Nearshoring Guide Part 3: Finding the Right IT Partner

Jump to the first two parts:Nearshoring Guide Part 1: Choosing Romania as the desired destination and Nearshoring Guide Part 2: The Romanian Talent Pool

You have decided that outsourcing IT services is the best solution for your company. You have a budget, researched the most appropriate location, and the knowledge and culture of the people who will handle your future projects. 

But how can you ensure you’ll get the most out of nearshoring IT services? Well, the truth is that you cannot know this beforehand. However, you can do a few things to maximise your project’s success. 

The most important one is finding a great IT partner. Not only will you not have budget fluctuations, but you will also need a competent team that knows that isn’t afraid to adapt to any challenge. 

Today’s story is precisely about this topic. How do we search for, choose, and create a lasting partnership?

IT Partner vs IT Supplier

We keep referring to the outsourcing company as the “partner” instead of “supplier”, and there’s a good reason why.  

Every day, we see software development companies accepting projects with a quantitative perspective in mind. The result is that they are seen and treated as suppliers who simply complete tasks. 

This happens very often with offshoring companies in Asia. As the market is very competitive,  their main goal is to attract as many projects as possible without considering the workload and the quality of their results. 

We strongly believe that nearshoring should be more about quality than anything else. That’s why it’s essential to treat every professional relationship like a partnership. When this happens, you get a team of highly-skilled professionals with a consultative approach and can take ownership of your project. And trust us, you’ll want it to be like that. A partner will get you the best solutions considering the functionality, business needs, and budget constraints. 

What to look for when choosing an IT partner

Building a long-term technology partnership is a commitment both for you and the development company. Here are some aspects that we consider essential: 

Organisational and cultural fit 

Culture and cultural differences play a significant role in outsourcing. Nearshoring, in particular, has the advantage of finding partners that share similar values and work ethic. For example, Romanians have a strong westernised approach when it comes to their work,  understanding the importance of delivering quality and having an overall value-first approach. 

Additionally, people here have a balance between high levels of technical proficiencies in cutting-edge technologies and also fluency in languages such as English, German, French, and Italian. 

As for the organizational aspect, find a company with a strong recruitment, engagement and retention strategy. It should also support diversity and provide a great work environment.

Competencies and expertise

Especially if you’re going for a project-based, dedicated team model, a partner can provide more than software development. Think about end-to-end IT services to build complex software solutions, including business analysis, software architecture, UX and UI design, QA and testing, maintenance and support.

Additionally, it’s important to know if they’ve successfully delivered IT solutions in your particular industry. 

And what about your future plans? Can they accommodate your growing needs? Can they provide innovative solutions such as machine learning, blockchain and Virtual/Mixed reality?

Flexibility and openness 

A prospective partner should be willing to go over your questions and checklists, be open to feedback. Building a digital solution is inherently a discovery process, it takes a lot of  flexibility. Partners that offer cookie-cutter solutions or are not creative enough won’t be able to meet your needs. 

A good outsourcing provider will be upfront about their capabilities. Will this partnership will be sustainable over time as your business grows? A prospective partner should be open to feedback and willing to go over your questions and checklists. 

Pricing options

Usually, for IT services you’ll go for a fixed price or time and materials contract. No matter what you choose, you really get what you pay for. So, it’s important to work with an IT partner that understand your project’s scope but can also accommodate changes. Always ask about hidden costs and how to manage resources within your budget. 

The biggest red flag to be aware of is when providers prioritize pricing discussions without taking the time to analyse how they can help you achieve your goals. Otherwise, quality may be seriously compromised. 

Mutual trust

Trust is built over time. However, doing your due diligence before selecting a partner means that you have a great foundation to build upon. 

Look at their reputation– what do their clients say about them? How transparent are they in their communication? A good partner is willing to provide references, keep you updated and be upfront about any project roadblocks. 

Proactive approach 

The right IT provider will be looking for long-term partnerships. It means that they’ll carefully assess your requirements and strive to understand your context and your business as a whole. 

This means that they’ll be able to make appropriate recommendations and have a consultative approach. They’ll not be afraid to speak up and disagree with you (respectfully) if they have a better solution or can point you in the right direction. 

Engagement models

The most common engagement models are team augmentation (adding IT professionals to your in-house team) and project-based (dedicated team model). However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach in software development. Every company, project, and task is different and requires a custom course of action. 

At Qubiz, we like to take a different approach and start with a pilot project to see if we are a good match. The biggest advantage is that clients have a clear understanding of what they can expect and we can make recommendations based on their business needs. As a result, they are more satisfied with the project’s outcome and many decide to establish a long-term technology partnership with us. 

Qubiz: The right technology partner

As technology is constantly evolving, strive to find a long-time partner that has the capacity to grow and innovate your business efforts. 

Qubiz is 100% focused on people – both employees and clients. We’ve been in business for more than 15 years and understand that putting people first matters most. Our values are at the core of this culture: Client Centricity, Excellence, Teamwork, Trust and Respect, Fun and Entrepreneurship.

We are the technology partner of choice for many Western European companies in countries such as The Netherlands, The UK, and the DACH region. We work with companies of different sizes and industries and to successfully deliver cutting-edge IT solutions. 

Our services cover the entire solution life cycle, including functional design and consulting, software architecture design, UX/UI design, software development, QA, and maintenance.

But don’t take our word for it. Read what Binsoft, one of our Dutch partners, has to say about our collaboration and all the good we’re doing through their innovative product,  DoWell.  

Qubiz and STAR-SHL 

Our technology partner, Star-SHL, operates  one of the largest and most modern laboratories in the Netherlands. We built multiple software solutions (web and mobile applications) to support their work. The partnership helped Star-SHL manage all administrative aspects, digital requests for blood tests, their users’ online identities, automate blood test procedures, and more. 

Some of the solutions include an app that enables operators to perform thrombosis tests on patients during house calls, a logistics app for managing blood sample transportation and a complete online diagnostic platform designed to streamline Star-SHL’s activity. 

How did they choose Qubiz?

First of all, Star-SHL found us through a recommendation from another happy client. The most important part for them was the ability to work as an integrated team. Secondly, they found that geographical proximity and cultural match have a major positive impact on the end results. 

For instance, travelling to Romania from the Netherlands is very accessible. They were able to pay us a visit and understand how we work before committing to a long-term technology partnership. 

How did we become technology partners? 

Star-SHL chose a long-term technology partnership because we were able to deliver consistent quality. We managed to deploy three new web applications and three new mobile apps in 8 months. 

Our collaboration’s success is due to constant and great communication with the product owner and team. 

Read the full case study

Choose the right IT partner for you 

Choosing the right IT partner is one of the most important decisions that you’ll make for your business. A technology partner is more than a supplier, taking the role of a trusted advisor that you can count on anytime. 

So, take into account all aspects, including organisational and cultural fit, competencies, industry knowledge, flexibility, pricing, transparency, attitude and communication or engagement models. 

At Qubiz, we have been building reliable partnerships for more than 15 years. Located in Romania’s top tech city, Cluj-Napoca, we are an IT outsourcing company that helps you create great solutions and implement your long-term vision. 

Assessment Guide

In the attempt to bring some ease and clarity into your decision-making process of finding and choosing the rightful partner for your software development projects, we created an assessment guide that aims to do just that. This is especially helpful for companies that have just started to consider leveraging the strengths of an IT service provider.

To make an assessment of your potential partner, rate each of the below mentioned criteria with marks from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). Take a moment and rate each of them honestly. We found this method very useful in many other similar decisions that we’re facing each day and even our current clients have used it successfully.

assessment-guide

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