The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the business world forever. Businesses were forced to adopt means and methods that they vehemently argued to be less effective to hold their own ground against the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, these means were more value-adding, result-yielding, and cost-effective than most businesses think. This has created a brand-new, reshaped landscape for businesses that necessitates quick diversification on the part of businesses to not face the current problems but also to take advantage of the myriads of opportunities that come along the way.
One of the major challenges of the current pandemic is the shortage of talent. The pandemic has only fanned the flame of talent crunch that the world was already feeling the heat from. But crises are a part of doing business and every crisis is an opportunity to find new, inventive ways of doing business.
That is why businesses are increasingly looking at offshore development teams to be the answer for all the concerns of tech talent crunch. If you are thinking that you already outsource, and what difference this makes, well, there is more to developing offshore teams than meets the eye.
To understand what we are saying, let’s dig deeper:
The Impact of Covid-19 on Business
The impact of Covid-19 on the world and the industry as a whole will linger for years to come. There is no escaping from the machinations that the pandemic has set into motion—the way businesses are done, the way people work, and the way people live their lives have changed in more ways than one. The global IT and Business Services market is expected to fall by about 10% in 2020 compared to 2019. All thanks to Coronavirus. Who knew a tiny virus can rewire our reality in such proportions.
But the fact that it happened must explain the gravity of the situation. One of the biggest opportunities to come from the pandemic was the rapid adoption of digital technology by businesses to function.
While the process of digitization was already in motion, businesses were very sluggish in adopting it. They were taking their time, creating strategies, and whatnot. But with the pandemic, it was inevitable rather than a choice.
This made businesses that would otherwise have taken ten years to go digital adopt digitalization in a matter of months.
And this was good and bad. But, why?
As every business went on the digital path, they need talent that can help them continue to amble on the same path. They need engineers, technicians, network professionals, and IT security to ensure that they stay on the path as they want to.
These challenges have changed the businesses, and their priorities. In addition, this has also transformed the way customers and suppliers interact with businesses as they rely on technology-driven routes to carry out their requirements. If you search, in 2017, two years before we were hit by the pandemic, the most offshored IT function was software application development.
With the pandemic in play and businesses adopting digitalization like never before, there is only way offshoring software application development can go—up. This puts businesses again in the midst of a new test—the test of finding the right skilled technical workforce to keep up with the challenge of rapid digitalization.
How Can Offshore Development Teams Help Businesses as a Strategic Asset
One of the biggest issues that businesses now face is finding the right talent. And the best solution to the problem is developing offshore teams. In 2021, the revenue in the Segment IT Outsourcing is expected to hit USD 359,832.3 million.
And that will continue to grow to show that IT outsourcing will be a key part of any business.
Let’s take a look at the many ways offshore developers can prove to be a strategic and most valuable asset for most businesses.
Help Expand Existing Offerings and Offer New Services
Offshore teams can ensure that businesses have the option to expand their existing services in the best way possible. Now, the lack of talent would not pull them back. With the right and world-class talent in the offshore team, businesses will have the opportunity to improve their existing offers like never before. It would help them retain their customers better than they could.
Another way offshore development can help a business is by equipping them with the competency to offer new services. There are businesses that have the capability to offer unique services in their market but are limited by the lack of talent that can carry out their projects.
However, with offshore development teams, businesses will have diverse opportunities to support their existing and new customers in more ways than. This will certainly improve the value of the brand.
This can be seen from the IT outsourcing sentiment from the last two decades from 2000 to 2019 when the global outsourcing market amounted to USD 92.5 billion:
It Brings the Assistance of Experts to Meet Global Demands of Customers
Thanks to technology and changing world dynamics, the preferences and demands of customers change every now and then. However, it is always trying for businesses to keep up with such dynamics of customer behavior. With the help of skilled and expert global talent as part of their offshore developers, businesses can now take care of these challenges effectively.
The offshore team would have extensive experience and talent with them who are capable of working on a range of projects that can help the business satisfy the demands of global customers.
No matter what the niche or industry sector of the business, having an exceptional team of global technical talent will set the business on a new path of better business offerings, improved customer service, and stronger bottom lines and profitability.
It is the Best Solution for Overcoming Hiring Problems
Hiring the right talent for a project is always a headache for businesses. Not only does it involve time, effort, and money, it may not always provide the best results, either. With offshore teams, most businesses can largely avoid the pitfalls associated with hiring tech talent.
When hiring an offshore team, the company looks for special talents that the offshoring company already has. This can certainly put the business in an advantageous situation as they would not find themselves in hot water like with direct recruitment. With businesses rapidly looking for technical talent, it becomes a huge task for recruiters to find the right talent that they need and can sustain.
43% of hiring managers believe that DevOps will be the most challenging role to fill in 2021 thanks to the pandemic and rapid technology adoption:
In addition, most offshore teams offer tremendous financial benefits to the company as they are mostly from the Asia-Pacific region where the talent is extremely cheap to get in addition to being top-notch.
Not only will they help businesses bring their operational costs considerably down, but they will have access to expert talent who can carry out projects at the utmost quality and low turnaround time.
Helps Leverage Limited Resources and Bring Optimal Results
Another area where hiring an offshore development team can benefit a business is that it can help a business utilize its limited resources to bring impeccable and value-adding results. Unlike an office setup, the offshore business is equipped with all the required and technologically advanced infrastructure and equipment needed to carry out any project in the best way possible.
However, that may not always be the case with every business. They might lack the right resources for the internal team to work on a project. However, this will not limit the business from working on the project if they hire an offshore development team as they would be already and naturally fortified to do that.
