Why Offshore? Understand the Pros of Offshore Software Development

What is Offshore Development?

Offshore software development is a type of outsourcing where a company, located in a country different from your own, provides your company with software development services. Whereas outsourcing at large doesn’t specify where the processes are being outsourced to, the strategic advantage of offshore software development is in using creative, affordable opportunities to gain access to affordable software resources.

Why Offshore?

Businesses utilize offshore software development in their process because it allows them to save costs on overhead, materials, and labor. Sometimes they can receive tax incentives, and offer more flexible service hours too. Common countries that United States companies use for offshoring are China and India, but Mexico is a popular up and coming choice. With the standardization of cloud computing and an increasingly skilled global workforce, a multitude of sophisticated projects can be offshored with greater control by the client company.

Another benefit of offshore software development? It lets your company focus on core practices without the additional stress of running a development department. The cloud allows management teams to keep up-to-date on project progress and perform quality checks. Offshore software development isn’t limited to large corporations.


In offshoring, operations can be scaled to match any business need regardless of size and market. This gives companies of all sizes access to the same skilled labor force as large corporations, reducing the costs and time required if the software was developed in-house. Freeing up time allows companies to leverage their strengths and core operations, leading to business growth.

Is Mexico Really Offshore?

We mentioned Mexico as an up and coming offshore country, but technically Mexico is nearshore. Nearshore software development is similar to offshoring in that it outsources a process to another country, but the country that is being outsourced to shares a dimension of proximity: geographic, temporal (time zone), cultural, linguistic, economic, or political. Nearshoring offers the same cost-effectiveness and scalability of offshoring with additional benefits.

For the United States, most nearshoring processes are located in Mexico or Latin America, minimizing the time zone and custom differences. There is a greater control over the process and quality of the service or product as nearshore operations are performed around American business hours, strengthening the flow of communication between the client and development. If you want more information on offshore or nearshore software development, please contact us.