Offshore Software Development Center vs Dedicated Team: What to Choose

The two popular outsourcing models discussed in this blog post are a dedicated software development team model and an offshore development center. Both help to avoid costly recruiting processes and remove the challenges of team retention and upskilling when dealing with local hires. At the same time, you can use them to access the best talent that will be available just when you need it.

Let’s determine the difference between the two outsourcing forms and decide which is the best for your project. By the end of the article, you’ll learn:

• Dedicated team and offshore development center benefits, risks, and challenges;
• Process behind setting up an offshore development center and a dedicated team;
• How their head-to-head comparison looks like in detail;
• Estimated monthly cost breakdown of each alternative and our analysis of its results;
• When to arrange an offshore development center and hire a dedicated team.

Current State of Tech Hiring

We’ll start with the core factors driving their popularity and identify current tech labor market trends in the USA. 

Our analysis of the tech hiring market data provided by Wired, CNBC, and other resources suggests that the US software development labor market is experiencing a challenging time. The number of job postings in the industry is falling, while big tech companies are laying off their staff to stay afloat. However, despite shrinking hiring plans, many SMEs and companies outside the traditional tech industries still demand software developers.

Demand for tech skills in the USA:

• 129,000+ software developer job openings on LinkedIn,
• 38,000+ software developer job openings on Glassdoor,
• 65,000+ software developer job openings on Indeed.com.

Digging deeper, we see that some tech positions remain unfilled because of the local area's limited reach of candidates whose skills and experience match the requirements:

Many businesses seek alternatives to in-house hiring to optimize costs and reduce time-to-hire. This is when an offshore development center and a dedicated team model enter the game.

What is ODC - Offshore Development Center?

First of all, we need to begin with the offshore software development center meaning and provide the definition of this term.

Let’s decode the definition to see what the model genuinely offers. When using this option, you will:

• Operate the offshore facility under your brand;
• Establish a business presence in the target market;
• Tap into the external talent pool at affordable rates;
• Save on infrastructure costs and administrative expenses in locations with a lower cost of living;
• Leverage attractive foreign policies.

As you can see, this form of cooperation presupposes working with a service provider based outside of the client’s home country.

This company provides a physical office that houses a team of cross-functional specialists, including developers, software engineers, QA specialists, administrative staff, etc. The head office defines the number of team members and their roles. Coordination between onsite stakeholders and offshore teams requires a local project manager who thoroughly understands the business requirements and development processes.

When opening an ODC team office in a foreign country, you create a legal entity that acts under your brand name and officially represents your interests on the market. This local partner independently deals with legal regulations, accounting, HR-related issues, and other tasks. That is why you don’t need to send operational resources overseas to manage problems like office repairs and payroll taxes or learn a new language to understand local regulations.

How to Set Up an Offshore Development Center?

1. Choose the right location.

Indeed, not all countries are created equal in providing the best conditions for setting up an offshore software development center. For example, imagine establishing your local office in a small town with limited access to relevant professionals. The same applies to choosing the correct country as well. You can access low rates and not deal with the bureaucracy but eventually face a skills shortage. And that can lay a heavy burden on the project’s timelines. Therefore, it is necessary to shortlist a couple of outsourcing destinations by specific criteria:

• Affordable development costs;
• Low office rent, maintenance, Internet costs;
• Access to a vast pool of tech specialists;
• Favorable economic environment;
• Cultural affinity and English proficiency;
• Lack of legal and bureaucratic hurdles for setting up a new legal entity;
• Optimal price-quality ratio.

By the way, we’ve already done that for you!

Here’s a curated list of top offshore software development countries in the world.

See it right now

2. Select the right vendor.

The right ODC company is the one that demonstrates reliability and has a proven track record of successful projects. Other factors to consider are the following:

• past client’s testimonials;
• timely responses;
• compliance with legal requirements;
• ability to conform to your regulations;
• English skills of each employee.

3. Choose the suitable model.

You can leverage offshore development center services using different cooperation models with the chosen vendor. They include BOT (build-operate-transfer) and managed ODC business practices. You need to navigate the peculiarities of each model to make the right choice and invest in the most appropriate solution for your project. Let’s have a quick overview of the two options.

