How Can You Scale Your Business with an Offshore Development Center?

If you’re struggling to find skilled and versatile web developers at a reasonable cost to your operations, you’re not alone!

Building an in-house team is challenging due to rising costs, long hiring cycles, and limited local availability. Rising operational expenses and global economic uncertainties also contribute to this. So, when you're trying to scale fast, time and money become your biggest hurdles. 

This is why business owners are shifting towards the Offshore Development Center (ODC) model of web development for accelerated deployment of web infrastructure.

An ODC is a remote, dedicated tech team located in a cost-effective offshore location. It follows your company’s culture, SOPs, and business objectives.

In fact,  large enterprises like USI started their first ODC with Tech Mahindra in India. And this trend is growing fast. The offshore software development market is expected to reach USD 112,609.5 million by 2030 at a CAGR of 15.2%.

We understand how vital it is to adopt a smart and cost-effective development strategy. That’s exactly why we’ve created this guide for you all. So, if you've ever Googled terms like “offshore development center meaning,” you’ve come to just the right place!

In this blog, we’ll explore everything about an Offshore Development Center and how you can set up one for your enterprise!

What is an Offshore Development Center(ODC)?

An Offshore Development Center is a business model in which you set up a team of dedicated offshore developers who work along with your in-house team but remotely from an offshore location. These developers are generally from regions with lower labor costs and a strong talent pool. 

In simple words, it’s an extension of your company’s operations, i.e., it works under the supervision of the same brand and follows the policies and SOPs of the parent company. 

Typically built using models like Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) or Partner-Led setups, an ODC offers full transparency and control. You get to choose the tech stack, tools, processes, and KPIs, ensuring consistent adherence to the project roadmap and delivery.  

How Is An Offshore Development Center Different From Traditional Outsourcing?

If you’ve ever dealt with traditional outsourcing before, you’ll find ODCs refreshingly different. In our experience, it’s a much more streamlined approach to work on. While both models involve remote development, there’s a difference in their structure, control, and scalability.

Let’s take a look at some of the key differences:

1. Team Ownership

ODCs act as a true extension of your internal team, working exclusively for you. Traditional outsourcing often involves shared teams that handle multiple clients.

2. Long-Term Goals

If you build in the right way, an ODC can become your long-term strategic business partner. Outsourcing, on the other hand, works for the short term or on a project-based model.  

3. Process Control

In an ODC, you have total control over the workflows, tech stack, and quality levels. While, if we talk about Outsourcing, the vendors generally follow their own process, and your control remains limited. 

4. Cost Transparency

ODCs provide clearer cost breakdowns, salaries, infrastructure, and other operating costs. In the case of outsourcing, they have packages of their service, set from their side.

5. Cultural Integration:

Your ODC team adapts to your company culture and communication norms. Outsourced teams may work more independently with less cultural alignment.

In short, if you're looking for exclusivity, scalability, and control over the development process, an offshore software development center is the smarter choice for you.

Why Does Your Business Need an Offshore Development Center?

Tech companies are constantly under pressure to innovate, deliver faster, and remain cost-efficient without compromising the quality of their work. This is where choosing an Offshore Development Center becomes a smarter and more strategic move for businesses. 

Are you still skeptical about whether an ODC is right for you? If that’s the case, these offshore development center benefits might just change your mind:

1. Cost Efficient Development

The greatest and most visible benefit of an ODC is the phenomenal cost saving that an ODC is capable of accruing for your business.

While an in-house development requires overheads like office space, infrastructure, payroll taxes, insurance, and employee benefits, the ODC model offers flexibility and expertise while minimizing the cost of doing business.

An Offshore Development center reduces this cost by operating in an offshore location where the labor costs and living costs are less. Plus, you save money on leases, taxes, and other operating costs. Reports say that hiring an offshore development team can help you save between 39% and 72% in costs.

The best part is that you don't have to compromise on the quality aspect in this case. Most offshore destinations are mature IT hubs with highly skilled engineers. And not just skilled, many of these engineers even have exposure to working with global enterprises.  So, when these veteran software engineers come on board and work as a part of the ODC, imagine the kind of quality work they’ll come up with!

