The Most Common Mistakes When Building Offshore Development Teams

by The Scalers Offshore Development Teams In India

When technology companies want to scale their software development, it's good practice to explore different options. However, for this post we're going to focus our attention on the most popular one: offshoring.

When companies decide to go offshore and build a team of talented engineers in another country (usually a developing tech nation like India), it's far from certain that they know how to do it. Or at least how to do it well.

And that can cause problems, potentially derailing the whole project before it gets off the ground!

If you're interested in offshore software development but have some hesitation over the how to move forward, we've got you covered. Let's take a look at the main mistakes companies commit when offshoring, as well as actionable advice for avoiding them and suggestions for a better strategy!

1. Underestimating the importance of an offshore partner

It's easy to research offshore development and be confident you can do it all on your own. After all, it's just hiring a few cheap developers and renting an office space - right? It's like selling your house: you could sell it yourself, but an experienced real estate agent will get a better price, more quickly, and with considerably less hassle.

When taking your software development offshore, it's crucial to work with an offshoring partner; the guys who know the industry, know the culture, and have seen it all before.

Why?

Two reasons. One, because you're only one person and there's only so much that you can do. Juggling the recruitment process, setting up an office, and all the extra administrative duties is a lot of work.

The other is that extending a company into another country, with a totally different social and work culture, takes expertise. Our founder Emilien worked in India for years before truly understanding how to bridge Western and Eastern work forces.

So, what can you do?

You can work with an offshore software development company to help guide and control your expansion. We've even put together some advice for choosing the best offshoring partner, to help simplify the process.

2. Offshoring to the wrong location

If you're taking development offshore, it's probably because recruiting locally isn't working out. Knowing where to look for your engineers is always the first hurdle!

The first instinct of many companies is to look nearby. We're irrationally prone to valuing proximity over talent, cost, or broader infrastructure. For instance, A German company might first look to Ukraine, since they share a similar time zone and are only a short flight away.

But as soon as your development leaves Germany, is there really any difference between going 1,000 miles and going 10,000 miles?

Where should you go?

India.

India produces roughly 1.5 million engineers every year, a number that is unmatched across the globe. India is also one of the fastest growing economies in the world today, and a real goldmine for tech companies.

With an effective recruitment process, you can access the largest, most talented tool of English-speaking software engineers on the planet. Cities like Bangalore are hubs for IT innovation and are home to some of the world's biggest tech companies.

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