IT jobs are increasingly moving overseas – the combination of low wages and almost infinitely scalable services makes this a very attractive option for businesses both large and small.

However, the disadvantages of working with an overseas outsource agency are well known. Cheap IT labor often fails to meet stringent quality expectations, and marketplace pressures typically force a premium on US-based expertise.

However, US agencies remain out of reach for the majority of small businesses and web agencies because of the steep rates they charge.

This leads to one of two situations, each an imperfect solution to the outsourcing challenge. Businesses either:

  • Payless and lower their expectations, hoping to shrug off eventual negative customer feedback, or
  • Hire premium US-based outsourcing partners and hope to at least break even in the end.

Neither one of these options is particularly attractive for a business looking to grow – you can’t rely on your reputation to carry you through negative customer feedback, but you also can’t drive up your prices to maintain a healthy profit margin without losing potential customers.

Large companies are increasingly choosing to forfeit the cost-savings that offshore web development company offers, according to Forbes. However, there is a case for the US-based combo shore solution that combines the best attributes of onshore and offshore outsourcing.

Choose a US-Based Outsourcing Agency with an Offshore Workforce

When you hire a US-based outsourcing agency that manages projects from the United States but has remote employees performing the actual work, you get the best of both worlds. This combined strategy eliminates the risks and stresses of working exclusively with a foreign agency while earning a similar level of cost-efficiency.

Below, we outline some of the most important benefits this arrangement offers web agencies.

1. No Time Zone Issues:

Since your partner’s decision-makers live and work in the United States, you have access to a project management team during business hours. It’s easy to forget how important this is until you have a remote freelancer working overnight for you and lose days’ worth of time getting revisions made when issues could have been solved on the spot.

A combo shore US-Based outsourcing agency has offices that work during your business hours, and a remote office you can contact after hours as well.

2. Management Understands Your Business, Your Customers:

Dealing directly with foreign web developers presents a unique challenge. How does a developer create a platform suitable for a public he or she knows a little about? Without being born and raised in the United States, it’s very difficult to get an accurate picture of how Americans act as consumers, business partners, and potential clients.

An agency whose headquarters is based in the United States would have this understanding and be able to implement it in any project it takes on.

3. No Cultural Gap:

There are numerous ways in which an otherwise-qualified outsource agency may fail to meet project expectations. One of the subtle ways this happens is by misunderstanding culture – every business has its own office culture, as does every consumer group and category. Creating a successful strategy for growing a business requires understanding your customers and web development partners and behaving according to their cultural expectations.

American companies need to ensure their team members work in ways that meet the cultural expectations of customers and web development partners.

4. Legal Accountability:

If you are dealing directly with a foreign worker or workforce, you have fewer legal rights than a company working with a domestic white-label service provider does. This is because foreign workers aren’t held accountable for freelance work the same way that American companies are.

By using a combo shore platform for increased workloads, you give yourself legal recourse to sue if things go wrong.

5. Superior Quality:

The quality of web development work done in the United States is simply higher than that of most other countries. Trusting foreign programmers to deliver American-grade work only works when you have a long, previously established relationship with the individuals in question.

6. No Compromises:

Comboshore lets you hire a full team of web developers for less than the fully loaded salary of one. This gives you unparalleled versatility and lets you meet client needs with ease – you have expertise in nearly every relevant development subjects at your fingertips.

7. Focus on Growth:

The fact that your company has subcontractors taking care of the most labor-intensive elements of your business process means that you can focus on growth. You have more human and capital resources to dedicate towards building new client relationships and finding new partners.

8. Complete Flexibility:

By hiring on a case-by-case basis, you pay for specific projects upon completion – no more, no less. This lets you keep costs under control. You can rely on your team being ready when you need a high volume of work performed, and keep overhead low when the business runs slower.

Choose Comboshore Outsourcing for US-Quality Work

Being able to leverage the economies of different countries while producing high-quality deliverables is a key business efficiency that every web agency should undertake. Not only does it provide results for web developers and IT companies, but it also creates powerful local economic incentives prioritizing high-quality service over the pure industry. UnlimitedWP is a provider of world-class combo shore outsourcing services for the web development industry. We build beautiful web experiences using the latest technology, combining a remote workforce with a Boston-based management team.