2. Access to Global Talent

You are no longer limited geographically with an ODC! 

Offshore Development Centers lets you onboard global talent and build an exclusive time that matches your mission. Asian, American, and European countries are the hubs of outsourcing and offshoring. Those are the places where you’ll find skilled experts with a proven portfolio. 

So, you get a team that follows international standards and is capable of producing quality work. Plus, you gain the flexibility to scale your team by adding more specialized roles as your product evolves.

3. 24/7 Productivity

When you work on an international level, time zones can either be a hurdle or a huge advantage. 

In the case of an ODC, you operate in a different time zone than the time zone you operate in in-house. So, basically, you have extended your development cycle around the clock.

In other words, at the time when your in-house team wraps up their workday, your offshore team picks up right where they left off. This way, you are continuously working on a project with little to no downtime. As a result, things get faster, be it project completion, time-to-market, and bug fixes. 

This 24/7 model is appropriate for companies managing agile sprints, DevOps pipelines, or continuous integration/deployment workflows. It keeps the momentum going and maximizes resource utilization.

4. Scalability

There’s a bit of complexity when you have to manage an in-house team. It may be overwhelming to manage Recruitment, onboarding, hardware provisioning, workspace expansion, and administrative support.

With an ODC, you bypass all of that. An ODC partner already has the infrastructure, tools, and HR frameworks in place to quickly scale teams up or down based on your project requirements. No matter if you are launching a new product or expanding to new markets, your ODC can scale in weeks, not months.

Plus, you get access to the latest tech stacks and senior-level expertise without needing to hire permanent, high-cost resources locally. This makes ODCs perfect for startups, SaaS companies, and enterprises looking for agile growth.

5. Focus on Core Business

When you shift to Offshore Development, you are getting rid of the internal bandwidth that comes with recruitment, team management, resource management, and operational support,

We understand they are necessary, but they often divert focus from what matters most, which are business strategy, product innovation, and customer experience. There may be instances where a business may not have the tech expertise. In those cases, ODCs can be the go-to solution for businesses looking to grow and make a business in the competitive market. 

Your ODC takes care of day-to-day development, QA, maintenance, and support so your core team can focus on making strategic business decisions. 

6. Risk Mitigation And Business Continuity

Almost five years back, we faced the pandemic, and it was a critical lesson for businesses. 

Businesses that depend entirely on a single location are more vulnerable to disruption during a global pandemic, geopolitical crisis, or natural disaster. 

ODCs add a layer of operational resilience by geographically distributing your development capabilities. So, even if your headquarters faces unexpected downtime, your offshore team can continue developing. This ensures continuity and customer satisfaction and avoids financial losses.

How to Set Up an Offshore Development Center from scratch? 

Without professional guidance, you may find it complicated to set up an Offshore Development Center (ODC) all by yourself. But don’t worry, you have Green Apex by your side. We are your trusted offshore development partner with the infrastructure, tools, and operational frameworks in place—you just need to bring your vision, and we’ll handle the rest.

Here’s a complete breakdown of how we can set up your ODC from scratch:

Step 1: Define The ODC Goals 

It all starts with clarity! First, make sure why exactly you need an ODC. So, begin by answering these important questions:

• Are you aiming to reduce product development time?

• Are you expanding your tech capacity without growing your in-house headcount?

• Do you want to reduce software development costs while maintaining quality?

• Are you willing to enter a new market or tap into specific tech expertise?

• Do you need a long-term dedicated offshore development center or short-term project support?

• Which roles are critical: backend, frontend, DevOps, QA, mobile, or all?

The motive is to help you in framing your ODC strategy. You should have a solid idea of the kind of work your offshore team will handle.

Step 2: Choose the Right Offshore Location

The most crucial aspect of an offshore development center is choosing the correct location. It will have an impact on everything from talent availability and cost efficiency to time zone compatibility and legal compliance.

Here’s a short checklist of what you should consider while selecting an offshore destination:

• Talent Pool: Does the region have enough developers skilled in your preferred tech stack

• Cost vs. Value: What’s the average cost per developer? Does the price reflect the quality of work and productivity?

• Time Zone Overlap: Will there be enough working-hour overlap for real-time collaboration or daily standups?

