By Bety E.

It is striking how many people agree that a fundamental key for successful businesses is communication. But when cutting costs becomes the priority through offshoring, communication gets lost along the way.

What if I tell you that you can cut costs the same way and keep clear-cut communication as if you were working with your onshore team? The solution is nearshore software development.

One of the most important benefits that nearshoring offers is same time zone. Many people don’t give it the importance it demands when choosing between nearshore and offshore services and then they’re suffering because of difficulty in communication, ineffective business hours trying to communicate to offshore firms, midnight calls, etc. Just think about it, 10-13 hours of time zone difference against no difference at all.

On the other hand, nearshoring, offers real-time communication and viable business travel which are crucial for effective and efficient collaboration of projects to exist. Scheduling meetings and conference calls is easier due to the same or almost the same time zones as many cities in the US. Having the same time zone also helps to avoid issues like difference in language, culture, legal affairs, infrastructure and technology. Also, nearshoring provides process outsourcing services in the same time zone as their customers do, which is an amazing advantage.

Nearshore outsourcing also helps when online interaction is a must, that way nobody has to wake up early or stay up late at night to finish a task and this has a significant impact on productivity.

It is well documented that time and cost of travel to faraway places and strain on productivity are high when working in a different time zone. Nowadays companies engaged in fast development processes need constant communication with their outsourcing partners. What nearshoring does is that it places personnel on both ends of the phone line in the same or similar time zones. This increases the hours of communication in either direction.

Mexico’s closeness to the US means that compatible working-hours facilitate communication, enabling rapid development processes. No more phone calls during personal time! Besides, travel is more convenient, affordable and comfortable. There are more flights from the US to Mexico than to any other country.

Nearshore helps to facilitate communication and enables effective and efficient development processes. It also helps travelling and fixing problems in real-time which is crucial for successful outsourcing.

Offshore Outsourcing http://offshoreoutsourcing.org/offshore_outsourcing.asp

Pros and Cons of Onshore, Nearshore and Offshore Models, Mike, 2008 http://www.sourcingline.com/resources/pros-and-cons-of-onshore-nearshore-and-offshore-models

Why Nearshore to Mexico? http://softwarenextdoor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=2&lang=en

Nearshore Benefits http://www.softtek.com/en/global_nearshore_benefits.php

Time Zones Do Matter: Rediscovering the Americas and Nearshore Delivery, Dana Stiffler http://www.cio.com/documents/pdfs/AMR_Research_REPORT_20739-Time_Zones_Do_Matter_Rediscovering_the_.pdf

Communication: The Holy Grail of Outsourcing, Gabriel Fuchs, 2007 http://www.cio.com/article/137952/Communication_The_Holy_Grail_of_Outsourcing

Benefits of Near Shore Outsourcing, Fedric Johnson http://ezinearticles.com/?Benefits-of-Near-Shore-Outsourcing&id=3470150