BOT model

4. Initiate recruiting.

To start the recruitment process, you need to create job descriptions for all vacancies and transfer them to the service provider. This data enables researchers to scan the labor market and identify the pool of relevant candidates. When recruiters find the best talent for your company, the next step is to interview them and pick the most appropriate candidates. Finally, evaluate both the soft and hard skills of your future employees.

You must also source local administrative staff to manage ongoing tasks, finances, taxation, legislation, and other aspects of the ODC’s proper functioning.

5. Organize workspaces.

If you want to start working in a separate office, renting one and equipping it with proper infrastructure is necessary. You need to collaborate with local real estate professionals to shortlist the best locations for the team. When you find a suitable office space, purchasing and maintaining hardware and office equipment is necessary, as is establishing a security system and managing other administrative tasks.

6. Hire the team.

Once you’ve finished the candidate selection process, send job offers to the best talents, and let the first employees get to work. Upon arrival in your company, ensure a productive onboarding process for all the newcomers.

7. Get the project started.

Everyone on the team should know their area of responsibility and their role in the project. Remember that every developer, HR manager, or accountant needs to realize whom to escalate any questions and suggestions.

What happens upon the project’s completion or failure? If the project is closed, the company must dismiss every team member, remove the legal entity, and terminate local legal contracts without violating local laws. It is necessary to fulfill all obligations to the vendor and other interested parties. 

We will discuss the risks of setting up your offshore development center a little later. It is worth mentioning, however, that current conditions in the labor market can cause additional challenges. Many software developers and tech experts are accustomed to remote-first policies and work from home. Creating the offshore development center may become rather complicated as they are looking for positions that will allow them not to attend offices. However, there are alternatives. One is to obtain a dedicated team model service, which resembles the ODC’s offering but lets you avoid some challenges.

What Is a Dedicated Team?

Think of this model as a way to supply the specialists with relevant skills to address the challenges of the given project. In this case, you get the necessary resources, which extend your in-house team and maintain focus on the tasks.

Instead of hiring and recruiting the best candidates yourself, you delegate that task to the chosen software development vendor. As a result, there is no need to supervise new hires, check their technical skills, and evaluate their performance. All these tasks remain the vendor’s responsibility. 

With this model, large and long-term projects pass massive workloads to dedicated remote programmers. As a client, you can control the process and adjust the workflow if needed. That gives you a certain amount of convenience while you can focus on core business tasks and have peace of mind.

How to Find a Dedicated Team for Software Development?

You have two important tasks when planning to start cooperation with a dedicated software development team.

The first is to create a list of requirements for your dedicated project team. You need to understand how many specialists you want to work with and what skills and knowledge they should have. Though these requirements are essential for assembling a team, do not worry if something may change after the beginning of your project realization. This model allows excellent flexibility; you can always introduce updates when needed.

The second task is even more responsible than the one mentioned above. You must find a software development partner to create a dedicated team. How can you do it? You can use Google or rely on the data of platforms such as GoodFirms, Designrush, or Clutch, which act as a one-stop shop for those looking for service providers. Moreover, you can find a vendor based on the recommendations of your business partners or friends who have had successful experiences in such cooperation.

Clutch

What factors should you consider?

• Experience in the IT market;
• Flexible commercial arrangements;
• Diversity of engagement models;
• Software development methodologies;
• Certified software delivery and quality control processes;
• Completed projects in your domain;
• Client testimonials;
• Reviews written on B2B platforms;
• Approach to security and legal protection;
• Communication patterns;
• Talent pool size;
• Hiring capacity in target regions/countries;
• Project management expertise.

Reasons why Geomotiv should be on your vendor shortlist:

• In the IT services and staff augmentation market since 2010;
• Flexible commercial arrangements: fixed hourly/monthly rates;
• Tailored engagement models that fit your case;
• Experts in Agile methodologies;
• ISO 9001-certified project delivery processes;
• 100+ completed projects;
• 60+ happy clients;
• 4.7 average review rating on Clutch;
• ISO 27001-сertified security management system;
• Transparent communication in your time zone;
• 200+ in-house engineers;
• 80.000 pre-vetted candidates in 10+ countries;
• Free project management support on-demand.

