It's All Relative

Depending on their proximity to your business location, you can outsource work to an offshore, nearshore or onshore locale.

• