How to source the right location for your tech teams - onsite, onshore, nearshore or offshore?

Several weeks back I put out a piece on how to assess your business needs against different tech resourcing models which was an overview of staff/team augmentation, dedicated teams and project/outcome based models.

You may have seen several of my articles where I talk about nearshore but what I haven't addressed yet is the thinking and decision-making process that goes in to deciding whether onsite, onshore, nearshore, offshore or a hybrid approach is best for your business.

Varying factors weigh in when it comes to deciding on the location to source your resource from. Things like the cost, talent pool available, cultural differences and time zones are usually the first things that spring to mind but there are other factors to consider like the security risk, project scoping, staff retention and team wind-down times if you need to scale back.

The following table can be used to assess the four different types of sourcing location to?see which is the best-fit against your requirements.

It's important to note that although nearshore usually has a little time difference that the right partner will work to your onshore time zones to encourage communication and collaboration.

A common theme I come across when speaking to technology leaders is that they have partnered with nearshore and offshore businesses in the past that have required 3-6 month wind-down notices which aligns closely to a project or outcome based model. If you want to keep ownership and responsibility of your projects then a staff/team augmentation model may be the right choice for you. With an augmentation approach the right partner will agree to commercials of a 2-4 week wind-down notice.

If you're thinking about these things for upcoming projects here is a link to the?BrightBox Group?Guide that goes through all of these models and decision making factors in a lot more detail.