It’s a cost-effective way to access a vast talent pool and grow your team while saving on recruitment headaches and costs.
What other benefits do you get?
And is it suitable for you?
We’ll answer these questions (and more) in this nearshore staff augmentation guide.
We’ll also share how Distillery can be your trusted nearshore staff augmentation partner for a hassle-free experience.
This Article Contains
- What is Nearshore Staff Augmentation?
- Nearshore Staff Augmentation: Who Is It For?
- 6 Massive Benefits of Nearshore Staff Augmentation
- Nearshore Staff Augmentation Vs. Temporary Staffing
- Best Countries for Nearshore Staff Augmentation (For US Companies)
- 5 Expert Tips for Successful Nearshore Staff Augmentation
- Expand Your Team With Distillery’s Tech Talent
What Is Nearshore Staff Augmentation?
Nearshore staff augmentation is an outsourcing strategy for hiring remote resources, like a software engineer or developer, with specialized skill sets. These resources are located in geographically closer countries, sharing similar or identical time zones.
The benefit?
Nearshore staff augmentation allows you to:
- Access a highly-skilled nearshore talent pool
- Save on recruitment overheads and other costs
- Quickly complete projects
- Easily scale your team based on project requirements
- Communicate and collaborate efficiently
For example, if you run a US-based company, you can outsource software development projects to nearshore locations in Latin America, like Mexico.
How do you do that?
By entrusting a reliable nearshore outsourcing service provider like Distillery.
As the parent company, you would retain complete control over project management and decision-making while leveraging the nearshore team’s expertise and resources.
(More on navigating nearshore staff augmentation later.)
Nearshore Staff Augmentation: Who Is It For?
You need a nearshore staff augmentation service if you face challenges in:
- Talent acquisition and retention: If you’re a small or mid-sized business, you may be unable to attract and retain top talent in competitive markets. It could be because job seekers are often attracted to prominent competitors due to their brand recognition and perceived stability.
- Budget: You have to operate under budget constraints and can’t afford onshore resources.
- Lack of in-house specialized talent: You don’t have the onshore recruitment infrastructure to support the hiring process and onboard skilled technical talent.
- High-volume workload periods: You need temporary, quick support during high-volume workload periods or seasonal spikes.
- Lack of control over outsourced projects: Traditional outsourcing models like offshore outsourcing may cause project hassles due to time zone and cultural differences.
Nearshore staff augmentation is the perfect answer to all these scenarios!
Next, let’s explore its advantages in depth.
6 Massive Benefits of Nearshore Staff Augmentation
Here are six compelling reasons to consider nearshore staff augmentation:
1. Cost Savings
Outsourcing software development to nearshore locations lets you access highly skilled technical talent, like a software developer, at affordable rates.
The nearshore staff augmentation model also lets you take advantage of the comparatively lower salaries, living costs, and currency rate differences to reduce operational costs.
For instance, the average monthly salary of a software developer in Mexico is around 30,500 MXN per month (approx. 1780 USD in July 2023), while it’s about 7,240 USD per month in the US.
What’s more?
Nearshore staff augmentation helps reduce overhead expenses like maintaining a physical office and purchasing laptops and other equipment.
You can invest these savings into crucial activities like research and development or marketing campaigns to grow your business.
2. Access to Superior Talent
Many developing countries have significantly invested in higher education to produce skilled talent.
For example, according to World Bank development indicators, Argentina’s labor force with advanced education degrees was around 80% in 2021.
Nearshoring lets you tap into this exceptional talent pool.
You can also retain your remote team by offering growth opportunities and competitive salary packages higher than local market rates — and still save on labor costs.
3. Faster Time to Market
Nearshore staff augmentation allows you to leverage overlapping work hours to improve project turnaround time.
For example, Buenos Aires, Argentina, is just an hour ahead of Washington DC.
So your in-house and nearshore development team will have several overlapping work hours, making it easier to communicate and address any issues in real-time.
The result?
You maintain a continuous workflow, minimize delays due to time zone differences, and gain a competitive edge by delivering products faster.
4. Easily Scale Up Your Existing Team
A nearshore software development team would augment the technical skill sets of your in-house team.
What’s even better?
The flexibility a nearshore staff augmentation model offers!
Whether you require a temporary developer with a specific skill set or long-term assistance, a nearshore development team can be easily scaled based on your project requirements.
5. Efficient Communication and Collaboration
The geographical proximity leads to overlapping work hours and shorter travel distances, making face-to-face meetings and on-site visits more feasible.
Moreover, most countries in Latin America prioritize English language education.
Did you know Argentina and Costa Rica ranked 30 and 37 among 111 countries on the English Proficiency Index in 2022?
This reduces language barriers and allows seamless project requirements and feedback transfer with your remote team.
6. Cultural Affinity
Being in close proximity allows your nearshore team to understand your cultural values, norms, and business practices better.
This cultural affinity enables both teams to interpret instructions and expectations more accurately, minimizing the chances of miscommunication.
It can also help simplify some operational decisions. For example, if you and the nearshore team share common holidays, you can easily plan project schedules around them.
