The decision to use an in-house, near-shore, or off-shore software development team for your next project is undoubtedly a difficult one to make. We’ve included some of the pros and cons that we factor in for each option to help you in evaluating which is right for your project schedule, quality and cost. 

In-House Development comes with its perks: The development team knows your corporate culture and core business values; you handpicked each developer and are familiar with their unique skillset; Communication is easy as your programmers are often located in the same building as you and their work schedule syncs with yours. However, such perks come with a cost. Investing in just the right set of experts for your project can mean the added cost of corporate employee benefits and salary, as well as extending your schedule while trying to source from the appropriate talent pool. Pending the right project and available cash flow, an in-house team could be a good fit. 

“Near-Shoring” involves selecting a development partner in a different country or region. What distinguishes “near-shore” development from “off-shore” development is the fact that the partner is still geographically in the same region or time zone, and culturally, they are very similar to your team. This means there will be a common language spoken with fluent communication between the two parties and simultaneous business hours. In addition, “near-shoring” gives you access to a large talent pool for an affordable price that might not be available to you locally. There are, however, some drawbacks: The project is quite literally out of your hands and outside of your country. You likely won’t have the luxury of meeting your programmers in person and meetings will all be performed virtually, meaning a collaborative team under one roof will not be possible. 

Off-Shore Development is going to come first out the gate when it comes to pricing, but proceed with caution. While cost is a big part of your project, schedule and quality are also huge components. An off-shore team is going to come with some complicating factors: A different time zone, cultural challenges and language barriers, to name a few. Meticulous communication is essential in making an off-shore development team work for you. If there is any communication lacking, whether that be in the form of an inferior SOW or an absent project manager, the project can easily get off schedule and the budget can soar. 

Two key factors in selecting which of the above strategies to utilize are the clarity and completeness of your business & technology requirements and also the anticipated changes in the use-case, desired functions, interfaces or architecture. The further you get from home, the more disruptive and difficult it is to respond to the realistic changes that seem to take place in the majority of software projects today.