A guide to choosing the right nearshoring partner

With the ever-growing need for software solutions and digital products, many companies can’t keep up with their projects and client demands with their limited workforce.

And we all know how difficult it is to hire the right talent for the right project. It takes a lot of time and effort to select employees, let alone onboard them into a technical project. 

Nearshore can be a promising option, as you can discuss your needs, goals, and requirements with a consulting partner, and the process will be straightforward, saving you time and costs. You won't need to worry about all the bureaucracy, reducing hiring risks and creating better control over costs as you can grow and reduce your team more easily.

But how do you choose the right nearshore IT consulting partner when there are so many options?

1. Define your goals and technical requirements first

This first step might look basic, but everything starts with the basics. Right? 

If you want to build a productive, fitting nearshore development team for your projects, you should sit down with your project managers and set goals and technical requirements before you start your research.

At HumanIT, we always tell our partners to be assertive when setting their talent profiles. It is better to be very specific with your goals and requirements and to look at fewer profiles. Fewer is usually better. 

There’s no point in being vague and looking through hundreds of profiles that aren’t a match at all. That’s also why we advise a quick initial workshop to get to know our client’s needs and goals and see if there’s a fit. 

We first conduct a market assessment, only then do we start going through the opportunities, developing your technical requirements, defining the technologies, and then matching you with the right people.

So, set up your project goals, soft skills, technical skills, and culture requirements, and you’ll have an easier time moving to the next steps in finding your best nearshore partners.

2. Always look into the industry experience and portfolio

When you’re in and about your research, always look into the industry experience and portfolio of different nearshore companies. The goal here is to check for similar projects as yours. 

If a consultant already has experience with projects in the same industry or technology as yours, it’s a green flag. Also, understand that the more experience a company has, the faster things get done, even if the initial costs seem higher.

For example, we have experience in many areas ranging from software engineering and product development to Data Science, DevOps, and Cloud. Before deciding, we advise partners to look into our portfolio and see if there’s a match for projects.

3. Select a 1 to 4 hours time zone difference

Communication is important to any work team. But it becomes especially crucial when hiring nearshore IT services for your projects. 

If you have team members in different countries and time zones, try to keep a maximum limit of 1 to 4 hours difference. Why? Because the larger the gap, the slower the response will be.

When looking for a nearshoring partner, make sure to check if there is talent available within your timezone, so you are able to send emails, schedule calls, and get a faster response during your team’s work hours.

4. Look for the right nearshore locations for your projects

If most of your projects are in Europe, you should definitely consider that when researching an IT nearshoring partner. So, for example, if you are in Central Europe, Portugal has been growing as a top location for tech companies looking to expand their teams. 

Portugal is known for its growing tech workforce of highly educated employees. Most tech professionals are fluent English speakers, so the language barrier is thin. 

The Portuguese workforce has a strong university background, and, together with excellent infrastructures (one of the top in the world), it makes a great place to create a nearshore operation. It's also worth noting the great weather, culture, food, airports, and political stability.

At HumanIT, we have offices in Lisbon, Porto, and Covilhã, covering the three biggest technological cities in Portugal. We have a vast team of highly trained professionals spread across the country who can support you in your European projects.

With that said, considering your project’s locations will help you choose the best consulting partner and get you the fast and quality response you need from your new team members.

5. Make sure they fit into your company’s culture

If you are bringing in a nearshore talent pool into your company, you need to make sure they fit into your company’s culture, not the other way around. You don’t want to disturb your own employee’s way of working and productivity and generate turnover. 

Long-distance collaboration can lead to misunderstandings in communication. For example, schedule, body language, expressions, holidays, traditions, etc.

So, when selecting an IT consulting partner, be clear about your company’s culture and way of working so there’s a match.

We usually follow a strict process to ensure our talent fits a specific company and project perfectly. We go through important aspects such as soft skills, technical knowledge, and potential cultural fit. 

Even after the hiring and onboarding process, there’s constant communication with our clients and talent in order to align expectations and gather feedback.

To conclude

Selecting a nearshore consulting partner is not an easy task. But once you get these steps in alignment, bringing in new talent into your projects will be more seamless and less costly than the traditional route.

We hope you find this guide useful, and if you need any help from us at HumanIT, feel free to reach out here.

Article written in collaboration with Priscila Correia.