At ScreenIT we understand not all companies are ready to take the decision of having a new team or extend the existing one to a new geography. So here we expose important checks to do before any movement.
Beyond lower cost, there are plenty of elements that you should consider in case your company needs to find an IT nearshore/offshore vendor.
I’m sure there are a lot of different providers options. To effectively select the right one without any risk, here what you have to focus on.
Key areas to select an IT outsourcing vendor:
On top of the list, you must consider finding an IT nearshore provider from an “easy of doing business” country, this is crucial to easily ramp up your software operation. This means the country is prepared to easily set up a new business, process are few and in most of the cases slim, facilities and infrastructure exist and especially the government’s instances are aware that setting up a new business is a priority for the country.
Availability of skilled labor and competitive costs are also key for success. Mexico is the nation with the largest number of graduates in engineering and tech fields. (Deloitte). Our certified recruitment team does a great job hunting the IT talent needed for each of our customers.
If talking about costs it is demonstrated that project costs are reduced in at least 33% (KPMG 2016). Here a link in case you would like to review details of the cost calculation used inside ScreenIT.
Reliability. There is no doubt that you must do your own research before any start. Asking some questions will help you to fully understand the vendor’s capacity to provide you a service. Here are some we invite you to gather information about. For how long has the IT outsourcing provider has been in the field? Have they grown steadily during this time?, How many clients do they have?, How many clients have they lost?, Have they work with multicultural projects? Do they have business experience with your country? Do they know the business and etiquette rules? And what about their staff?
Verifiable feedback from your future vendor’s clients is a good sign of a trustable and solid business partner. 10 years in the industry make ScreenIT a reliable partner as an IT nearshore outsourcing provider. We have longstanding relationships with our clients and staff. Interested to know our latest case of success?
Talent Retention. A record of low staff turnover can set the precedent of a successful operation. Talent loose can be debilitating through a project and make you lose time and money because you will have to spend it on looking and training new human resources for the project. If not sure about vendor’s background on this topic, you can give a look to their perks, work environment, and company culture, these can always help to figure out how the relationship with staff and members is and how comfortable they may be working in there.
Local expertise
Don’t expose your business to turn out with risk. Make sure to select a partner that knows how to operate exactly in the region you decided to establish. Companies like ScreenIT that has been operating in Mexico for around 10 years are good options, we know how to effectively operate here, you can learn from us and use that knowledge to perform an effective transfer if needed. A decade is easily said but implies lots of work and consistency to get contracts with our customers from Silicon Valley and other US cities, India, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ukraine. Our experience includes projects executed in those countries – we have sent IT skilled professionals – and projects brought from those countries to Mexico.
It is worth to say that this year we have started operation with our historical business partner: the great Canada.
Security
Evaluate your future provider’s location and data protection practices. A trustable vendor will always have no problem to understand and commit with any special requirement to protect your data. Indeed, they must have a strong strategy to accomplish any data security need.
Infrastructure and communication
Your nearshore IT team will need to connect with your on-site team and access to your network, so it is important to ensure that the vendor has a good infrastructure related to Internet connection, as well as adequate tools and resources for it.
The on-site team and project manager need also to have an efficient communication with nearshore team members whenever they need to, that’s why you have to find a provider with all the necessary resources to guarantee it.
As you will have to take part of your nearshore operation and have continuous meetings with them, it will always be a good idea to find a friendly and flexible partner that offers you possibilities to use their facilities like if they were yours and to assure a useful and comfortable space for your external team for daily meetings with you and the rest of the team. See our Virtual Captive service. Friendly and flexible includes you can easily get together by any communication media – Mexico has a wonderful internet and telephony infrastructure that can be used at any time. Having your team in Mexico means you can talk to it following your operation schedule as the countries proximity is a natural helper. 2 or 3 hrs by plane and you will be face to face with your team addressing any pending topic. We have written in the past about the benefits of the Nearshore from Mexico, you can further review it here.
Remember, transparency is one of our core values and ScreenIT encourages you to visit us in Mexico, not only to follow up the work but also for you to know how your nearshore IT team works.
As a result…
of evaluating above factors, there is no doubt you will find your perfect extended arm whenever you want to establish it, but if you ask me… I’d say Mexico is definitely your best option.