Near-shoring is dead – the future is partner-shoring

Or maybe you’ve engaged a far-shore ‘partner’ in India who always says everything is fine and on time, but frequently delivers late and with sub-standard quality.

These are, of course, generalisations – but they have happened too frequently to me, and others I know, to be outliers.

Either situation is extremely frustrating, potentially costly, and will fail to produce the kind of results that you and your organisation require. That’s why, at Damilah, we have developed the ‘partner-shoring’ model – a different way of approaching near-shoring.

What do we mean by partner-shoring?

Using this model, the client and supplier work seamlessly together towards common goals. Some people in the team may be from the client side, some from the supplier – but to an outsider it should be virtually impossible to tell which is which. That’s because they collaborate as genuine partners to build the best possible product within the constraints set by the business.

The teams are also fully autonomous, containing all the skills necessary to deliver the products end users are looking for. This maximises productivity by removing as many dependencies as possible, which often tend to slow progress.

How does partner-shoring work in practice?

Here’s a good example of the collaborative culture we foster at Damilah. With one of our clients, the autonomous team is led by a triumvirate comprising a product manager, an architect and a delivery manager. One of those roles is provided by the customer, the other two by us. But they are all equal in status – and we call them the Three Amigos, as they work so closely together on projects.

The product manager aims to create the ideal product to meet customers’ needs. The architect works out how to do this, the challenges involved, and how long it will take. And the delivery manager looks after putting the plan together and ensuring everything is delivered on time and of high quality.

Above all, the Three Amigos are mature and experienced people, equals who are constantly working together on discovery, understanding what needs to be built, and prioritising work based on business needs, difficulty and time requirements – without the traditional ‘them and us’ client and supplier relationship.

Why does it require a near-shore team, rather than a far-shore team?

We believe this gives our clients the best of both worlds.

In the first instance, you can leverage the cost benefits of working with an off-shore team. But, at the same time, this kind of partnership is hard to achieve when the teams are far apart in geography, time zone and culture. On the other hand, if the people involved can spend time face to face, working together, planning, resolving challenges – and even socialising – then positive working relationships will form and truly enable close collaboration and velocity.

If your European-based team has to travel for an entire day to reach a remote part of the world, then suffer from jet lag, they will probably be reluctant to visit their partners very often. And that’s not to mention the difficulty of getting expensive travel costs approved. As a result, the kind of closeness and effective teamwork that comes from frequent contact is unlikely to arise. On the other hand, if the partner is just a few hours away, with a one-hour time gap, it can make all the difference.

Furthermore, although there may be some minor cultural differences between teams in the UK and, say, Eastern Europe, these are likely to be far less pronounced than between the UK and South or East Asia.

What are the main benefits of partner-shoring?

Working with a partner whose team feels like an extension of your own, and is fully aligned with your own business requirements and goals, allows you to successfully leverage the advantages of near-shoring with a company that is already established in the overseas market.

That means your partner can ensure people are rewarded appropriately while you also benefit from their deep market knowledge and understanding when it comes to aspects such as local regulation and cultural differences. In other words, you can build confidence in the process, the people and the location with minimal risks.

There are also the benefits of reduced churn that tend to come from a well-run near-shoring operation. In many Indian off-shore firms, for example, it’s common to see annual employee turnover at rates as high as 25% or 30% – whereas our Damilah team in North Macedonia has a rate of around 2% on average.

And, last but not least, there are the advantages of transparency. If a development team works as a black box – where the client knows very little about what’s going on until the product is delivered – you’ll frequently hear that everything is going well… until the day of delivery. And then you might hear that there’s been a problem – and delivery will be delayed for a month or three.

Such issues are common among teams in geographies like India, where culturally people are reluctant to deliver bad news. On the other hand, European teams tend towards more transparent working practices. This makes it easier to be aware of problems as they arise, allowing you to find a solution – such as prioritising certain features or narrowing the scope – while still hitting the delivery date, rather than being trapped in a last-minute situation where you have no way out.

If you’d like to find out more about the ways partner-shoring could benefit your business, and how Damilah can help, get in touch now to discuss our range of services.

Iain Bishop, founder and CEO, Damilah