specific habits, national holidays, manner, and conventions of conducting business, as well as mentality peculiarities – all these aspects can pose an obstacle to the seamless development process.

The Nearshore partner you choose can mean the difference between a long and profitable business relationship, or a source of delays and wasted work. Invest time upfront evaluating the nearshoring partners at your disposal, to ensure that your decision produces real, measurable results.

Are you considering Software Development Nearshoring? Drop us a line!

Don’t forget to check the following articles as well:

Nearshore Partner: The value behind the price!

Top 5 Benefits of Staff Augmentation!