Onshore skill, offshore scale - how to use blended outsourced software teams to deliver better results

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Using an experienced, hybrid onshore offshore tech outsourced software provider can help New Zealand Software Companies and Enterprises scale their teams dynamically and deliver on project demand.

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Kiwi outsourcing tech company CodeHQ scaled new heights on the back of the surge of remote working and scarcity of skilled New Zealand software developers and testers, caused by skyrocketing demand in NZ and tight border controls during the covid pandemic.

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The Company has been in New Zealand for 30 years already, and for the last 18 has helped Kiwi companies use remote developers and testers in Vietnam to access skills, and to smooth peaks and troughs in demand.  

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CodeHQ provides companies with the ability to scale up high performance delivery teams to get software built or to add capability and add new skills into the teams.

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But as the pandemic has forced New Zealand companies to become more comfortable with remote working and labour shortages bite, CodeHQ’s unique offering has soared in popularity.

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Mike Hibbert, CodeHQ Chief Technology Officer says New Zealand ended up with a shortfall of experienced tech workers at the same time as it adapted to working outside the office.

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“What we saw was a rapid reversal of previous positions from companies that were not comfortable with workers they couldn’t see, to really embracing it. As a result, we pretty much doubled the size of our organisation over the lockdown period,” says Hibbert.

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The company’s head office is in New Zealand, allowing Project Managers, Tech Leads and Business Analysts to sit with clients and find out their needs. Strong relationships with teams in Vietnam convert requirements into reality, with daily video calls, digital whiteboards and other remote enablers.

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Its Vietnamese workforce operate from comfortable offices, with western conveniences and benefits. They have good English skills and in-house training programmes covering topics like cyber security, new technology and leadership skills. This offshore workforce allows  CodeHQ to provide services more cost effectively than New Zealand-based outsourced teams.

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Staff enjoy working for CodeHQ and with high retention rates, team members can stay long-term on client engagements, helping to build relationships and domain expertise. They are very focused on delivery which can offer higher velocity compared to local teams working in-house. As time passes and work is delivered, they are able to become domain specialists, honing their expertise in their client businesses that allows them to add more creative and problem-solving value.

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In addition, Vietnam is usually six hours behind New Zealand, meaning the workforce can continue through the New Zealand evening. Hibbert says the inter-country cadence is highly efficient.

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“In New Zealand, the teams that are leading the work can prepare and get ready for the Vietnam team coming online. They can quickly brief the Vietnam team on whatever they're working on next, take questions and then let the Vietnam team work through our evening. The Vietnam team will leave updates and any open questions overnight, so that the New Zealand teams can pick up those questions and address them ready to go for when the Vietnam team joins later that next day,” says Hibbert.

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CodeHQ’s model, he says, enables onshore skill with offshore scale.

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“We have a foot in each location, with our offshore personnel allowing businesses to accelerate by providing resources that might not otherwise be accessible to them here.”

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CodeHQ has worked with large and small New Zealand companies.

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Port Nelson: CodeHQ quickly developed trust and went above and beyond

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Port Nelson is the maritime gateway for Te Tauihu - a vital hub for significant exports of the region’s wine, seafood, logs and fruit.

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Port Nelson Business System Manager Reagan Pattison says Port Nelson was introduced to CodeHQ through a multi-vendor project, and quickly developed the trust that remains key to the relationship.

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“We’re a port company, not a software company. We needed specific expertise that wasn’t available to us in Nelson at that time.”

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The port company’s supply chain and logistics division, QuayConnect, was developing a new platform that would offer supply chain transparency and visibility to all participants - a complex and sophisticated venture that was needed quickly.

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“Obviously there was a good price point there, but the arrangement also gave us a 14-hour day delivery framework because they were able to line things up in New Zealand and then hand off to the team in Vietnam to work overnight.”

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“Given the type of industry we're in, with demographics of our workforce, many are used to working face to face with people and that’s how they build trust. So being able to manage that remote model has been key.  It's all about setting good expectations, having good lines of communication, and that then leads to trust rather than necessarily having to eyeball someone.”

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Again, trust was important as part of the collaborative nature of the job, with CodeHQ working well with other contractors involved in the sprint, says Pattison.

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“They weren’t at all precious about how that setup happened.”

