How to Start Your Company with an Offshore Team?

Introduction

Are you establishing a tech startup? Selecting a proficient development team is crucial. But how to find one? How to acquire a reliable team that can take your business to the next level?

Well, before getting started, Did you know?

Nearly 94% of IT companies outsource parts of their business. Surprisingly, 59% do it to reduce costs while boosting efficiency and project delivery.

Yet, a fully offshore software development setup is gaining traction, transforming from just being a trend to a necessity. It not only offers a wide range of benefits but also instills confidence in the startup owners that a dedicated overseas team is working to deliver quality work.

When choosing an offshore team and defining your partnership strategy, it is essential to ensure that these decisions are closely aligned with your company's business goals.

Are you searching for your key to success?

Look no further than finding trustworthy professionals who consistently deliver excellence. This is where a reliable offshore development services partner comes in. They handle the intricate processes, providing pre-vetted experts who offer cost-effective solutions.

While an offshoring partner streamlines the process, there’s more involved in achieving success. To ensure you’re equipped with the knowledge necessary for success, this blog covers everything from ideation to creation. Dive in to learn the full scoop!

How Offshoring is beneficial for businesses?

Setting up an offshore software development team brings ample benefits for businesses. A few of them include:

• Enhanced Quality

“Shortage of skills is one of the top challenges faced by businesses.”

Opting for a leading offshore team provides companies with access to a diversified pool of highly skilled and experienced professionals from around the world. This allows them to tap into the knowledge and experience of international workers to develop exceptional products and services. Offshore teams also bring technical expertise from regions with strong educational backgrounds, ensuring your projects are handled by top-tier talent.

Offshore teams are available 24/7 and can assist companies in ensuring the timely and accurate delivery of their offerings. By leveraging different time zones, businesses can achieve round the clock productivity, maintaining continuous work cycles and enhancing overall efficiency. Additionally, offshore teams offer cost savings and flexibility, making them a valuable asset for businesses looking to scale and expand their operations. Delegating development tasks to offshore teams allows companies to focus on strategic initiatives and core business goals.

• Lower Operating Costs

Building teams in emerging tech hubs like India is much cheaper than in major cities like Paris or London—lower costs for office space, equipment, administration, and human resources. Generally, the lower cost of living makes it more budget-friendly. Offshore teams enable companies to scale their development projects efficiently without the additional costs associated with building and maintaining a local team.

With the cost of living in India 72% lower than in the US, forming an offshore development team is a practical choice. Get started now!

• Versatility

Offshore teams provide enhanced flexibility and scalability, enabling companies to expand their operations without substantial investments in extra infrastructure or assets. Compared to building a local team, offshore teams offer a more cost-effective and scalable solution for growing businesses.

• Cost Effectiveness

When starting a business, it's essential to consider the cost of resources. When building a team, finding the right balance between talent and cost-effectiveness is crucial for any emerging business. This is where offshoring can be very helpful. 

It provides access to top-notch industry skills at almost half the cost. By choosing offshoring, you can save not only on salaries but also on benefits and perks for your development team. In contrast, building a local team often involves higher expenses and longer timelines for scaling.

• Opportunity to scale

Scaling your operations with the help of a reliable offshoring partner is a risk-free and straightforward process. You can hire for any role without the usual financial and operational upheavals.

• Value on Investment

Creating an offshore development team allows access to scarce skills and saves costs. When comparing an in house team to an offshore team, the latter offers greater flexibility and reduced management overhead, allowing you to focus on core business objectives. It is important to choose offshore partners with a proven track record to ensure reliability and quality in project delivery.

• Custom built teams

Offshore teams offer control over developer selection, project focus, and scheduling. They provide access to top-notch engineers at a cost-effective rate, ensuring tailored solutions for your business needs. With a professional offshore team, you get expertise, efficiency, and cost optimization without the usual complexities. Compared to an in house team, offshore teams may require different management approaches but can integrate seamlessly to optimize your development processes. Offshore teams also provide access to specialized technical expertise that may not be readily available locally.

• Sustainable Scaling

Imagine a situation where your business is doing well, and you are getting more inquiries than you can manage. Although this is a positive situation, it can also be frustrating when you want to expand and need new developers for scaling up. Adding new developers to your offshore team is a faster and simpler process than doing it locally.

To summarize, the table presented below lists the benefits of hiring an offshore developer. 

Hire Offshore developers today to acquire all the aforementioned benefits!

Key Stages of Building an Offshore Development Team

Are you planning to build an offshore development team for your business? Ensure to take note of the following key stages of building an offshore development team:

• Select the Suitable Offshore Partner

Check a company's case studies to learn about their clients and outcomes. Talk to them to understand their values and approach.