Say you’ve chosen Geomotiv for hiring dedicated development teams. What will be the further steps of our cooperation?

1. Provide your requirements. 
   We’ll gather necessary project information (scope, timeline, required team composition) and anticipated tasks for the future team from you. Throughout our communication, we'll engage experienced recruiters who will collect candidate requirements ranging from technical skills and past experience to time zone compatibility and English proficiency level.
2. Select your team members.
   Geomotiv’s HR team will source the best-matching candidates from our talent base. We’ll check their compatibility with your requirements and schedule HR and technical interviews with the most promising ones. Within 2 to 4 weeks of contacting you, we will assemble the dedicated team of specialists you have approved.
3. Execute MSA and welcome your team.
   We'll sign the contract and assist with integrating the team into your company. Geomotiv provides comprehensive onboarding support to make it easier for your new team to start working on the project.

Pros and Cons of Each Option

Thus, companies have several choices when moving offshore. In this article, we have under consideration only two of them: creating an offshore development center or hiring a dedicated team. Of course, your decision should depend on a whole list of factors. So let’s consider them and identify the strong sides of each outsourcing option.

ODC Model Pros

• You hire the best talent.
  Instead of hiring individual programmers in one of the popular hubs, you can establish office space for employees and thus increase the chance of attracting the best local talent. Likewise, your company’s local presence in one of the countries where you plan to source candidates is a good strategy when you plan to assemble a team or a couple of groups there. So, you can forget about signing individual contracts with freelancers or individual developers from different companies. Instead, just build your team under one roof and allocate tasks.
• You promote the brand.
  There is no denying that the company’s headquarters can leverage an online-only presence in one of the countries. But having a physical office in one of the attractive locations can raise the chance of reaching out to more customers and improving the overall service. Another crucial advantage is the ability to solve logistics challenges when establishing an offshore development center. 
• You don’t have to worry about security.
  Even if your product belongs to a highly competitive market, your remote team can’t but keep all the data protected. Working under your brand, you can control the flow of data and ensure its security and integrity. In addition, the vendor provides that no third party has access to intellectual property.
• You cut down on costs.
  Affordable locations like Warsaw (Poland) have office rent that is three times lower than in New York. And that is just one small share of the total expenses pie. You need to factor in other costs like office facilities, equipment, or developer salaries. They are likely to keep snowballing when you opt for building a development center in the USA. 

Office rent

ODC Model Risks

• You can face legal and bureaucratic hurdles.
  Setting up an office in some countries can turn into a nightmare as not all of them are friendly foreign businesses. In addition, you will have to navigate local regulations for making at least a step towards setting up a physical office. To mitigate the related risks, businesses often hire a partner in the chosen destination who will bear a significant part of the responsibilities related to the organizational side.
• You may need assistance with recruitment and hiring.
  When unfamiliar with the country's labor market, it might be risky and challenging to onboard a full-service team of specialists. While you may already know all the peculiarities of recruitment and hiring in your local market, your approaches may not be relevant at a new destination. Therefore, it can be a good idea to research the right offshore destination and find insider expertise for the proper channels of talent search.
• You need to factor in cultural differences.
  Ensure that you have a mutual understanding of the differences:
  • personal and professional values;
  • conflict management;
  • punctuality;
  • standards of communication.

Otherwise, the whole process won’t be convenient and efficient for either of you.

Benefits of Dedicated Team Model

• You have no setup costs.
  Outstaffing providers take care of hiring and onboarding new employees and organize their workspaces. You only have to pay a salary based on a pre-negotiated hourly rate.
• You can hire top talent with rare skills.
  The dedicated team engagement model gives access to technical expertise located in one of the top outsourcing hubs. You can implement the required functionality using dedicated programmers provided by trusted service providers.
• You get total commitment from dedicated developers.
  The outsourcing vendor ensures that your team works exclusively for your project. Much effort is dedicated to keeping employees engaged and motivated to deliver high-quality solutions within stipulated timeframes.
• You can get access to a rich talent pool.
  When working with a diligent vendor with a vast pool of experts, you can cooperate with seasoned developers and other specialists, even with the rarest skills and niche expertise.

