Outsourcing is a business solution based on transferring resources and responsibilities to another company dedicated precisely to the provision of those services. In the world of information technology, software outsourcing has become an increasingly common practice, due to the advantages it represents.
The outsourcing process is closely related to the growth and advances in the area of information technology and information systems of organizations, and their impact on commercial, labor and government relations. Globalization, accompanied by the shortening of physical distances and the possibility of working with teams and organizations in different countries, have contributed to the advancement of this practice in the last 20 years. Nowadays, IT services outsourcing is an important solution for companies in various sectors to leverage their services.
Software Outsourcing or In-House Solutions?
It is no longer necessary for a company to have an area for each process, or technological infrastructure, to grow. In addition to a great advantage in cost reduction, the main opportunity offered by the outsourcing of technology services is related to innovation. Companies like Huenei have teams for the ideation, design and development of custom software products to achieve the best solutions for customers.
On the other hand, in-house development often implies that the team becomes outdated with respect to the advances of the industry and the global market. This means that service providers like Huenei can offer innovative and current results that constitute a point of differentiation for client companies.
Additionally, outsourcing in software development gives companies the possibility of focusing their activities on the core of their business, without neglecting the quality of the products developed by suppliers. This is precisely what it is all about, giving the company the possibility to focuse on the development of its strategic activities, free from worrying about adjacent tasks.
Software Outsourcing Modalities
In recent years, different countries have demonstrated a certain level of specialization or mastery in the outsourcing of services in different areas. For example, the provision of financial services for America and other countries around the globe is generally focused on countries such as Mexico, Argentina, India and other Asian countries, operating under the modality of shared services. It is common to find the provision of decentralized contact center services in Colombia or Peru for Spanish-speaking markets. And it is countries like Argentina, Chile and Brazil that are characterized by offering high-level technology and software development services.
In this sense, companies can choose three approaches when selecting an outsourcing service provider based on their location: Onshore, Nearshore or Offshore.
Onshore. Basically, it refers to the contracting of technology services to a company that is located in the same country. An example of this field is a project carried out by Huenei for Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (Argentina), which was based on the development of a passenger survey system with automatic analysis of responses and presentation of indicators on control panels.
Nearshore. This refers to companies that outsource services to organizations in countries other than their own, but which are close, either geographically, in terms of time zone, language, culture, or other relevant aspects. This generally allows for simpler adoption, less bumpy transfer of knowledge, and fewer hours of training. As an example we could mention the project carried out by Huenei for the Contraloría General de la República (Chile), where a mobile application was developed so that citizens can obtain information on public works carried out by the Government of Chile.
Offshore. Another method of outsourcing developments is Offshore, which consists of hiring the services of companies in countries other than their own, which are distant in terms of culture, geograpgy, location, language, etc. This strategy brings important advantages, like the Nearshore, but it is generally related to a greater reduction in costs, which justifies the cultural, time and language limitations in the relationship of individuals. To illustrate this alternative, we can talk about the development of a voice assistant platform that Huenei made for SoundHound (United States of America); the project consisted in the development of a voice recognition system.
As a conclusion to everything we have been discussing in this article, we can agree that the advancement of technologies and globalization led to the rapid development of the outsourcing industry. More and more companies decide to outsource different services, and software development is one of the main areas affected by this trend. Outsourcing represents great advantages for companies that need software products to achieve their objectives and leverage their business, regardless of the selected modality. If you are looking for outsourcing solutions for your organization, we invite you to learn about our Dedicated Teams, Staff Augmentation, and Turnkey Projects services, to define which is the one that best suits the needs of your project and your company.