Why We Don’t Offshore and Why You Shouldn’t Either

Every week, we receive multiple calls from offshore companies offering software development services for as low as $11 an hour. Does the huge profit margin seem tempting? Maybe—but we turn them down every time. Here’s a few reasons why:

We Can’t Guarantee the Work

Envoc builds relationships with our clients and delivers experiences around design and software at an extremely high standard, every time. And while we can guarantee that standard for ourselves, we cannot guarantee it for anyone else working on a client’s project far, far, away. Envoceans are passionate, highly skilled, degreed, and/or licensed professionals with formal education and industry experience who have been vetted and continually trained. We know they are more than qualified to do the task at hand, so why would we trust someone else with our reputation and our client’s deliverables? We don’t and we won’t.

We Want to Sleep at Night

If you have not built a trusted relationship with someone, why would you trust them to build your bridges, provide air traffic control, write software that flies airplanes, process your payroll, or have access to your most valuable business trade secrets? Using outsourced resources increases security and privacy concerns while introducing anxiety and doubt. By using our own resources and knowing that our products are built the right way, we don’t have to worry about incurring Technical Debt or unforeseen legal issues. And we can sleep soundly as a result.

We Use Both Sides of our Brain

Much more right-brain work goes into creative services like branding, graphic and web design, user-interface design, quality assurance, and project management of software than just raw left-brained manpower for coding. Our Envoceans need and use the very best training, tools, and environment. Envoc invests heavily in training courses, materials, and conferences. We pay thousands of dollars each month for our legitimate software tools that are legally licensed, and we provide the very best collaborative and isolated work environments for our team and clients so that face-to-face meetings and secluded “zone-times” are as productive as possible.

We Don’t Pirate Software

Could we cut costs by pirating operating system software, development software licenses, and graphic assets? Could we pass on Professional Liability insurance and business taxes? We sure could, and many companies do to offer much better rates—but, again, we like to sleep at night knowing we are doing the right thing by our vendors and the great State of Louisiana in which we operate. Have you ever wondered how an offshore company can offer you a $15 per hour rate for software development? Do you have an idea why now?

We Speak the Language

When our clients tell us they want to “Put the Pedal to the Metal,” put a “Full Court Press” on a project, “Cover our Bases” or even “I want you all over this project like a Bad Perm” we know what their idioms and figures of speech mean and nothing is lost in translation. This may not always be the case when working with an overseas firm. Additionally, having 7:00pm conference calls during dinner time doesn’t help the home-life. As in a marriage, timing and communication is key. We like to think we are in a loving, committed relationship with our clients. Envoc’s definition of “Love” is “a commitment of our wills to the true good of our team and clients.”

Triage Available

Has your company or project been adversely affected by an outsourced or overseas engagement? If so, we would be happy to review the project and help you correct any critical issues or help you a plan to pay down the accrued technical debt. You can reserve a 30-minute appointment on Calvin’s schedule, by chatting with us, or by calling us at (225) 384-5549. We will personally triage your situation. If you want to keep the conversation to less than an hour, do not bring up politics or 80s hair bands.