Nearshore
Contracting software teams in a nearby country, with a similar time zone and work culture, to collaborate in real time at a lower cost than locally.
Pronunciation
What is it
Nearshore (or nearshoring) means contracting software development, support, or other technology services with a team located in a nearby country, usually in a similar time zone. The idea is to combine the best of both worlds: more competitive costs than hiring locally and the ability to work the same hours as your team.
For a manager: if your company is in the United States and your development team is in Colombia, you can hold the daily stand-up at 9 a.m. and resolve questions during the day, without waiting until tomorrow.
Onshore vs. Nearshore vs. Offshore
| Model | Where the team is | Time zone | Real-time collaboration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onshore | Same country | Same | Full |
| Nearshore | Nearby country | Same or a few hours apart | High |
| Offshore | Distant country | Very different | Limited; more asynchronous work |
There’s no “best” model in the abstract: it depends on how much live collaboration you need, your budget, and the type of work.
Why Time Zone Matters So Much
In modern software development, most value comes from continuous collaboration: clarifying requirements, reviewing code, resolving incidents, adjusting priorities. Methodologies like Agile and Scrum assume frequent meetings and fluid communication.
A concrete example: Colombia is on UTC-5 year-round (no daylight saving time). That means it matches US Central Time during daylight saving time, and US Eastern Time the rest of the year. The workday overlaps almost entirely.
Why Latin America Is a Nearshore Destination
For North American companies, Latin America offers:
- Compatible time zones with the United States and Canada
- Cultural affinity and similar ways of working
- Technical talent in modern stacks (.NET, Angular, cloud, AI)
- Short flights when in-person work is needed
And for companies within the region, hiring in a neighboring country is also nearshore: for example, a company in Mexico or Chile working with a team in Colombia.
Risks and Common Mistakes
❌ Choosing on hourly rate alone → A cheaper team with high turnover or low quality ends up costing more in rework
❌ Not defining how you’ll work together → Without agreements on communication, tools, overlap hours, and quality criteria, the distance shows
❌ Ignoring contracts and legal matters → Intellectual property, confidentiality, and data protection must be clear in the contract and comply with each country’s laws
❌ Treating the nearshore team as “outsiders” → The best results come when they join the main team’s ceremonies, tools, and DevOps practices
Practical Example (illustrative)
A software company in Texas needs to speed up its roadmap and can’t find .NET developers in time in its local market:
- It defines the profile: 3 .NET developers, 1 Angular developer, and 1 QA
- It hires a nearshore team in Colombia, zero to one hour apart depending on the time of year
- The team joins its sprints, repository, and chat channel from the first week
- Code reviews and stand-ups happen live, with no time zone delays
Nearshore describes where the team is located and can be combined with different engagement models, such as staff augmentation.
Related Terms
- Staff Augmentation - A model where external professionals join the client’s team; it can be combined with nearshore
- Agile - An approach that benefits from real-time collaboration
- Scrum - A framework with ceremonies that require compatible hours
- DevOps - Shared practices that integrate distributed teams