It is the job of an offshore company to equip itself with all the required and advanced technology infrastructure, machines, and tools that its clients would need to work on a project. This saves businesses from having to invest on technology and tools that they might not use again on another project. On the other hand, since offshore companies tend to do similar projects for different companies, their survival in the market depends on their infrastructure. Hence, they are equipped technologically to meet any demands of their clients naturally, at all times.
Helps Save On Staffing and Training Costs
Another area of concern for businesses while hiring talent is the cost involved in hiring, training, and sustaining the talent. Everyone understands that top talent comes with a price tag, and it is expensive. Considering the affordability and availability of skilled talent, India is considered the most attractive offshore development destination in the world now.
In addition to all the expenses that come with hiring an employee, the cost of training talent is one of the most significant expenses. And training is not a one-time affair, it has to be carried out on a regular basis to ensure that the talent stays in the midst of the changes happening in the industry.
While it is important to have an adequate talent for a business, it does not make sense for businesses to hire people for every project it needs to execute and work on. This is where offshore development teams can make all the difference as hiring an offshore team can save the business a lot of money in terms of staffing, training, and retaining the talent.
It is the job of the offshore company to hire, train, and retain their talent, and make them available for businesses based on their project requirements. For an offshore company, having such talent makes sense as their primary product is projects done with the help of such talent. As they would undertake a myriad of projects needing such talent, retaining such expert professionals makes sense for them.
In fact, it is a part of their business strategy to have such talent to respond to the increasing demand for offshore companies from all parts of the world.
Offshore Teams Allow for More Flexibility in the Workplace and Timings
Another advantage of having an offshore development team for a business is that it allows for more flexibility in the workplace and timings. Most of the time, it is the Western businesses that look for offshore development companies.
And most of the offshore companies are in the Asia-Pacific region. This makes a lot of sense from a business point of view for business as they can save a lot of their time with each project they undertake. In addition, it also helps them have exceptional flexibility as well.
Such options cannot be driven from an in-house team who will mostly work in the same office or time-zone of the client. And there is not much advantage to be had. However, with an offshore development company to work with, your day can end with your offshore team starting to work.
And you can start your day with the completed work at your office reviewing the work already done. This is one of the most effective ways that having an offshore development team for you can bring value to your business.
Access to a Well-Trained and Experienced Workforce
Thanks to rapidly changing technologies, customer dynamics, and mounting competition, every business wants to deliver the best of services to their clients. And that’s a good thing. However, to be able to do that, you need to have the best of the workforce that you can get for your business.
But that is not an easy job at all. Even if you have the best of human resource recruiters, compensation packages, and growth opportunities, you may not get the talent that you need.
Because your competition might be offering something that you may not be able to offer. However, you cannot live without a well-trained and experienced workforce that is indispensable to the project that you are currently working on. So, what do you do?
You go for an offshore development company. They would have the best talent and they come with a cost-effective package that will bode well with your budgetary requirements perfectly. Without having to worry about training, staffing, and perks, you get the best, experienced, and expert talents. And they would have experience in working for many businesses like yours already.
Add that to the fact that the size of the IT services market is expected to grow to USD748 billion in 2020 with high value IT services along accounting for USD706.4 billion in 2022:
This will make it easier for you to collaborate, coordinate, and communicate with them while making it easier to manage them as you do not really have to.
What is more value-adding to you than that?
Ensures More Productivity and Efficiency with Every Project Undertaken
There is no doubt that offshore development companies have come a long way from their nascent stage. Not most of offshore companies are equipped with an extensive technological infrastructure that is state of the art. This ensures that every business that hires offshore talent is destined to get more productivity and efficiency with each project they undertake.
This can prove to be extremely value-adding for a business. One of the major challenges that businesses faced earlier to adopt offshore development means was the lack of communication and oversight. Lack of timely and cost-effective communication meant that not every communication was understood as it should be, which resulted in projects being delayed, misinterpreted, and developed not as per specifications.
However, that’s the story of the bygone era. Thanks to better communication structures and project development frameworks, businesses have more control over how their projects are done. It is easier for businesses to communicate what they need and ensure that the project is progressing as they expect. Also once the expectations are set and communicated, there is minimal interruption in the workflow, which guarantees quicker project delivery.
Opens Up the Opportunity to Make an International Presence
Another way offshore teams can help a business is by paving the way for more opportunities in the international spectrum. Businesses that have excellent offshore talent can work on any kind of project that they seem keen on. As they would already have the necessary talent to work on the same, it would make sense for them to work on it.
Despite their perceived challenges against the adoption of technology, they are cutting it through in 2021, thanks largely to the pandemic:
This would surely open up numerous opportunities for the business as they can now venture into various business verticals that they might not otherwise can. This will help the business to create its own brand in the international arena.
Obviously, this cannot be done if the business always relies on an in-house team that may be limited in its exposure and talent. However, with the right offshore talent, this will become much easier than businesses would have thought.
Key Takeaways
Although it has been long postulated and argued for in the business spectrum, remote working is the future. While security threats have largely been attributed to be the biggest challenge that businesses pointed against it, the necessity to work remotely during the pandemic has shifted the tables in favor of remote work and offshore development teams.
Apart from this, the advances happening in the field of cybersecurity, cloud computing, and data security have further pushed the world of business to be more secure against cyber threats.
Therefore, the lingering question that should be answered at the moment is ‘Why should businesses limit themselves with hiring talent when it wishes to expand everything else on a global scale?’ They should not. While many businesses still fall back to the cost-effectiveness of offshore for which it was established in the first place, it is now more about getting the talent that you need but cannot get anywhere else. That is the primary objective of hiring an offshore development team. Every other benefit that you can get from hiring offshore talent is a derivative and not its purpose.