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And out of that trusting relationship came a new direction. Pattision says CodeHQ’s team was able to listen to the port company’s requirements and recommend a new pathway that was not in the original planning - a recommendation Port Nelson took on board. He says this shows the lengths to which CodeHQ will go above and beyond expectations.

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“They don’t just do as you ask - they consider what you’ve asked and offer guidance on how it can be done even better.”

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Working with CodeHQ was not the traditional outsourcing experience, Pattison says.

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“The last 10 years there's been a big push around moving projects offshore. I think what worked really well with the CodeHQ model was that they had a really good connection between the New Zealand team and their longstanding Vietnamese team. It wasn’t like a usual outsourcing model at all. It was a really good blended model.”

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Nikko Asset Management: CodeHQ provides budget-friendly access to skilled specialists

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Nikko Asset Management Chief Operating Officer James Rogers says the investment management company called in CodeHQ to help it evolve from solely managing assets for some of New Zealand’s biggest companies, to dealing directly with retail and KiwiSaver investors for the first time.

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Launched in 2019, the new customer business required a state of the art digital platform, GoalsGetter.co.nz, that allowed customers to access the same kind of financial expertise that institutional investors have had access to for decades.

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“It really marked a shift for us from being primarily an institutional-only business to having much more of a retail-focus. The number of investors that we were supporting went from hundreds to thousands and will become tens of thousands,” says Rogers.

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The new business required a much more robust infrastructure as it had to provide not only reporting for a new kind of investor but also to meet regulatory requirements.

Rogers says he valued the face to face interaction with CodeHQ’s Agile Project Managers.

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“They were actually coming into the office and sitting down next to the people that were doing the work. They really obtained a good understanding of what we we’re trying to achieve.“

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In fact, Nikko AMs staff also developed a strong relationship with the Vietnamese team as they were included in Nikko AMs sprint reviews and planning sessions. “We actually know all the people that are working on our projects in Vietnam,” says Rogers.

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In addition to CodeHQ’s ability to lengthen the working day by using developers who could work through New Zealand’s night, Rogers says the New Zealand’s team’s staff were able to cover support requirements across the Vietnam team’s down times.

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Cybersecurity was well managed, with very low turnover and trusted key staff working on the account, and many internal precautions enabling outsourcing safety, he says.

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Rogers has previously managed big projects using in-house IT teams and in a contracting environment and says CodeHQ provides the best option for Nikko AMs requirements. Outsourcing to CodeHQ, he says, provides benefits in terms of a lower budget, the ability to flex the tech team up and down according to requirements, and access to specialists rather than generalists.

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“We are really impressed with the quality of the development staff and the speed they have been able to pick things up, the combined local and offshore model has worked very well”.

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NZME: CodeHQ provides an innovative hybrid solution to critical labour shortages

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NZME Digital Products GM Katie Macdiarmid says the listed media company began using CodeHQ in 2021.

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“We were starting to rebuild our capacity after the initial pandemic impacts, but we literally couldn't scale up quickly enough in New Zealand.”

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Macdiarmid says NZME uses CodeHQ to augment existing development and quality engineering team members but says she does not consider it to be a traditional outsourcing arrangement.

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“We augment our existing development and quality engineering teams with CodeHQ team members. We onboard them very much as if they were part of our business, and they are working in lockstep with our teams.”

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CodeHQ is assisting as NZME builds new features for the NZ Herald sites and subscriptions offering.

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In fact, having brought CodeHQ on board initially as a one-project partner, the relationship has developed into a strategic, ongoing partnership.

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“They are a really flexible business to work with. We can scale up, we can scale down. We can move people around. They're incredibly consistent. We actually haven't had any churn from their teams. And so it becomes really part of our business model to have that flexibility, the continuity and the level of the excellent level of service that they provide us,” says Macdiarmid.

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The team in Vietnam joins early afternoon virtual stand-ups, with NZME’s hybrid working team. The Vietnam team then continue later into the evening.

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NZME has continued this relationship because of the strong working knowledge of our business, velocity and quality results. CodeHQ’s local leadership team is a critical success factor, she says, to this innovative hybrid offshore onshore solution.

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“We still have local people to interact with when we need it - a key point in comparison to more classical offshore models.”

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As New Zealand navigates international economic and political volatility and local issues around identity, climate change and an upcoming election, opportunities emerge for those organisations that are strategically prepared for technology projects that give them competitive advantage

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