Innovation and Offshoring

One of the main reasons we started Augment is to help small and medium sized companies better compete with larger companies who have larger funds for software development and app development (Android and iOS). Innovation is a major part of this ability to compete. What in the world do innovation and offshoring have to do with each other?

A lot of innovative companies like Google and IBM offshore a huge portion of their workforce. Does this make them creative just by offshoring? Of course not. But offshoring allows them to have more productive developers coding and implementing new innovative ideas.

The same is true for startups and small and medium sized companies. Offshoring parts of their software, mobile and app development allows these companies to iterate faster. Companies that aren’t doing this will be more and more at a disadvantage. Companies that have raised tens of millions of dollars might be fine hiring all onshore resources but for the rest of the pack, offshoring is a way to compete through innovation.

So how should this be set up?

It’s similar to our previous posts about keeping design and architecture onshore and offshoring the actual coding software development work. This is how we do it.

I know of one predictive analytics firm that also does this. The speed at which they can iterate is amazing. I call their structure “the iceberg”. They have a small team located in the US – the visible tip of the iceberg. This team is composed of the CEO, CRO, CTO, CMO, head of services, admin assistant, COO and VP of tech. That’s pretty much it. The creativity and direction comes from this team. The rest of the team is offshore software developers, about 25 of them.

This iceberg structure, where the creative and delivery are at the top, and the development down below, allows this firm to react and develop like a medium sized firm while only having a few people in the US. Recently they had to pivot from the retail/financial industry to the healthcare industry. Their app development speed was breathtaking.

Plus, offshore software developers can also provide a new perspective on development or a business model. They may not always be as creative but they can provide new perspectives on application and software development when asked to do so. It’s fun.

Offshore software development is key for innovative companies. Augment is part of many innovative companies and we hope we can be part of many more in the future. It’s a humbling and thrilling experience to work with such creative companies and people.