Almost overnight, lockdowns shattered the bureaucratic barriers to innovation. Faced with a make or break scenario, organisations suddenly broke new ground:

• Traditional firms spun up secure systems to operate without offices. 
• Medical practitioners found a way to conduct long-promised telehealth consultations. 
• Retailers worked out contactless pickup, home delivery and hotlines in weeks. 
• Consumers embraced everything ecommerce like never before, from groceries to banking.

Global cloud communications leader Twilio surveyed 2,500 enterprise decision makers, finding that COVID-19 accelerated digital communications strategy by an average of 6 years while 97% believe the pandemic sped up their company’s digital transformation.

With accelerating demand for software developers, offshore teams will be needed to pick up the shortfall in already-stretched local talent markets.

All businesses are now in software

Consumers and businesses - conditioned by platforms from Netflix, Spotify and Uber, to Salesforce, Canva and Amazon - now expect seamless and satisfying digital experiences. Leading enterprises are rapidly investing in software to drive growth and wrap innovation around their solutions.

According to Vinne Schifferstein Vidal, MD of MediaMonks ANZ, ‘Smart shoring’ is the only way Australia can keep up as they build digital capability in-house.

“Post-COVID, there is even greater need for agility. CMOs and digital directors want to go faster. They don’t want a large consultancy to spend six months assessing their business and then come back with a massive PowerPoint. They need to be much more pragmatic and start transforming as we go.”

Skeptics concede that remote working works

Traditional-minded leaders who have long been deeply suspicious of ‘working from home in your pajamas’ have been dragged into the future.

As reported by Forbes in Why the pandemic led to an increase in IT outsourcing, several studies have validated the view that productivity is not reduced by switching to virtual teams.

“Realising that they can operate with fewer workers on the payroll without compromising productivity, businesses turned back to scalable external teams… (with innovative tech stacks, security policies and standards compliance).” 

With local tech teams already successfully working remotely, it’s not a stretch to consider adding offshore resources to grow capacity. Once you’re remote anyway, location becomes less relevant.

“The recovery will be digital”

As economies and investment bounces back, the taste of digital success will see businesses scale up online platforms. McKinsey & Company predicted global acceleration with businesses racing to thrive, and in some cases survive in The Next Normal - The recovery will be digital.

“If the pace of the pre-coronavirus world was already fast, the luxury of time now seems to have disappeared completely. Businesses that once mapped digital strategy in one- to three-year phases must now scale their initiatives in a matter of days or weeks.” 

Local talent is scarce and expensive

Hero Teams CEO and Cofounder Jeremy Scott, who has built and sold six businesses using offshore technology teams, predicts growing demand for quality offshore tech teams to make up for local shortages.

“We’re already seeing hyper-inflated tech salaries in Australia, with scarce talent picking and choosing roles. The global talent pool will be needed to meet demand and level the playing field as more and more businesses go digital.”

“When you do go offshore, it must be about quality first. Ensure everything is locked down from platforms, data and policies to human resources, asset management and access control.”

Software offshoring lets local businesses tap into a wealth of experienced overseas talent from technological hotbeds like Ukraine.

With megatrends like telehealth, fintech, digital education and ecommerce all permanently accelerated by COVID-19, the next normal is only just beginning.

Hero Teams has helped enterprise and tech companies build quality development teams for over 10 years, underpinned by ISO 27001:2013 security certification. If you’d like to explore options, get in touch.