Tips for Building an In-House Outsourced Team

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Tips for building in-house outsourced team

When contemplating their growth strategy, many companies feel that they need to make a choice between growing their in-house team or leveraging a separate external provider. In other words, some people feel that an outsourced team and an in-house team are mutually exclusive. They’re not anymore.

Based on what we offer our clients, it’s now possible to build an outsourced team that’s so in sync with your internal team, that it’s essentially a part of it. Here are a few tips for how you can do it:

● Make a blueprint for your dream team before you start building it. Let’s say you need to hire 6 agents specialized in X- that part is fairly easy. What you also need to do is figure out how your outsourced team can complement your internal team, and how you see your outsourced team interacting with your internal team. We can help you with this.

● Once you know what you’re looking for, and what you’d like to accomplish, figure out the characteristics and skill profiles of the types of people you’d like to work with. We can present you with a wide array of pre-screened available candidates to you so that you can pick the perfect fit for each role.

● Devise a working schedule that provides for some time overlap between your internal team and your outsourced team, so that one team can pick up where the other left off each day, and both sides are fully in-sync.

● Visit your outsourced team, or have them visit you- especially in the beginning. Not only can in-person meetings bring everyone on the same page, but they can also be great for breaking down the distances and gaps that can often occur with outsourcing.

● Harmonize the direction and management of both your internal and outsourced teams. If both teams are working together and are otherwise interconnected, it’s important that both teams are managed together and follow largely the same direction.

If you follow the right steps, it’s quite easy to have an outsourced team that acts as an in-house team (despite costing much less). Feel free to reach out to us if you’d like to know more.

3 Reasons You Should Outsource IT to Romania. Wherever you’re located

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IT outsourcing to RomaniaIT outsourcing has many benefits, and outsourcing to Romania presents some unique advantages over some of the more common markets out there- wherever you happen to be located. Saying this, a lot of these advantages come down to where you’re based, and what you’re looking to achieve.

Here are 3 unique reasons to outsource to Romania with us, for companies in 3 unique regions:

Canada

● The costs of doing business in Romania are much lower than in Canada, and by outsourcing to a company like ours, we’re able to pass these cost savings onto you- without the need for you to sacrifice on quality.
● Romania is fairly close to Canada, both geographically and culturally. If you were to fly out of Bucharest in the morning, you could be in either Toronto or Montreal by the afternoon local time. Also, Romania is part of the EU and has a similar cultural background to Canada. As such, there’s not a whole lot of difference between outsourcing to Romania, or outsourcing to Ireland- only cost.
● Not only are we close, but we’re also local. We’ve got someone in Montreal, and we’re thinking about setting up a Canadian subsidiary over the next few months.

East & Southeast Asia

● By having part of your team based in Romania, you can make your business more international, as well as gain access to the largest combined market on earth, the European Union.
● Adding to the first point, through working with an international team, you’ll gain access to different concepts and ideas that can help you move forward and gain competitive advantages.
● Despite these advantages, hiring resources in Romania is often less expensive than hiring in-house, whether you’re in Seoul, Singapore, or Kuala Lumpur.

Australia & New Zealand

● You can do more with each day. As of May, Sydney and Melbourne are both 7 hours ahead of Bucharest. This means that your IT team can essentially operate in two shifts, and have an hour of overlap. This means more productivity for you, and more uptime- without any crazy schedules.
● In a similar sense to what we’ve mentioned about Canada, there aren’t many cultural differences between Romania, Australia, or New Zealand. Also, in comparison to many other IT outsourcing markets- English proficiency isn’t an issue.
● As we’ve mentioned above, whether you’re in Asia, Australia, or elsewhere- it’s a huge advantage to be able to have on-the-ground access to different foreign markets, and the EU happens to be the largest single market in the world today. By working with us in Romania, we can help you gain access to all of Europe.

5 benefits of IT outsourcing for your business

New to IT Outsourcing? 5 Key Benefits to Consider

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5 Key Benefits of IT Outsourcing

If you haven’t outsourced before, you might still be unaware of some of the main benefits that come with IT outsourcing. Here are 5 for you to consider:

Cost Reduction

One of the most appreciated benefits of outsourcing is cost reduction. By leveraging outsourced teams, you’re able to take advantage of many of the lower costs associated with doing business in a particular foreign country- from labour to office costs. The end result is that you can do far more, while spending less doing it.

On-Demand Specialists

By working with an established IT outsourcing company, you’re able to leverage their HR and recruiting prowess as much as the specialists that you’re ultimately hiring. This means that not only will you have some of the brightest and best talent at your fingertips, but that you’ll be able to add whoever you need to your team, whenever you need them.

Greater Productivity

Outsourcing IT is an excellent way to increase productivity across your organization while adding to your bottom line. Considering that outsourced IT teams are often more cost-efficient compared to in-house teams (allowing you to have bigger teams for less), and considering that IT is crucial to most organizations’ productivity- outsourcing can be a game-changer for the organizations that leverage it.

Less Downtime

A major benefit that comes with IT outsourcing is that your outsourcing partner will likely be located in a different timezone than you, with the result being less overall downtime. As an example, let’s say your in-house team based in Montreal works from 10 AM to 6 PM local time, and your outsourced team in Serbia works from 8 AM to 4 PM their time. Since Serbia is 6 hours ahead of Montreal- your combined team will be active between 2 AM and 6 PM Montreal time on any given day. This reduces your downtime by 50%- from 16 hours per day to just 8.