Nearshore Staff Augmentation Vs. Temporary Staffing
Nearshore staff augmentation and temporary staffing are two common approaches to meeting employee shortages.
While the former is more strategic, the latter is a more tactical approach.
Here’s how they differ:
| Nearshore Staff Augmentation | Temporary Staffing | |
|---|---|---|
| Duration of Engagement | • Engagements can be both long-term and short-term. | • Typically short-term, seasonal, or based on project-specific needs. |
| Employee Management | • New staff usually integrates with the in-house team. • It helps you build long-term relationships with your nearshore teams, fostering better collaboration. This becomes important, especially for complex projects that require a consistent team with specialized skill sets. |
• New team members may not be deeply integrated into the company culture or operations. • Since there’s a constant churn of staff, you’ll face productivity gaps and challenges in knowledge transfer. |
| Geographical Focus | • Involves sourcing the right talent from countries near the home country of the business, with a focus on similar time zones and cultural alignment. | • Involves hiring team members locally or from any part of the world. |
| Level of Expertise | • Involves hiring highly skilled or specialized professionals to supplement the existing team, particularly in IT or software development. | • Can involve skilled professionals but is often used for more general roles or to fill in for absences. |
Do you think nearshore staff augmentation can help your business?
Let’s find out where you can outsource your business operations.
Best Countries For Nearshore Staff Augmentation (For US Companies)
US companies should look for a nearshore staff augmentation company in:
- Mexico: Mexico has an affordable IT workforce, developed tech infrastructure, and shares a similar time zone as the US.
It was also ranked 13th among the Top 50 Digital Nations in a research conducted by Tholon in 2021 for its investments and contributions to the software and digital industry.
- Argentina: The government conducts programs like free coding boot camps to shape skilled talents and attract nearshoring companies.
Argentina is also home to exceptional educational institutions, producing skilled tech talent. For example, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) is considered one of the best Latin American universities (QS World University Rankings, 2023).
- Costa Rica: San Jose in Costa Rica is only three hours behind Washington DC, enabling real-time communication and shared work hours. The country also has well-developed digital and telecommunication systems.
But look:
Regardless of the destination, you need careful planning and consideration to maximize the benefits of nearshore staff augmentation.
5 Expert Tips for Successful Nearshore Staff Augmentation
These pointers will keep your nearshore staff augmentation journey on track:
1. Choose the Right Nearshore Partner
Look for a partner with:
- A proven track record of delivering similar projects.
- Similar values, ethics, and work styles to ensure smooth collaboration.
- Exceptional communication skills and language proficiency, especially in the languages used within your organization.
A reliable partner like Distillery can help you hire great nearshore talent to execute your project successfully.
2. Establish Clear Expectations
Before you start your nearshoring journey, ask yourself the following questions:
- What specific tasks or projects do I plan to outsource to a nearshore team?
- What is the estimated budget and timeline for the nearshore engagement?
- What key skills and expertise should your nearshore resources have?
Ensure that your nearshore partner understands your goals and objectives clearly.
3. Maintain Proper Channels of Communication
Some ways to ensure proper communication are:
- Identify the most suitable communication channels for your team, like video conferencing tools, emails, instant messaging tools, and project management tools.
- Set expectations regarding communication frequency, response times, and availability.
- Create an environment where everybody can express their opinions freely.
4. Provide Adequate Training
Sometimes, nearshore teams may have different working styles than your in-house team.
In such cases, train them on how your business and project goals work.
Invest in training tools and team-building exercises to ensure your nearshore team is ready to tackle your project.
5. Monitor Progress and Adjust as Necessary
Monitor the progress of your nearshore staff to assess their productivity, quality assurance, and adherence to your goals and objectives.
You could:
- Establish key performance indicators like task completion rates or customer satisfaction scores and review them periodically.
- Schedule regular progress updates and check-ins as well.
Now let’s see how Distillery streamlines nearshore staff augmentation.
Expand Your Team With Distillery’s Nearshore Tech Talent
Distillery is a software development company that provides top-notch nearshore staff augmentation services.
We address custom software development needs in the most productive and cost-efficient way without compromising quality.
With experts in over nine different time zones, here’s how Distillery meets your nearshore staff augmentation needs:
- Helps extend your team without the cost of hiring, onboarding, and retention.
- Offers experts in all areas — from product development to project management.
- Provides long-term partnerships with dedicated developers and seamless integration into your team.
- Leverages the custom Service Delivery Approach (SDA) to optimize project timelines and scale as your project demands.
- Builds lasting client relationships through shared project goals and business objectives.
Ready to Gain a Competitive Edge With Nearshore Staff Augmentation?
Nearshore staff augmentation can be a game-changing business strategy.
It helps you access top-tier tech talent, reduce costs, optimize project workflows, and deliver quality results fast.
All you need is a trusted partner like Distillery! We can help you quickly onboard highly skilled professionals from top software development hubs like Mexico and Argentina.
Get in touch with us to start your nearshoring journey today!