If you have ever read an article on outsourcing and grown more confused with every “–shoring” compound you met, this post is for you.
Firstly, offshoring must not be confused with outsourcing. Getting work done outside the border of your country does not necessarily imply contracting a third-party supplier; one is not dependent on the other. However, this article does refer to offshoring in an outsourcing context.
So what exactly is the difference between offshoring and rightshoring, and what part does smartshoring play in all this? Let us take them one by one and find out.
OFFSHORING
As the name implies, offshoring means getting jobs done in countries outside of where your company is located, sometimes even on a different continent. This option offers significant advantages, such as cost reduction and a larger, better-skilled labor pool. Offshore outsourcing companies are familiar with the local culture and economy and make sure that you stay competitive without sacrificing quality.
NEARSHORING
If you are looking to lower costs and remain closer to home, nearshoring provides solutions in neighboring countries. That way, you can still access some of the benefits of offshoring, while maintaining the overall activity in the same or similar time zone. Nearshoring also enables more frequent face-to-face visits as it involves shorter distances between business locations.
ONSHORING
Onshoring represents reversing the offshore process and moving activities back to your company’s home country. Onshoring works best with more creative and less well-documented projects that require extensive back-and-forth communication and proximity to the end consumer. Arguably, onshoring offers better control over processes and development work. It also reduces travel costs considerably.
RIGHTSHORING
To ensure successful operations, businesses have taken to reassessing their footprint in order to find the best combination of tasks and teams, regardless of location. Right shoring is a vital strategy that establishes the needs of your company and how to best serve them with the available resources. Usually, less demanding types of work are near- or offshore, while core activities remain near the HQ.
SMARTSHORING
Smartshoring is the latest term in the “–shoring” suite and is a variation of right shoring. It describes balancing onshore and offshore resources for a better, global collaboration across multiple geographies. With some companies outsourcing most of their functions, from HR to Quality Assurance, to Legal, both service providers and buyers, such as you, need to invest in smarter solutions that streamline communication across locations and increase business efficiency regardless of time, distance and culture.
When it comes to securing better-trained people for sustained service quality at lower costs, there is an entire range of options to consider. If you are thinking of outsourcing or already looking for a provider, you might want to discuss the best course of action with your future partner. Based on your combined experience and requirements, you are more likely to reach a suitable conclusion together.
