Blog: All about Business IT

by Oliver Schmid / 4954 IT Consulting, LLC

Nearshoring (also known as “nearshore outsourcing” and “nearshoring”) means sourcing service activities to a foreign, lower-wage country that is relatively close in distance. (Source Wikipedia)

Outsourcing means that you are sourcing experts in their fields.
Now, you made the decision to outsource certain BPOs. The question now remains, do you want to go offshore, (which is usually from a straight financial aspect the cheapest solution), stay onshore (usually the most expensive solution) or outsource to a near-shore service provider (usually more expensive than off-shore but less expensive than onshore outsourcing).
The question you may want to ask yourself: “But how good is an expert that has all the technical expertise but does not understand your business needs and requirements, due to cultural misinterpretation or due to language barriers. What benefit does it have, if you have the hardest time to contact the people you work with due to differences in time zones.”

This is what may happen when you outsource to offshore service providers.

Please, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against offshore outsourcing, where it makes sense. Not all outsourcing projects lend themselves for offshore outsourcing. I have worked in the past on various offshore outsourcing projects. Some were 100% successful but some we had to change midway and bring some of the outsourced BPO (Business Process Operation) either back inhouse or to a onshore or near-shore outsourcing partner. 

Near-shore outsourcing makes sense in outsourcing projects that require frequent personal interaction, like hands-on product training and/or education about product and company processes. Another area that lends itself as a perfect candidate for nearshore outsourcing is software and application development and here especially if it is an add-on development to an existing solution that is critical to the overall business process.

More and more countries close to the US, like Argentina, Mexico and Peru have companies that concentrate t deliver near-shore outsourcing solutions in the areas of software and other technical IT areas. These countries have the advantage of being close to the US in regards to time zone and travel distances. People and organizations understand the US business culture better than countries in Asia or Eastern Europe.

If you are exploring outsourcing opportunities at this time or any time in the future please contact me and I will together with you evaluate your requirements. I will not develop and propose a solution based on my experience alone, but I will work with you to come up with a solution that fits all your needs, makes financial sense and delivers, while guaranteeing sustainability of the solution for the future.

Together with you I will find the right partner for you and will work with you through the process all the way from intiation to completion. I will be your partner  and your consultant at al times, representing your needs, requirements and demands. I have implemented offshore and nearshore as well as onshore outsourcing solutions in the areas of customer service (call center on demand support), software development, IT Infrastructure hosting and Logistics and Supply Chain outsourcing to 3PL and 4PL providers.

A provider we agree on will have the  expertise of advanced technologies has alloweto provide innovative, customized, groundbreaking, sustainable Nearshore software solutions and providing your business with an outstanding value and a competitive edge.

I work with service providers in the areas of IT Consulting that have an uncommon combination of experience, know-how and leadership, which allows me offer consulting services on the application of information technologies to achieve substantial improvements aligned with your business objectives. Whether it is in the areas of

• Internet, 
• Technology Architecture, 
• Business Intelligence, 
• Network Security,
•  or custom Software Solutions Development.

The providers I chose with you can perform

• Risk Analysis, 
• Vulnerability Analysis 
• and develop security policies suitable to your organization. 

They advice and development procedures that guarantee for your systems:

• Integrity, 
• Confidentiality, 
• Availability 
• and Irrefutability (Non-Rejection).

For a free one hour phone consultation please contact me at +1-770-776-6182 or send me an email tooliver.schmid@4954itc.com