New Ideas

Considering that IT outsourcing companies are often more or fewer consultancies that happen to work with organizations across many different industries and geographies, they are often hip to the latest trends and technologies in IT. With this knowledge and experience comes new ideas that could help take your organization’s IT outcomes to the next level.

Software Development Outsourcing Connections Consult

Software Development Outsourcing: How We’re Different

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Software Development Outsourcing

Software development outsourcing is on the rise as companies around the world are looking to go further without spending more doing it. You’re probably familiar with the overall benefits and compromises widely associated with outsourcing, but not all outsourcing markets and companies within them are the same.

We’d like to tell you about how outsourcing to Romania with us is different than outsourcing somewhere else, across four points of comparison.

Value Adds

● You may have heard that the main value add from outsourcing is cost savings, and that cost savings mean quality sacrifices.
● Conversely, many of our clients pick us because we offer them fast and easy access to top-notch developers. At the same time, most of our clients also experience a high level of cost savings from working with us.

Working Transparency

● A common stereotype about software development outsourcing is that you’ll never know much about who’s actually developing your software- and that transparency is often an issue.
● On the flip side, we prefer to build teams of developers for our clients that are fully integrated with their own teams- separated only by distance.

Dialogue and Input

● An unfortunate stereotype, associated with certain outsourcing markets in particular, is that outsourcers use the phrase “yes, sir” a lot, without asking the right questions, and without offering much creative input of their own- leading to low-quality workmanship and misinterpretations.
● We focus on maintaining open dialogue and an atmosphere of candor with our clients. Besides that, we like to offer our ideas and advice to our clients, as ultimately, many minds go further than few.

Physical and Cultural Distances

● Many people feel that outsourcing involves overcoming vast cultural and physical distances. The 2006 comedy “Outsourced”, about an American that travels to India to set up a call centre, illustrates this stereotype perfectly.
● Fortunately, this isn’t the case with Romania. Not only is Romania’s culture and overall working mentality similar to other Western countries, but whether you’re in Montreal, Manchester, or Malmo- it’s fairly straightforward to set up an in-person meeting with us or with our developers. Compared to India as an example, visas aren’t much of an issue in either direction- and if you’re in Europe or North America, it’s probably much quicker and easier to get to/from Bucharest than Bangalore.

If you’d like to learn more, feel free to drop us a line, we’re in Bucharest

Connections Consult opening

CONNECTIONS CONSULT – WELCOME TO SERBIA & BULGARIA!

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Connections Consult opening CONNECTIONS CONSULT OPENED 2 NEW OFFICES IN ITS EFFORTS TO BECOME A GLOBAL PRESENCE.

STRATEGICAL GROWTH
This opening confirms Connections Consult growing strategy to cover high-potential foreign markets, meeting the demand of our global customers and local counterparty companies and improving its ability to assist them by effectively monitoring their business.

” This is an important step in the regional and global expansion. We wish our Serbian and Bulgarian colleagues a big Good Luck! ” 

WHY SERBIA?

Bulgaria came quite natural in our expansion plans, but you might wonder: Why Serbia?
Economically, Serbia is well positioned in the region, with access to over one billion consumers through free-trade agreements and an advanced road network. It’s also strong in several sectors, such as agriculture, food and IT services, which are predicted to see growing demand over the coming decades. And the country is moving toward membership in the European Union.
Now that the office is officially open, what’s in store for the rest of this year and beyond? Hiring and developing Serbian talent is a big priority. The “brain drain” of the 1990s saw many students and professionals move overseas from Croatia, Serbia, and other Balkan countries to escape conflict and economic chaos. We, alongside our clients, want to restore the Serbian potential.
Serbia, in particular, has emerged as a talent hub for the region, with more than 240,000 students enrolled in higher education. While we won’t be hiring in the hundreds or thousands, we hope to be advising the companies
that do.

YOUR OPINION MATTERS!

If interested in more details, or you wish to propose a new topic, give us a sign!

How to build a new software development team. The easy way.

How to build a new software development team. The easy way.

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How to build a new software development team. The easy way.

Perhaps you’ve recently closed your seed round, perhaps you’re building a new spinoff product, or perhaps you just need an additional set of developers. In any case, you need to hire the right development team, at the right time, in the most efficient way possible.

Unless you already have a powerful HR team, or you’ve contracted a recruitment agency; your hiring round is probably going to mean a lot of extra work for you. An alternative is to outsource, and frankly, it’s a great way to accomplish your goals without much added hassle.

Here’s why:
● You can design your perfect team while leaving the recruitment, vetting, and much of the onboarding to your outsourcing partner. Despite this, you can always pick who you work with in the end. In a nutshell, you get all the benefits of working with a recruitment agency and more- without the extra costs
● You can save on costs. Big time. If you outsource to a place like Romania or Serbia, these cost savings can add up to well over 50% of what you’d spend if you hired locally in somewhere like the US.
● You won’t need to worry about potentially having to get more office space or more supplies (ie. computers and desks). When you outsource, this is generally all included and comes at no added cost to you.
● You’ll save time. Adding to the first point, when you outsource, you’re able to select and onboard pre-vetted developers that are able to start working almost immediately. Because of this, you can have a team up and running in a few weeks instead of a few months.
● Pivoting is easier when you outsource. Since you’re able to cut down onboarding times and you’ll often have access to a wide range of available developers, you can easily add specialists to your team as needed.
● Outsourced teams can essentially act as in-house teams. When your outsourced developers are fully dedicated to working with you, and when it’s possible to have your developers occasionally come on-site with only a few weeks notice- you won’t notice much difference between having an outsourced team, or a in-house team.