Reasons to Hire a Local Contractor
Its not always about the cost of an IT contractor. Sometimes there is more at stake than the savings created by hiring an Indian or Bulgarian developer to do the job. Here are a couple of reasons why hiring locally might be worth considering.
One obvious reason is the terms and conditions of the contract – whose legal system is the contract under? For example, if your programmer defaults or steals customers’ information or you otherwise get your arse sued, then where would legal action take place? Hobart? Sydney? Mumbai? California? Its one of the most overlooked and fundamental questions of any contract because courts only have juristiction in certain geographical areas. A contract isn’t just a contract. And, to top it off, if your case is in Mumbai under Indian Law then you can expect to wait a decade for resolution, you’ll have to employ Indian lawyers, and travel. Some lateral thinking and you can see how you might as well not have a contract with a Bulgarian.
A second reason to hire local is because your programmer understands your own language as their first language. From working with internationals, experience has shown me that there are various levels of comprehension for second language personnel. Context can play a large part in the use of vocabulary. Culture plays a great part – are they from a society where pushy initiative is valued, or do they need micromanagement and direction. Without reliance that what you’re communicating is being incorporated into your business model, along with your core values and beliefs, you might find the project increasingly difficult to achieve.
Then you have the issue of data integrity and intellectual property ownership. Who owns the client data? Which country’s privacy laws apply to the data? Are you really going to send all of those client details off to some Bulgarian with a PhD who might fetch them off to the local Mafia? Remember, your hiring this person at budget prices so they’re possibly open to corruption. Ask yourself this – if by chance my client data was compromised in this way, how would I fix the issue? Which court? Which country? What future would be left for you in any IT related business where the security of data is paramount? Does this cost saving impact your overall business risk? Only by quantifying that level of risk are you really able to assess whether your immediate saving is a legitimate gamble… or a pull on the pokies.
There are other reasons to hire local – they have a face, you can develop and expand on your relationship, the development of mutual trust is easier. My point is that when you go chasing the cheapest alternative you really do need to ask some deeper questions. Especially in an industry where security is paramount.
Get it wrong and you’re potentially out of business… not really a dollar saved by moving offshore. Some food for thought.
