In this article, we take a more in-depth look at the advantages of IT outsourcing, paying particular attention to the unexpected benefits companies stand to enjoy. The typical benefits that come with this model, case in point, are widely known: companies often outsource IT services to get access to global talents, save time, eliminate recruitment issues, etc. And while these advantages are sure to attract any firm, many still hold back out of fear for such aspects as potential communication issues or the impact of outsourcing cooperation on corporate culture.
With that said, here are the often-unforeseen perks of this model.
New Management Styles
One of the unexpected pros of IT nearshoring is that it exposes a company to new and beneficial forms of management. Case in point, when an outsourcing provider advises a contracting company to cooperate under the Agile methodologies (e.g., Scrum) or Kanban, the company’s leadership learns of these forms of engagement. Later, they can use the knowledge and skills gained from their cooperation to manage their inhouse, or even dispersed teams. Furthermore, Agile methodologies improve communication and result in better collaboration. According to the “State of Agile” report, 64% of surveyed companies claim that Agile model ameliorates business and IT alignment.
Improved Processes
Outsourcing helps improve the internal processes within a company. It is bound to happen since employees from the outsourcing company often introduce new and effective industry practices in the hiring company. In turn, this approach can make a company more scalable and give it access to a new market segment (from the developer’s country.)
Also, by working with a company within a short distance, there won’t be much, if any, time and culture differences. As such, employees in the outsourcing and contracting companies will get along quickly, driving operations and profits.
Access to New Tools
When you are working with an external IT services provider, you have a better chance of getting to know about new tools, practices, and technologies in software development. And that’s because IT specialists will know which latest tools are being used for what processes. These could be QA and testing tools, frameworks, deployment tools, profilers, bug trackers, etc.
Improved Product Quality
One of the most common myths associated with IT outsourcing is that delegating work to external teams may result in getting a product of lower quality. But in fact, if you hire an IT outsourcing company, it will usually come with several years of experience in the industry that employs professionals in a given area. So, you can expect to get better quality of digital products as opposed to when you hire and train your own team. Also, having multiple remote teams involved in software development creates healthy competition among them. Every team works hard to deliver the best quality.
Development of a Long-term Partnership
Outsourcing your IT services can also be beneficial because you build a long-term working relationship with the outsourcing provider. So, you won’t need to recruit an in-house team for future projects or seek for another IT outsourcing provider, but rather, you can simply delegate them to the remote team you already know and trust.
Instead of outsourcing your IT needs to a faraway vendor, you can opt to cooperate with a provider in a nearby country or location. Commonly known as the nearshoring model, this type of partnership offers additional benefits such as short travel distance, small/ non-existent time difference, similar culture, easy team scaling, and increased access to good developers.
See the case study and check for yourself:
Summary
All that said, outsourcing has the potential to offer businesses many amazing opportunities. From increasing efficiency to improving development quality and forming long-lasting partnerships. And if you nearshore, you can overcome some of the limitations associated with offshoring. The added value IT outsourcing bring comes as a surprise, but very often it is a decisive argument in prolonging cooperation which then turns into a real partnership.
Read more: Agile Scaling Frameworks
Absolwent fizyki technicznej na Politechnice Krakowskiej im. Tadeusza Kościuszki, od 4 lat zajmuje się sprzedażą rozwiązań IT, koncentrując się na rozwoju współpracy outsourcingowej w zakresie budowania zespołów, leasingu zespołów w technologiach JAVA, .NET, PHP i Front-End oraz platformach BI. Mocno wierzy w zasadę, że najważniejsze jest osiągnięcie celów biznesowych klienta, a tym samym w wyniki „win-win” dla obu stron. W wolnym czasie lubi biegać i wędrować.