The tech talent shortage is an issue keeping many Chief Information Officers (CIOs) up at night. Tech companies struggle with filling the positions needed for their organizations to achieve their goals and continue to grow.
A recent Forrester study analyzed this problem and how CIOs are dealing with this shortage. The study found that this tech shortage is a significant issue for the industry. Regardless, strategic CIOs can overcome it through creative hiring practices such as offshore software outsourcing services.
Local Talent Is Difficult to Find
The reason for this is that in certain areas of operation, talented software engineers may already be sourced by the competition, augmenting hiring costs. Also, if a company’s headquarters is located somewhere outside of a tech hub, they may have a hard time enticing developers to come work for them.
Companies often pay for relocation costs and have to give developers reasons to move away from a competitive tech hub or their locations of residence, which more often than not means higher wages. Rival companies will also provide other benefits for top talent including lavish campuses and on-site meals.
However, according to polls conducted by Indeed many developers are willing to make the move if the perks are right and the opportunity is worth it for them. Still, to make this happen, companies will often find themselves trying to out-compete one another thus driving costs up.
The Perks of Software Outsourcing
Finding offshore talent alleviates this issue because all the work is done remotely. It also can be beneficial to an on-site team because offshore developers can get things done during times the on-site team’s developers are off the clock or asleep. QA testing, for instance, can be done during these hours and when the in-house team shows up at work the next morning they can start implementing changes to the code.
Another great reason to consider outsourcing tech development is that it allows companies to have a wider pool of talent to pick from overall in scope and scalability. A company may need developers specializing in a certain language that is very niche or specific and by looking abroad they can find this talent.
Today, competition is fierce and companies may fall behind in certain areas of development if they do not have multiple development specializations. They have the option to outsource development talent that has expertise in those languages that are lacking in-house. Another option is to train staff in-house, but this takes more time and effort.
Many companies are finding out that using services from multiple offshore vendors provides a good all-around package in expertise. One vendor may specialize in certain tasks, like UX, and say Java, and another may specialize in a completely different skill set.
An example of this would be a company with a strong SaaS and web app presence, but a very weak mobile presence. Alternatively, a company may have a great mobile app, but noy a good website associated with the product.
In this example, an offshore development team may specialize just in mobile development or web app development as a whole including those running on mobile browsers and not just desktop variants. Such support could help a company stay ahead of the competition.
Companies can scale the work that needs to be done depending on whether they are looking for short-term or long-term collaboration. Scalability and the ability to code in a modular fashion are key factors so that productivity doesn’t suffer from different developers working on the same projects.
What About Language Barriers?
Many CIOs and CEOs may dread the aspect of a language barrier or communication problems, but this doesn’t need to be the case. A good project manager will find ways to bring both the on-site and remote teams on the same page and coordinate tasks between them. Management can also schedule meetings to bring the teams onto the same page.
Additionally many of the tech workers in places like Latin America speak English almost natively. They are also familiar with U.S. traditions in terms of workplace culture due to proximity in geography.
By finding talent abroad and looking beyond your zone of operations you may find exactly what you are looking for. You may find that working with remote teams is more convenient than in-house and communications a breeze.
