Who Should Use Offshore Development, and for What Purpose?

In recent years, as Japan faces a shortage of domestic resources, more companies have started using offshore development. Against this backdrop, three big questions arise: why use offshore development, who should use it, and how to use it effectively? Miichisoft, a provider of offshore development for the Japanese market, shares our thoughts on these three questions today, based on our own experience.

Question 1: Who should use offshore development?

According to Offshore.com's 2022 report, one of the IT industry trends is that offshore development is becoming mainstream. Not only IT companies but also non-IT companies are increasingly using offshore development to improve operations and boost sales.

Miichisoft has also observed this trend through our own experience providing offshore development. Indeed, we believe it is better to start using it as early as possible, even on a small scale. In particular, we recommend it for:

• SIer companies
• Package vendors
• Investors, traders, and consultants
• End-user companies (outside the IT industry, such as nursing care and agriculture)

Miichisoft recommends that anyone with no experience, or anyone simply interested, try using offshore development on a small scale.

Question 2　: Why is offshore development necessary?

To understand why companies should use offshore development, let's first look at the challenges Miichisoft's clients have faced. Based on the domains we have worked in, here is a summary of the common issues.

• Difficult to build a system in a short time at a low cost
• Want a stable development team, but can't build one due to a shortage of talent
• Considering outsourcing offshore, but worried about quality and communication costs
• Want to reduce labor, management, and operating costs by systemizing business workflows, but have no experience in system development
• High risk in hiring and managing IT talent
• Want to launch a new IT service, but have no development engineers

To solve the issues above, our clients have considered and adopted Miichisoft's offshore development services.

In conclusion, we believe the purposes of using offshore development can be summarized into the following four points.

① Securing resources

② Reducing system development time and cost

③ Focusing on core business and expanding operations

④ Global strategy

Question 3　: How can you make a project with an offshore development team successful?

What can you do to make sure your project succeeds? It's true that adopting offshore development brings many benefits, such as lower costs and reduced risk, but it also carries risks of its own. To help you avoid those risks, Miichisoft has already covered this in an article titled "11 Useful Tips When Using Offshore Development." We hope you find it helpful.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, working with offshore development companies has become easier and more effective. Going forward, we expect it to become even more common and popular worldwide.

Miichisoft provides offshore development for the Japanese market. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.