The benefits of using Cape Town for outsourced software development teams

Ray Kroc is best known for creating what is arguably one of the world’s most recognisable brands, McDonald’s. Dubbed the “king of the franchise”, the American business tycoon found success by punting a systematic approach to production – brought together through the combined efforts of franchisees, employees and McDonald’s suppliers.

So, how does one create a business that with locations in over 100 countries and serves 69 million people every day?

“You’re only as good as the people you hire,” Kroc famously said. He understood that there is only so much he could do alone and believed that working with the right people, and then trusting these people to do their jobs, was key to the company’s success.

Today, Kroc’s ideas still hold true; even though our approach to working with the best people may be a little different. The modern workforce is a hybrid one – made up of internal resources, as well as strategic partnerships with external talent. More and more, businesses are embracing outsourcing as a way to reduce costs, boost flexibility, speed up time to market and fill knowledge gaps. This is especially true within the software development space. When an organisation decides to outsource their software development they have the opportunity to refocus their attention on what they’re good at and what gives them a competitive advantage.

Finding talent, anywhere

With technology making it possible for us to connect with anyone, anywhere and at anytime, organisations wanting to outsource work now have the freedom look further afield. And increasingly, they’re looking to South Africa. Large brands – including IBM, Amazon and Capital One – have all chosen South Africa for their offshoring needs. And a recent report by tech-talent outsourcer, Tunga, found that European and US companies are looking to countries like South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius to find the software development talent they require.

Regularly ranked as a “top tech employment hub”, Cape Town, in particular, has shown impressive initiative in developing the infrastructure needed to build thriving tech ecosystem. So much so that in November 2020, the South African government, in partnership with the private sector, unveiled the “Cape Town Tech Capital of Africa” initiative as a showcase of the City’s commitment to cementing tech sector growth.

South Africa’s skilled technology professionals hold particular appeal for UK and European markets because they offer high-quality outcomes at competitive rates. Having a similar time zone and culture and being primarily first-language English speakers makes South African developers great collaboration partners, which is what many global organisations are after. Sure, they want good skills at competitive rates, but they also want to be able to share a problem with their outsource partner and then work with them to develop a solution, together.

As technologies advance and develop, the skills and knowledge that technology professionals and developers need must follow. At Bluegrass Digital, we have been operating an offshore outsourced model for over 21 years. Since the early days of web development in the late 1990’s, we’ve helped our international clients boost their digital strategies through our Cape Town development hub. And much like McDonald’s, we’ve streamlined our processes, hiring talented people and using the latest tools and technologies to deliver excellent results for these clients.

Click here to find out more about building an outsourced team or to access our Cape Town FTE resources.