The term Offshore Development center has a very specific role and meaning in the context of software and application development services. For an organization, an offshore development center is its extended team in a separate location. But instead of setting up its own infrastructure offshore and building a team, the organization partners with a vendor company who already has a setup in place.

Offshore development center characteristics

1. A dedicated team is assigned to the organization
2. A specific location is assigned to the organization
3. The location meets the infrastructure and security requirements of the organization
4. Compliance and monitoring policies reflect the needs of the organization
5. All team members go through orientation programs to understand and absorb the culture of the organization

So the offshore development center is really a microcosm of the organization, being run and managed by the vendor.

When does having an offshore development center make sense for an organization?

1. It is a great fit for medium to relatively large organizations that need to scale up quickly, across locations, without the overhead of prohibitive setup costs and complex processes
2. Organizations that have extensive software and applications that require teams on a continuous basis to build, test and deploy
3. A ‘follow the sun’ requirement that makes organizations competitive because of their ability to operate across time zones
4. Cost savings based on the location
5. Access to a wider pool of talent
6. Access to niche skills

How do you make an offshore development center work for you and your organization?

1. Choose a vendor who is a partner the true sense of the word i.e. the vendor sees your success as their success
2. Make sure that the vendor provides value above and beyond adding resources to the team. The most important factor that ensures success is that your extended team understands your business and feels like they are a part of your organization
3. Start small with the option to scale quickly
4. Plan for a reasonable amount of transition time to see results
5. Initially, communicate with your extended team frequently to make them feel they belong

Well run offshore development centers benefit both the organization and its offshore development center vendor partner and can be truly a win-win situation.

Boston Technology Corporation can help organizations with offshore software development services. We have provided extended teams to many of our clients – across skills sets and even in the area of the high business impact like product definition, user experience design and technology architecture and roadmap.

Please reach out to us if you would like more information. Get in touch with us!