There is a classic carnival game that you will find at just about every local faire or festival that you attend. There is a booth with hundreds of glass soda bottles all neatly lined up in a square formation as people approach to toss small rings in hopes of landing one perfectly around the neck of one bottle. There’s no strategy at play necessarily, you throw a ring and it careems across the sea of bottles making a similar chime as it makes contact with a multitude of them. No matter what, a ring is hitting a bottle and potentially finding itself securely in place.
This is exactly how one could view the growth and current landscape of offshore software development partners vying for business opportunities in the United States. Everywhere that there is a mission of software development, you will find the saturation of offshore software partners looking to assist a stateside company. Now, it seems that any potential initiative that has to do with developing proprietary software or enhancing software processes within an organization, there is a queue of hundreds of teams that claim they can be the most effective method of development.
It’s not surprising. Offshore software development has grown between 5-7% annually from 2021-2024 with no let up in sight. Countries such as India, Ukraine, Brazil and more are all emerging with dedicated teams of developers looking to capture U.S. business in hopes of efficiently helping companies reach their development goals.
With a conservative estimate being between 5,000 and 10,000 active offshore firms, how could anyone possibly make themselves stand out amongst the masses?
At EC Group, the approach is quite simple. It’s about showing companies that you truly care about the mission, people, and culture while displaying an incredible amount of attention to detail. In fact, you become a HOST and present them with unbelievable possibilities about what a company’s efforts can look like. This in turn became an all-encompassing model, the H.O.S.T Model.
The H.O.S.T Model stands for Hosted Offshore Software Teams and while it can seem like a service, it’s more of a way of operation that encompasses what it means to provide software development guidance and expertise.
One of the leading factors of opposition for American based businesses when examining offshore software development is inconsistency in quality as well as retention of high quality developers. Back in 1999, EC Group organically found that this was something they excelled at and continue to carry forward into today’s efforts.
“Initially, we had a medical transcription business where audio files were sent over to India that would then be typed up. Over time technology advanced to overtake that business but we found that we had excelled at hiring and retaining developers. We hired people, treated them well and were able to train & retain them for a long period of time.” – Mike Sudyk, CEO, EC Group
Shortly after, a startup on the west coast noticed EC Group’s ability to find and retain expert offshore talent and asked if they would assist in finding a developer to meet their needs regarding a company project. Hiring that one developer turned into hiring 2 additional developers and thus creating a pivot into curating software developers to help further the mission of other companies.
Through this organic origin story, EC Group has found that the majority of their clients have an existing in-house team of developers but struggle with reaching the capacity they feel is needed to ensure consistent growth. Dated technology, being a smaller company, and a volatile domestic development market creates obstacles for these firms to be able to recruit and retain top talent. That’s exactly where EC Group can shine.
Still, there are numerous firms who can claim they can find and retain expert offshore talent, how do they stand out?
Understanding and caring about people is at the core of both standing out and success across a variety of projects. It allows for EC Group to be able to carry a 95% average developer retention rate that other offshore shops cannot even come close to. This ensures that not only the right developers are put in the best position to succeed for a client, but also obliterates the common practice of “team inconsistency” that most offshore development firms purposefully practice.
“A lot of offshore development shops will have an A-Team that goes around to each client and starts a new project for a customer early on. Then once the project has started they will hand off the baton to a swath of other developers while the A-Team moves onto the next project which creates a roller coaster of inconsistencies.” – Mike Sudyk, CEO, EC Group
The H.O.S.T Model is built upon a thorough vetting of potential developers who can not only fit in a given role for a client, but thrive in a multitude of ways spanning from technical execution to cultural fit while aligning with a client’s mission.
“American businesses, they know that India has a lot of people and developers. They receive tons of emails and mailers consistently about the ability to find someone who can help their software development. However, the big question in their mind is, how to find the right people.” – Daniel Jacob, VP of Human Resources, EC Group
EC Group has built upon their expertise in being able to find developers who can create a significant impact that American business owners can believe and trust in as they pursue their long-term goals.
“The system we have developed prioritizes real candidates with real experience that we put through a series of qualifications from Day 1 so that a business owner can trust in their ability to contribute. This has allowed us to have customers of 15+ years with the same developers working on their projects.” – Daniel Jacob, SVP of Human Resources, EC Group
Through 25 years of EC Group, they have conducted thousands of interviews for potential candidates which has in turn effectively tailored the H.O.S.T Model into a finely tuned operational lifestyle that helps produce the model developer for a company’s needs. This experience has allowed the opportunity to concisely understand the project ahead and choose a developer who fits both technically and culturally.
The process of finding that developer is a foundational building block of the H.O.S.T Model. It prioritizes attention to detail and candidate training. For instance, before the final interview and presentation of one candidate for a company’s desired role, EC Group will thoroughly vet 50 separate candidates to find the ultimate fit.
“We spend a lot of time in interviews with candidates and clients assessing how questions are being asked and relayed back and forth. We find ways to ensure there is a strong foundation of communication from the beginning.” Arun George, SVP of Technology, EC Group
The facilitation of understanding between the client and potential developer candidates breeds a foundation of trust that is often lost in a world that is so geared towards conclusion upon business gratification.
The H.O.S.T Model is just as much a foundational tool for candidates as it is for clients. The care and understanding of wanting to put a developer in a successful position has fueled EC Group’s ability to have such a high retention rate.
“In all points, these are people and we are people centric. Whether candidates are part of EC Group or not, we have the opportunity to make a positive impact in their lives.” – Arun George, SVP of Technology, EC Group
Offshore Development: People Are The Focus
The equal distribution of care across both clients and potential developers is how EC Group is standing out amongst a sea of offshore development shops. Making people the focus of their success is a direct demonstration to clients that it is not just about placing a developer who checks the technical boxes but rather finding a well-rounded individual who is primed to contribute on a micro and macro level.
When managing people can be such an exhausting obstacle, EC Group actively seeks the opportunity to do just that while client’s can focus on their core business operations. Conducting performance reviews regularly with a placed developer allows their voices to be heard as well as their skills to be refined through numerous trainings done within the company.
In a digital carnival game booth of identical glass soda bottles all lined up waiting for a ring to hopefully be tossed upon them, EC Group is demonstrating that a dedicated focus on enriching candidates to provide maximum impact to a client allows them to stand a lot taller amongst all of those bottles. In turn it makes them a firm worth aiming your company’s ring towards when it comes to finding future development success.
