If we look at it 10 years ago, Nearshore was an unknown concept for most of the IT industry. The market conditions favoured hiring locally, and the demand was manageable for most companies. Thus, the salaries were affordable and fit companies’ budgets to address the needs of the companies. Nowadays, the scenario is completely different. Also, the Nearshore concept is no longer a possibility but is a reality for an important part of the ecosystem.
Let me clarify already this at the beginning. Nearshore companies are not recruitment agencies. We are looking for partners, not clients. A strong Nearshore operation is more complex than we could think. The details are key for strong cooperation with customers and for a successful delivery. Why? History is full of bad experiences that compromised confidence in this model.
As a positive and passionate Sales leader, let me reinforce that Nearshore is even more relevant today once you struggled to identify skilled talent in your local market. Remember my first paragraph? Market conditions changed. A lot. The demand for skilled professionals increased in an insane mode. High turnover became a reality and the salaries in the IT industry boomed for challenges levels that complicated the yearly budgets of the companies.
So, having this background in mind, where Nearshore fits into the company’s plans? By providing skilled talent, from a country near your headquarters and where the cultural way of work is similar to your country. If sounds so simple, way most companies failed? Because you cannot associate Outsourcing with Nearshore. By choosing cheap destinations, companies will fail by choosing the wrong partner that will not provide quality enough for the project requirements. Furthermore, destinations where are high turnovers rate, lack of soft skills and most important sometimes language barriers that will compromise communication.
Another spoiler: communication is key for a Nearshore partnership. Remember that I mentioned that Nearshore companies are not recruitment companies? Here we are! A Nearshore model presumes strong communication from day one to identify:
- Partner needs/requirements
- Address the solution
- Delivery with quality
At Cleverti, we take seriously a partnership with our partners. Our SUP is based on personalization and the assumption that each customer is unique. From day one, we don’t offer the same solution. In this specific case, listening is more important than selling. By having access to a strong poll of candidates – with operations in Portugal and Brazil – we understand the requirements of our customers in detail to address the best solutions in a cost-effective way compared to local markets.
The IT industry changes quite fast, so it is necessary to understand that time is money. Our partners need fast solutions, but they are aware that speed can compromise quality. Strong market research and accurate screening with different stages – soft and hard skills, will allow confidence that we have the right team member to be fully integrated into the customers’ teams under agile methodologies.
The learning curve and integration of a new team member are well known that take time, so we need to have not only the best talent but talent with a long-term view, aligned with the needs and even more important, aligned with the culture. And that’s the key to a strong Nearshore operation. At Cleverti we called – Cleverti Care.
Finally, if you are struggling to find local talent and you need to scale up your teams, we would like to challenge you to consider Nearshore. Our customers are the best references and they do not lie. We are top performers in Portugal awarded by Clutch.
Author: Tomás Santos
Nearshore Sales Director @ Cleverti
