Over the past year, we've seen an increase in clients looking to build out tech teams in nearby regions, known as "nearshore" centres.
While offshore outsourcing to distant countries is common as a cost-saver, it can often lead to communication issues that hamper productivity. Nearshore teams on the other hand can allow companies to tap into talent in neighbouring regions and unlock a wealth of benefits - from cost savings to seamless collaboration without the obstacles of geographic distances.
The Nearshore Advantage
Several compelling advantages make nearshore locations like Spain, Portugal, Hungary, and Eastern Europe highly attractive. They include:
- Lower cost: Developers with comparable skills to those in Germany, the Netherlands, or the UK can often be found at 30-40% less cost.
- A Wealth of Talent: Nearshore locations boast a wealth of highly skilled and adaptable professionals, nurtured by top universities and flourishing tech hubs. For instance, Portugal has the second highest graduation rate of engineers in the EU, with 90,000 graduates each year.
- Freedom of Movement: Highly skilled talent can relocate with relative ease within the European Union, facilitating an easier assembly of high performing teams.
- Strong English Skills: Many nearshore locations offer professionals with excellent English proficiency.
- Logistics in Sync: Similar working hours (especially in Europe) and minimal time zone differences facilitate effective real-time collaboration and communication.
- Cultural Similarities: Shared mindsets and a willingness to provide counsel rather than just “doing” without questioning.
Nearshore in Action: Building a Salesforce Hub in Budapest
Our team understand the complexities involved in building thriving nearshore tech teams. Beyond just talent acquisition, our recent collaboration with a global Salesforce leader turned a bold relocation strategy into a resounding success.
The Challenge - A Global Shift: Our partner, who are the forefront of the Salesforce ecosystem adopting Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Tableau, CDP, Einstein & Data Cloud made a huge tactical business decision to relocate their Technology hub to Budapest, Hungary.
This hugely impacted Salesforce teams from the UK, EU, USA and China as they looked to rehome all of their talent in one place. The client needed to rapidly scale their engineering team to keep pace with an ambitious product roadmap while managing costs effectively.
To enhance their platform, they need top level Developers, Engineers and Architects to support their complex cloud environments. To be successful here, one needs to have expert levels of Apex & LWC experience but also be comfortable in object-oriented programming, Flows, Data Modelling and be able to showcase complex integrations skills with APIs or Mulesoft.
Our Approach - Precision-Driven Recruitment: We collaborated closely with their technology leadership to conduct in-depth market analysis, developing a deep understanding of their roadmap and building an 'ideal hire' profile tailored to their specific needs. This enabled us to source exceptional local talent and hand-picked developers eager to relocate for this cutting-edge project. Our approach invested in the entire process, not just securing the talent.
We suggested a detailed on-site meeting to discuss their requirements in more detail and worked with the CIO, Head of Technology, VP of Talent and Lead Architect in building a recruitment process to enable the business to hire at speed without compromising on skill.
Our Comprehensive Support - Navigating New Terrain: We tackled visa complexities, ensuring a smooth transition for the professionals embarking on the new journey. We delved into the local talent market, uncovering gems with a keen understanding of regional tech trends.
Cultural fit was paramount; we sought individuals who would not only excel technically but would also embrace the vibrant, startup-like culture within a global corporate framework. Many relocators want inter-team meetings, networking, making friends, socialising, and assisting with the relocation process. Young, dynamic environments are appealing, where they are happy to work in a start-up-like environment within a larger global company.
Results: Empiric built a profile blueprint, each candidate aligned to their technical specification, desire to relocate and we moved to a 100% CV to 1st interview ratio with the business. We have now placed 11 Salesforce professionals within their Architect, Development and Product teams and continue to support their ambitious growth plans.
The Right Partner Makes the Difference
Building a thriving nearshore team is more than just finding developers. It's a complex undertaking requiring consideration of cultural fit, communication processes, and scalability. That's where an experienced, specialised recruitment partner can prove invaluable. A partner with deep expertise in this landscape can guide you through the entire journey, seamlessly integrating the new team and maximising success with end-to-end support, from hiring to operational alignment, setting you up for success.
Learn more about Empiric's nearshore Salesforce expertise on our dedicated page.
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