• Familiarize Each Other

Your offshore partner will listen carefully to your needs, understand your methodology, and provide valuable insights throughout the process. They will also help facilitate collaboration between offshore and onshore teams to ensure seamless teamwork and knowledge sharing.

• Approve the Proposal

You will receive a personalized proposal with all the financial details for creating a tailored global team for your business.

• Start building Team Formation

Your partner manages job postings to initial technical interviews. You can quickly conduct final interviews and select the top candidates.

• Establishing Office and Equipment

Leveraging local contacts and expertise, your partner secures a suitable office space, top-notch equipment, and administrative personnel and readies the team for launch.

• Introducing New Engineers

Introducing new team members to their roles and aligning them with company culture. It is important to familiarize new hires with ongoing projects to ensure smooth onboarding and effective knowledge transfer. Team integration activities, such as mentorship and team-building efforts, help new engineers adapt to company culture and processes.

• Diving into the Tasks

Now that all the preparations are done, it’s time to bring your new team to the office to start working on the tasks at hand. You can expect weekly progress reports from your offshore partner, which will detail your team’s progress. Regular meetings are held to discuss progress and review project progress, ensuring everyone is aligned and any issues are addressed promptly. Additionally, they will be readily available for calls and queries throughout the week.

• Everyday Assistance and Team Interaction

How to build an offshore team for your startup?

Bringing an offshore team into your startup requires more than just a casual approach. It demands thorough comprehension, meticulous planning, and strategic thinking.

“Be clear about what you expect from the offshore team”

It is crucial to set clear objectives and expectations before starting your search for offshore employees. Spend time thinking about the tasks you want to delegate to the offshore team, the outcomes you expect, and the communication channels you'll use. By defining these goals and expectations precisely, you can find the right candidates and ensure everyone involved understands and agrees on them. This can help promote alignment and prevent misunderstandings down the line.

2. Conduct a Pre-screeing Evaluation

Conducting a pre-screening process is crucial in making an informed hiring decision. This involves evaluating candidates based on the qualities and skills that match the company's requirements. It includes reviewing relevant job experiences, knowledge of programming languages or software applications, and any achievements or accolades.

Additionally, it is important to assess candidates' participation in relevant training programs to ensure they have received adequate training and are well-prepared for offshore roles.

3. Interview the right candidates

Conduct Interviews with Skillful Candidates. Interviews allow you to assess if a candidate possesses the necessary skills and qualities that align with your business objectives. Establish a benchmark to discern which applicants meet your predefined standards.

4. Start with the small projects

When integrating an offshore team into your business, starting with small projects is a smart and strategic move. This approach allows you to test the waters, giving both your company and the offshore team an opportunity to adapt to each other’s working styles and expectations. By assigning manageable, well-defined tasks at the outset, you can assess the offshore team’s technical abilities, responsiveness, and understanding of your project requirements.

Small projects also provide a low-risk environment to establish clear communication protocols and build trust between your onshore and offshore teams. As the offshore team demonstrates their skills and reliability, you can gradually increase the complexity and scope of their assignments. This incremental approach helps foster team cohesion, ensures that the offshore team understands your business objectives, and allows you to identify and address any potential issues early on.

By starting small, you not only mitigate risks but also lay the groundwork for a competitive advantage—ensuring that your offshore team is well-prepared to take on larger, more complex projects in the future.

5. Establish clear communication

6. Use appropriate tools and documentation

Encourage your remote offshore team to participate in team meetings and company events to foster a culture of collaboration. Respecting cultural differences is essential to create an inclusive and collaborative team environment, as it helps everyone feel valued and understood. Celebrate their achievements regularly to maintain their motivation and engagement.

For more information on hiring an offshore development team, check out this comprehensive guide on “Hire Offshore Developers."

Team Members and Roles in an Offshore Team

A successful offshore team is built on the strengths of its diverse team members, each bringing unique skills and perspectives to the table. Typical roles within an offshore team include software developers, project managers, quality assurance specialists, UI/UX designers, and technical writers, among others. Clearly defining each team member’s responsibilities is essential to avoid confusion, prevent overlapping tasks, and ensure smooth project execution.

To maximize the benefits of working with offshore teams, companies should invest in cross-cultural understanding, language training, and cultural sensitivity training. These initiatives help facilitate seamless communication and collaboration, allowing team members from different backgrounds to work together effectively. By embracing the diverse skill sets and expertise of your offshore team, you can reduce development costs, tap into a global talent pool, and drive innovation.

Ultimately, well-managed offshore teams leverage their diversity to deliver high-quality results, accelerate project timelines, and support your company’s growth objectives.

