Face-to-face time is essential in any relationship, whether it’s personal or business. Studies show that regular face-to-face meetings with software development teams help mitigate unexpected management costs that are directly related to project confusion and/or miscommunication. Sufficient facetime may not guarantee perfection, but it does lower the likelihood of setbacks such as fixing or rewriting code, redesigning processes, or moving projects back inhouse, all of which can be costly in terms of time and money. A Ventoro poll showed that over one-third of executives took offshoring projects in house because of performance issues.
This can certainly become an issue for companies that engage in traditional offshoring to countries in Asia, where the time zone difference is not conducive to regular facetime. However, nearshoring allows companies to engage with their development teams more frequently without sacrificing productivity. Nearshoring to Latin American countries, particularly Mexico, minimizes and often eliminates this problem, not just because of the similar time zones, but also because of other tangibles such as cultural compatibility. More and more companies are learning of the nearshoring option, and others would do well to become educated. Learn more.