Why Startups Use Offshore Software Development to Boost Productivity

When people think of startups, they often think of the perks that come with them, the free food, the air hockey table and even the dog-friendly work space, but is this really what people want? It’s becoming more and more apparent that the future of startups may not be about physical space at all, but more focused on remote-first work environments. What if employees didn’t have to commute into work and could instead contribute and deliver from the comfort of their own homes or remote offices (in alternative countries)? It’s an interesting prospect and one that’s increasingly becoming a reality. Scaleups are quickly recognising the value of such an approach and are turning to remote workforces like offshore software development partners who can deliver the technical output they need, without ever being in the office. 

This distributed approach presents major opportunities for scaleup companies who can embrace the many benefits, while mitigating the challenges. Offering the ability to execute development output rapidly, startups can unlock significant competitive advantages by taking the distributed team approach. 

With challenges around hiring capable technical talent and difficulties competing on salary for experienced employees, using remote software partners often makes good sense and ensures a startup’s ambition isn’t limited by its access to knowledge and skills. 

In this blog, we take a deeper look at why forward thinking startups are turning to offshore software development partners and how they’re boosting productivity. 

Why Scaleups Are Hiring Offshore Software Development Partners to Improve Productivity

In the past, the size of a scaleup business’s workforce was often dictated by the size of its revenue, but these days are over. Now we have billion-pound businesses with less than 100 employees and zero offices - and this can largely be attributed to remote technical talent. 

Remote talent has been particularly valuable for businesses operating in high cost areas or tech hubs. With excessive competition for talent, high employee turnover and rapidly growing costs, scaleups have had to consider alternatives to find the development resources they require. As a result, scaleup companies have increasingly turned to offshore software development partners as a means of sourcing the necessary technical skills and resources. By taking this approach they’re able to avoid the challenge of building and scaling an in-house team; a task that can often be difficult, expensive and inefficient. 

A remote team requires no office and little in the way of internal investment, and this is particularly convenient too. By avoiding HR necessities like benefits, pension and bonuses, companies can keep their operational costs down, further enabling growth and resource optimisation. In addition, by offering quick access to critical technical talent, an offshore approach allows senior staff to focus on what really matters; getting products to market and growing their business. 

With instant access to partner experience and a ready-built team of technical professionals, scaleups can hit the ground running, radically speeding up the development process and getting features to market quickly. This can often make all the difference when it comes to driving growth and fulfilling business ambitions. Not only does this improve speed to market, but it also enhances development efficiency too as the team already understands technical best practices, learned from previous experience. 

Alleviating the Strain on Internal Staff

By bringing in an offshore software development partner, startups are able to alleviate the pressure on their internal teams. In many instances, these technical employees are stuck in the depths of delivery and this creates problems when it comes to maintaining productivity and spending time on r & d projects to push the business forward. 

In addition, with so much riding on their capabilities and output, the stress of these technical roles can often lead to a high staff turnover. This is majorly problematic when finding skilled replacements within budget is so difficult. It’s in all startup’s interests to look after their internal teams to maximise efficiency and avoid the need for regular recruitment, which is often long-winded and expensive. This is where an offshore team can help, by picking up simpler, more time-consuming jobs, the internal team can prioritise and work on the projects that will make the greatest material impact to the business.  

Why Scaleups Work With Offshore Software Development Partners 

By engaging with an offshore software development partner, scaleups can often develop competitive advantages that give them an edge in the market. For example, they can tap into the skills they need, when they need them, rather than bringing permanent hires into the business and trying to keep them busy. 

When you consider 46% of startups fail because they run out of money, managing cash flow in such a way makes good sense for all involved. With greater control over costs, money can be more effectively managed and allocated to the right areas, when it’s needed most. This flexibility can sometimes be the difference between success and failure, so it’s easy to see why scaleups embrace an offshore software development partner over an in-house team. 

Sourcing Niche Talent  

When it comes to technical projects, niche talent is often critical to world class delivery. The very best developers are often hard to find in the local area and so it makes sense for businesses to expand their horizons in search for the best person for the job. This is particularly important when it comes to optimising resources, finding specialists in the technical field is critical and ensures generalist developers aren’t forced to compromise by delivering outside of their comfort zone. Scaleups can’t afford inefficient, inexperienced or compromised technical delivery and so it’s key to find the specialists that can deliver above and beyond expectation every time.  

By tapping into the global talent pool, scaleups can ensure their ambitions are fully realised and not capped by accessibility to technical skills and knowledge. 

In the same way cloud technology reduced technical costs for scaleups, a distributed workforce approach should help achieve the same outcome in regards to hiring costs. By eliminating location limitations, distributed teams can be built quickly at an affordable cost, enabling rapid scalability and industry leading efficiency. 

Scaleups that embrace an offshore software development partner will supercharge their productivity, reducing the time it takes to get features to market with the best professionals for the job delivering on a daily basis.