Cultural Compatibility and Fit

Cultural compatibility is a cornerstone of successful offshore team collaboration. When managing offshore teams, it’s important to recognize that cultural differences can influence communication styles, decision-making processes, and overall team dynamics. To bridge these gaps, companies should prioritize cultural sensitivity training, cross-cultural understanding, and language training for both offshore and onshore team members.

Respecting and embracing different cultural practices fosters mutual understanding, builds trust, and strengthens team cohesion. Regular team building activities—whether virtual or in-person—can help offshore team members bond, share experiences, and develop a sense of belonging. Open communication channels and a willingness to learn from one another further promote a positive and inclusive work environment.

By actively supporting cultural compatibility, companies can ensure that their offshore teams work harmoniously, overcome challenges related to cultural differences, and achieve outstanding project outcomes.

Flexible engagement models are a game-changer for companies working with offshore development teams. These models allow businesses to adapt quickly to changing project requirements, scale resources up or down as needed, and respond to evolving market demands. Whether you choose a dedicated offshore development team, a project-based engagement, or a staff augmentation model, each approach offers distinct advantages.

With flexible engagement models, companies gain access to a global talent pool, enabling them to source specialized skills and expertise that may not be available locally. This flexibility also leads to cost efficiency, as you can optimize development costs by only paying for the resources you need, when you need them. Additionally, flexible models help accelerate project timelines, giving your business a competitive advantage by bringing products to market faster.

By leveraging the strengths of offshore teams through adaptable engagement models, companies can focus on their core business activities, achieve significant cost savings, and drive continuous growth and innovation.

How is Offshoring a feasible solution for your business?

Fully dedicated employees

You will have dedicated employees who are deeply invested in your products and services, thinking with a long-term perspective, and actively contributing valuable ideas to enhance your business.

A fiscally attractive solution

This is an appealing solution that offers access to the specific talent you need for rapid scaling, even when such talent is scarce in your current location.

Are you all set to find a reliable offshore development partner for your startup? Don’t forget to have a look at this checklist to hire an offshore development team.

How to find an offshore team for your startup? 

It's time to hire development teams for your startup. Here are some ways to find a dedicated team:

1. Recommendations or referrals from your network
2. Networking at conferences, hackathons, and meetups
3. Exploring tech talent marketplaces
4. Looking for offshore developers or teams by browsing through social media or LinkedIn.
5. Engaging the services of offshore software development agencies.

How to Choose the Best Offshoring Company?

Offshoring companies work differently, and they take advantage of varied technologies. Consider the following before hiring them:

• Ensure the offshoring company complies with international data protection standards to safeguard your data.

Pay Attention To Their Work Process

When looking for an offshore development company, it's important to find one that not only writes quality code but also understands your business requirements. They should have a unique approach to developing a product or service that will generate profit. Ask them for a well-designed plan outlining the project development phases and execution. 

The best approach is the lean approach, where startups focus on improving their value proposition rather than the way the final product is built. This means creating a minimum viable product (MVP) that meets the recommended requirements instead of investing time, money, and effort into developing a complete product. 

If the offshore company understands this approach, it can help you create an effective MVP while shortening the time-to-market. Allow the company to showcase its approach and evaluate if this is the right fit for your business needs.

How Your Startup Will Work With Them?

When you have decided to work with a company, it is crucial to check its framework. There are two terms you should remember: Agile and Scrum. The work methodology of the company should combine IT outsourcing and project flexibility while adhering to the best practices. You must ask them how soon you can expect progress. 

If the company works in shifts, expect the new working version of the product and the implemented changes. Make sure everything is functional, clear, and visible. 

When considering the product or service you will be getting, keep in mind that the quality of the product is a key aspect that differentiates a good outsourcing agency from a bad one. 

The team achieves quality through the complete development process while selecting the right tools, using continuous integration and deployment, and maintaining code quality.

Calculate The Final Cost

When choosing an outsourcing company, it's important to consider more than just the cost. While company 'A' may charge $30 per hour and company 'B' may charge $80, many other factors affect pricing, such as location, experience, methodology, technology stack, and more. It's important to evaluate the services offered by each company and not just their cost.

One country that is known for providing affordable and high-quality dedicated developers is India. Their per-hour cost is typically lower than other countries, making it a popular choice for outsourcing.

How to Hire a Reliable Offshore Team with YTII?

Forming an offshore team can be a challenging process that demands patience. However, selecting individuals who share your work ethic can help reduce potential future issues. 

YTII is dedicated to being your reliable partner for offshore solutions, offering exceptional support to your company. With our extensive years of experience and a well-qualified global network of talented professionals, we stand ready to efficiently assist in establishing your own team in India, making the process seamless and hassle-free.