Dedicated Development Team Model Risks

• It is not suitable for short-term projects.
  The dedicated team model may be inefficient for projects lasting no longer than one or two months. The same applies to the situation when there is a shortlist of technical requirements.
• It is unsuitable for a non-negotiable budget.
  When a fixed, non-negotiable budget is the primary factor in choosing a development team, this business model is not likely to meet your demands.
• It will be challenging to promote your corporate values.
  For some projects, it is crucial to ensure that all team members share the same values and deeply understand the core principles of your organization. However, for a newly created dedicated team, it can take time to get quickly involved in the specificity of your corporate culture.

ODC vs Dedicated Team

Offshore Development Center vs Dedicated Team: Cost Analysis

Both models present an excellent opportunity to save on development rates, recruiting costs, and office maintenance when it comes to expenses. Top outsourcing destinations like Eastern Europe offer cost-efficient and beneficial economic conditions for future growth. This region has low living costs and a vast pool of technically advanced employees.

When we dig deeper into the differences between ODC and dedicated team models, we can identify their expenses.

Estimated monthly offshore outsourcing expenses: ODC vs Dedicated team

To help you better understand the financial side of offshore outsourcing, we offer a look at particular examples. We’ve analyzed three markets (Poland, Portugal, and Armenia) in which we have experience and provided the results in the tables below.

When planning to create an ODC in a foreign country, you should understand that, in this case, your expenses will include not only salaries to employees and office-related costs but also taxes and fees (like your company’s taxes, income taxes, insurance fees, etc.). The size and set of taxes to be paid may seriously differ in different jurisdictions. We strongly recommend you analyze them before choosing a country to set up an offshore development center.

In those cases, when you work with a vendor that builds a dedicated development team for you, you will have cost calculations based on the rates of developers in each region. All issues related to taxes, social fees, and office rental will be the responsibility of your outsourcing partner.

Key takeaways from our cost estimations:

• As the tables show, setting up and maintaining an offshore development center involves costs related to organizational and administrative parts. You should care about all the peculiarities of tax systems and make the required payments. Moreover, a new physical office is required. In that case, you need to factor in additional costs of contemporary furnishing, renovations, equipment, parking lots, and other operational expenses following your needs.
• With the dedicated team model, the client doesn’t have to manage taxes, cover overheads, or pay recruiting rates. Instead, they compensate the developers for their input every month based on work-per-hire contracts.
• When the dedicated team contract expires, the client doesn’t have to manage any financial obligations with a partner. In the case of an ODC, the agreement with employees may include severance compensation payments. As for the vendor, their HR team will search for another project for their development team.
• When opting for a dedicated team model, it is easier to move on with other tasks, stay more flexible, and have the freedom to switch service providers. This approach works great when the project requires it. Another pleasant bonus is gaining access to rare or niche expertise and expanding the development capacities, at least for a limited time.

Offshore Software Development Center and Dedicated Team: When to Choose Each Option?

These cooperation models can become an excellent choice for long-term projects that require the full commitment of your development team. But what makes them different? Let’s briefly summarize the cases when each of these models will be the most appropriate.

When to choose ODC?

• You need to hire both tech and non-tech experts;
• You know that your team will include 10+ specialists;
• You want to promote your brand in new locations and have a physical presence there;
• You are ready to invest in office rent and equipment and you have the budget required for managing a team.

When to hire a dedicated development team?

• You want to hire only tech specialists or specialists with tech-related skills (developers, UI/UX designers, QA engineers, project managers);
• You know that your project’s requirements can change;
• You want to avoid setup costs;
• You need to find experts with rare skills for a specific project;
• You want to focus on your core business activities while administrative tasks will be solved by a vendor.

Wrapping Up

In this article, we’ve collected the essential aspects of the two business models. Both offshore development center and dedicated team provide access to the benefits of remote cooperation with a trusted and skilled service provider. Still, it is essential to understand the peculiarities of each approach to conducting business abroad. 

We at Geomotiv have accumulated vast experience in creating distributed teams for diverse projects. And now, with so much hype around remote work format, we know exactly which solution to choose for particular business requirements, personal clients’ needs, and tech specifications.