Nowadays, it is a common business practice to outsource business operations to small or large teams in another part of the world. Overcoming geographical limitations, these teams contribute to the growing profitability of a business.
Often, an offshore team brings more advantages to the table than regional team members. Given the right direction and duties, offshore teams can usually perform at a higher level than on-site teams. This is mainly due to the larger talent pool and untapped potential in that region.
Offshoring mobile application development services can be highly attractive and economical for many business owners. Many large businesses, especially the IT industry, now run a completely offshore or remote model. Not only does it give more opportunity to the local talent, but perks such as freedom of space and reduced business expenses are also a bonus for business owners.
5 Best Ways to Manage an Offshore Development Team
1. Define Clear Requirements of Your Project
Having a clear-cut priority is important for any job. If teams must perform at their highest capabilities, they must have a clearly defined set of duties and responsibilities. Leaders must ensure that every team member is on the same page regarding what outcome is expected of them.
Doing so enables an organization to reduce wasted time and potential, avoid following the wrong scope of work and encourage working towards the right goal from the beginning.
2. Communicate Directly with Responsible Team Leaders
To be able to lead an offshore team is not an easy feat. A right team leader is like a captain of a ship. The crew’s performance will depend on the directions and feedback of the captain. The level of experience, attitude, and skill set possessed by a leader will determine the team’s results.
When the right person helms the leader role, they will be able to communicate effectively with the team, make them feel part of the larger organization, manage them just right without micromanagement, etc. The team leader must be reliable, possess in-depth knowledge of current business operations, and be efficient in communication.
3. Hire the Right Team Members
Depending on the scope of work, the offshore teams will require various skill sets. For instance, an offshore team for development will require that every team member is knowledgeable in the tech stack of different types of project development.
You will come across many potential and capable prospects during the hiring process. But only a few may fit right into the requirements that you have. Having a clear vision of the project and the skills it requires will help you hire the right person for the team.
4. Proper Training in Onboarding
It goes without saying that to build the best team, you will have to train them right. Employees perform better when familiar with the business operations and day-to-day responsibilities. Training and knowledge-sharing sessions are all invaluable for new employees to properly understand their role within the organization.
Proper training comes in handy, especially when you have hired the right employee with the right attitude for the job but lack technical knowledge about the technology you use in your project. Furthermore, if they are quick learners, they will be a great asset to the team that you build, even in future projects.
5. Timely and Proper Communication
Lastly, the most important point to keep in mind is proper communication. Having a set channel for communication is imperative. It is also wise to onboard offshore teams to use the same mode of contact as company employees to ensure uniformity and seamless communication.
With time zone differences, communication is the first challenge you face. Team leaders must encourage offshore team members to reach out promptly to find solutions together when facing obstacles. To do so, you need to set a common timezone for work.
So, when your offshore team faces difficulties or they want to discuss something. With similar working timezones, it becomes easy to rid of communication challenges and mismanagement.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Offshore Teams
There are several advantages and disadvantages linked to employing an offshore team:
Advantages of Hiring Offshore Development Team
● Reduced business costs lead to increased business profits
Organizations mostly set up offshore teams in regions with high talent and low operating costs. For instance, countries like India and China are highly sought out for offshoring technical teams.
● Finding more skilled professionals globally than just in your region
An overwhelming number of skilled professionals fit the bill in many regions around the globe. Moreover, you can find the perfect team if you know exactly where to look.
● Flexible and easy to extend to more teams
It is more feasible to build larger teams in an offshore environment without the additional pressure of infrastructural budget or scaling cost, making the overall business model lucrative.
● Beneficial for smaller companies or startups to hire contractors than in-house employees
For businesses looking to scale, the offshore model is the right way to go. By collaborating with the right offshore team, startups only incur costs for the work done, which isn’t the case with in-house teams.
Disadvantages of Hiring Offshore Development Team
- Cultural Differences Creates Barrier in Collaboration
As with any business model, offshoring has its shortcomings. For example, cultural or regional differences can affect the overall blending of teams. As long as this doesn’t affect business proceedings, teams can work through it by getting familiarised with each other’s cultural aspects.
- Quality of Work Could Lead to an Issue
An issue within offshore teams can be compliance with quality or standards. Offshore teams need to be educated about the quality of work that must be presented uniformly throughout the project. This can be apparent in cases of technical teams or, for instance, the code they write. They must be trained to follow the same quality of code followed by in-house teams.
- Differences in Time Zone Impacts the Overall Speed of Development
Another major disadvantage can be time zone differences. Different time zones can majorly affect communication and create barriers to effectively exchanging ideas. Luckily, this bottleneck in collaboration can be solved by timely and seamless communication through existing company channels.
Conclusion
In any business, the key to prospering is communication. Businesses employing offshore teams must overcome any communication challenges to ensure the proper functioning of all teams within an organization.
By actively working to avoid the common pitfalls of miscommunication and ill-defined responsibilities, management leaders can employ offshore teams to function as a proper unit of productivity, hence scaling their business to greater heights.
