The world might be on pause right now, but many businesses are working harder than ever to innovate and survive the future economic fallout of COVID-19, a necessity that some companies are finding much easier with support from their nearshore software development partners.
Organizations in all industries are rushing to develop strategies that will ensure their relevance once the crisis comes to an end. Even at this early stage, many companies are directing resources toward software development projects that can help them meet customer demands during and after the pandemic. In fact, 40% of companies worldwide expect no change to their IT budgets in 2020, while 21% expect an increase in budgets due to COVID-19, according to a study by Statista.
And while it can be difficulty to engage in strategy planning right now, many companies are taking actions and performing scenario planning to see how they can prepare for or help to bring about the recovery phase of the pandemic world.
Developing software is one of the best ways to keep things running during the age of Coronavirus, which is why nearshore development partners are helping companies step up to the challenge. Here’s how nearshore software development partnerships can help organizations continue to innovate during this difficult time.
High-Quality, Cost-Effective Teams
Even with IT budgets increasing, companies should look for ways to get more for less out of their software development teams.
Nearshore development companies are home to world-class developers on a par with Silicon Valley engineers, but at much lower rates. In Latin America, average wages are traditionally lower due to cheaper living costs, and with the USD stronger than most currencies in the region, companies can get more bang for their buck when choosing a suitable outsourcing partner.
Even so, cost isn’t everything; added value and high-quality applications are far more impactful to the company’s long-term success. More and more companies are working with creative nearshore partners to improve software quality, enhance the user experience, and advance in their respective markets. With the right nearshore partnership, organizations can maximize their performance and profits through innovation, building a durable business that can weather any storm.
Intercultural Teams Build Better Software
When composing development teams of people from several different backgrounds, great things always happen. For one, people with different cultures tackle problems in different ways, bringing a diverse range of ideas to the table, as well as highlighting certain experiences or problems that weren’t apparent to everyone. As a result of that larger pool of knowledge, projects move faster and run smoother, freeing up time to innovate and experiment with creative solutions.
“Software often requires major adaptations for different markets – that is, companies can rarely roll out the same products in different languages for different countries.” Nearshore software development partnerships are all about leveraging the knowledge and expertise of developers from different countries while complimenting the skills and experiences of your own teams to help adjust to different countries. It’s not always straightforward, but working with a diverse team allows companies to more accurately address the needs and realities in different places.
At Perficient Latin America, we have developers from Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Belgium, Italy, France and more. At the same time, we have client partnerships throughout the United States and Europe, adding even more cultural diversity. It’s clear to us that these cultural differences have been, and continue to be, highly beneficial to our projects.
Partners in Innovation in IT Outsourcing
With the prospect of long-term lockdowns, resilient, innovative development teams are essential for software projects to thrive during this crisis. Nearshore developers have worked under similar conditions for many years, balancing work-at-home with remote meetings and virtual training platforms, all while uncovering new ways to innovate and overcome immediate challenges.
This focus on innovation is part of the reason more U.S. companies are searching for suitable partners in the nearshore region. In Latin America, people are generally highly creative, expressive, and have learned to take a more direct approach to their communications with North American clients. From our perspective, this winning combination is regularly leading to some impressive innovations.
Even more, countries and cities within Latin America are investing heavily in innovation and technology. Medellin just released ambitious plans to firmly cement the city as Latin America’s premier destination for software development and the top nearshore outsourcing projects company. The city has already received numerous accolades and invested heavily in STEM education for people of all ages.
Finding a Qualified Service Provider
Nearshore development partnerships are very different from outsourced staff augmentation services—with the latter, you might get a handful of good developers to build out your team, but when partnering with well-established nearshore software development companies you have access to teams of developers with high levels of institutionalized knowledge in specific industries.
Latin American countries like Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, and Costa Rica have become notable players in the global software development market, thanks to a large pool of software engineering talent, high levels of English proficiency, convenient time zone alignment, and cultural affinity to the US market. Their experience has led to several nearshore providers partnering with Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries, highlighting the level of quality available with the right partners.
If your organization is looking to retain its focus on innovation or enhance its software development projects during COVID-19 and well into the future, look no further than the American Nearshore.
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Schedule your 30 min consultation with Perficient Latin America’s nearshore outsourcing experts. There’s never been a better time.
