For this series, we’re going to break down the top 6 most important advantages of implementing a “nearshore” software developer strategy (which refers to contractors in Central and South America) as opposed to a traditional “offshore” strategy (which generally refers to contractors in Asia or Eastern Europe).

We’ll start with benefit #6 now, and post a separate article for each benefit, all the way down to the #1 most important consideration.

Let’s get started! Proximity matters when it comes to managing software development projects, even in today’s fully-remote or hybrid working environments. Whether it’s celebrating the successful launch of a product, signing new contracts in person, or meeting up for team building and socialization, having the ability to interact with your team in person is critical to your team’s success.

That’s why the first nearshore benefit we’ll cover in our countdown is ease of travel between the client and the development team. To start, let’s compare flight times and prices. Note, these are all apples to apples prices and as of the time of writing this (6/27/24).

These are the cheapest prices and quickest flights from the US to Asia, all with at least one stop, but many with 2.

If you’re going to spend more than 24 hours traveling, you’ll be exhausted by the time you get there and there’s no way you’ll be at the top of your game. You’ll also need at least a day to recover after each travel day, making these trips a 4-5 day endeavor at the bare minimum.

Here are analogous flights for Central and South America, all direct:

Those are so much faster and cheaper that you can easily schedule regular visits, fostering a sense of teamwork and collaboration that is often missing in offshore arrangements. You can fly your nearshore team to the US to meet you at your HQ, or bring some of your US talent down for a visit with your team, maybe even schedule some time off to explore while you’re down there!

In addition to cheaper, faster, direct flights with US carriers, most nearshore countries don’t require entry visas. If you decide at 8am that you want to go see your team, you can hop on a flight and be there the same day with no need to fill out visa applications like you do for countries like Vietnam or China. The CDC also has far more vaccine recommendations for the countries in South East Asia than they do for any countries in South America.

As you can see, it’s significantly cheaper in both your time and your money to travel to and from nearshore countries than it is to make the trek around the world to visit the more traditional offshore countries like India, Vietnam, or the Philippines.

If you find this content interesting or want a sneak peek at the rest of the list, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn.

If you’d like to learn more about nearshore development services, send me an email at christian.doetsch@synersix.com to schedule a free, 30 minute nearshore strategy consulting session.