The global talent shortage is real: 40% of the companies surveyed globally report difficulties filling their job openings.
Source: ManpowerGroup’s Annual Talent Shortage Survey
As the local talent becomes scarce, business owners have no other choice but to look for the required skills elsewhere.
Thirty six percent of them are recruiting candidates outside the talent pool, while 19% outsource the required tasks completely.
There is a good reason why outsourcing and offshoring are growing adoption among businesses in the USA and Europe. By hiring an international team, they get access to an unlimited skills pool, often paired with a lower cost.
1. The key benefits of outsourcing and why it works best for startups
From Slack to Skype, GitHub, and Alibaba, dozens of world-famous companies are known to be built by a multinational team. Moreover, there are thousands of successful businesses that use IT outsourcing, but prefer to keep it a secret.
There are certain benefits of working with international teams that attract business owners and startups:
- Reasonable cost – There is a lower overall cost of development because there is no need for operational expenses.
- Fast turnaround – There is no undergo the process of hiring, training, or retaining employees as the team is ready to go as soon as you sign a contract. Plus it can be scaled whenever there is a need to.
- Smart resource allocation on-site – As a business owner you are able to focus on what matters most for your business and leave the development to the professionals.
- Professional project management – Having a system in place which allows for the project to be constantly overlooked means that all issues are resolved before they even arise.
- Reduced risks – Your rights are protected by an NDA and contract. The provider bears the full responsibility of meeting deadlines and team productivity.
Read more about the mobile development outsourcing pros and cons in our article Benefits of Outsourcing Mobile Application Development over In-house Development
2. Three types of outsourcing, their pros and cons
The difference between offshoring and outsourcing is really vague. Often used interchangeably, both terms refer to a specific business model where a certain part of the tasks or business processes are performed by an outside provider.
Outsourcing, in this case, is a more broad term, while offshoring refers mostly to work that is performed by vendors “off shore,” across the sea or typically on a different continent. Yet a more complete classification of different cooperation models can be applied when working with an international team, and it includes 3 approaches:
- On-shore outsourcing refers to hiring a local team or a company. This is the outsourcing option which includes working with an outsourcing partner that is nearest to the company’s location. Subsequently, direct customer control can be considered strongest in this regards, as both the development team and the customer are located in the same country and can communicate easily (no time/language/culture differences).
- Offshore outsourcing mostly refers to hiring developers abroad, usually geographically distant, for example, in China, India, Pakistan, etc. Despite being the cheapest option, this approach has a number of challenges, including language and cultural barriers, significant time difference, and low quality of work.
- Nearshore outsourcing is the approach to hiring developers who are geographically and culturally closer to your business location, for example, within Europe, or Canada for US companies. With a number of unique benefits, this approach allows for the best price/quality ratio.
We have previously discussed the pros and cons of the above listed outsourcing approaches. Find out more here.
3. A new way of sourcing talents: How multinational teams outperform local ones
Being a multinational team, we at Eastern Peak have managed to take the best of both worlds. Based in Israel, Eastern Peak relies on the experience and professionalism of the Israeli project and product managers.
Thus, our clients can rely on the business expertise, rooted in one of the most popular startup hubs in the world, Tel-Aviv.
At the same time, we boast dozens of best-in-class Ukrainian engineering talents gathered under one roof. With our Ukrainian R&D center, you can tap into the largest European talent pool and hire some outstanding engineers to match your needs.
By combining our deep business expertise and the innovative nature of our Israeli specialists, with profound tech skills of the Eastern European engineers, you get a multinational team that produces results.
This unique combination has already worked really well for both startups and established companies, including Gett, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, DPD, and Western Union.
Overcoming the barriers: How to build a fruitful cooperation with a multinational team
“A good outsourcing company can be as reliable as your in-house development team.”
Alexey Chalimov, CEO at Eastern Peak
Outsourcing app development and managing an international team is not an easy task. It has some challenges, which, however, are easy to solve when working with a reliable and experienced outsourcing partner. Some of the most feared cons of outsourcing can be boiled down to the following 4 challenges:
- Challenge #1: Team building and management can be more complicated when handled remotely.
- Solution: Hire a dedicated team. As a result, you will be able to work in close cooperation as if it were your on-site team.
Even though our company works and communicates with clients and product owners remotely, all of our developers, designers and tech leads work under one roof, just as any other software development company does.
- Challenge #2: Transparency and control.
- Solution: Engage with a professional project manager. Being your go-to contact person, your PM will keep you up-to-date with the progress of the project and will be directly accountable for communication and team performance.
We at Eastern Peak always provide a personal project manager for every team.
- Challenge #3: Quality and on-time delivery.
- Solution: Invest in quality assurance and testing, and develop a detailed (yet, realistic) implementation plan with the team.
Professional QA is a must at Eastern Peak. Moreover, we follow the agile development principles to stick to the pre-defined schedule and milestones.
- Challenge #4: Hidden fees.
- Solution: Eliminate the risks by signing a rock-solid contract.
We guarantee no hidden fees, as all costs are already included into the company’s rates. Plus, your interests are protected by the NDA contract we sign before the project starts
Learn how to hire and manage a remote software development team using this guide.
Outsourcing is much more than a simple and cheaper way to get the job done. It’s a great way to combine the best talents from around the world onto one team and build truly outstanding products. If you are ready to build your international team, contact us now.