• Language & Communication: Are engineers fluent in your preferred language and familiar with global product development standards?

If you are looking for a healthy business culture, robust IT infrastructure, professional and talented software programmers, and multilingual support, then you should look to India. An offshore development center in India will give you the highest productivity, low operating costs, and smooth integration with your existing operations.

Step 3: Choose the Right Offshore Partner

Once you’ve finalized the location, you’ll have to find the right offshore partner that provides offshore development services. You need a team that provides talent and aligns with your business goals, tech standards, and delivery expectations.

A proven track record is a must-have for an ODC partner. The ideal offshore partner should offer the following:

• End-to-end setup, including hiring, onboarding, payroll, and IT infrastructure

• Transparent communication models and reporting systems

• Security protocols to safeguard your code and data

• Flexible engagement models to match your budget and growth

At Green Apex, we provide offshore development center services​ and bring years of expertise. Our plug-and-play model ensures faster ramp-ups, quality assurance, and full alignment with your processes. So you don’t have to deal with operational overhead.

Step 4: Choose the Right Engagement Model

An Engagement model is a framework that decides how you’ll interact with the ODC and the set of actions throughout the project. You’ll get the option to choose two engagement models depending on your budget and operational preference. At Green Apex, we provide both models.

Partner-Led Model

Under this model, an established ODC will set it up under their legal entity. You’ll manage SOPs, delivery processes, communication, and billing. The ODC partner will handle everything else: infrastructure, recruitment, IT support, security protocols, and admin tasks. It’s quick to set up, highly scalable, and flexible for growing companies that need results fast without establishing a local entity.

Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Model

This one’s ideal for businesses planning a permanent offshore presence. We build and operate the ODC for you initially, and after a predefined period, the team and infrastructure are transferred entirely to you. You gain full control while avoiding early-stage setup headaches.

Step 5: Define SOPs, KPIs, and Communication Channels

Before you start operations of your offshore development center, set your SOPs, clear metrics, and consistent communication.

Establish Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) 

SOPs act as your offshore team’s playbook. It sets the coding standards, QA processes, deployment protocols, and escalation matrices. Thus, you’ll get consistency, reduced knowledge gaps, and alignment with your company’s operational DNA. For example:

Set Up Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

With pre-defined KPIs, you get visibility into performance and output. So, you can track:

• Velocity and sprint burndown

• Bug resolution rates

• Uptime and SLA adherence

• Developer utilization and time-to-deploy

Organize Communication Channels

Next comes the communication, that too with Clarity. Set up daily stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives, and stakeholder syncs. Define tools (e.g., Slack, Jira, Zoom) and escalation paths. This keeps your offshore team in lockstep with your goals, regardless of geography.

By aligning SOPs, KPIs, and communication early, you ensure your ODC is high-performing and strategically aligned with your business goals. 

Step 6: Scale, Optimize, and Evolve

Once you get your ODC operational, your focus should shift to continuous growth and refinement. Start by analyzing the KPIs to identify anything that causes a hurdle to the project. Based on these insights, optimize the team composition, tools, and workflows.

As your business scales, your ODC should be able to scale with it. This can include adding new developers, onboarding niche tech specialists, or spinning up parallel teams.

5 Common Challenges Of Setting Up An ODC & Their Solutions

Green Apex: Your Future-Proof ODC Partner

Building tech teams in-house isn’t getting any easier. The cost and efforts associated with it are slowing down innovation for many businesses. Offshore Development Centers have emerged as a smart solution, and considering their growth, this is the perfect time to make the shift.

At Green Apex, we provide offshore development services, where we don’t just help you “set up a team,” we empower you to build full-fledged offshore ecosystems, starting from infrastructure and recruitment to governance, performance, and delivery. So, whether you want to scale fast, reduce costs, or expand globally, we’ve got the perfect people, tools, and processes to make it happen!

So, if you're ready to explore what an ODC can do for your business, why not reach out to us

We’ll help you set up the right offshore development solution designed around your team, your tech stack, and your long-term vision. 

We’re here to talk strategy, not sell you something you don’t need. 

You bring the vision. We’ll bring the talent and the tech. Let’s partner and create something impactful for your business.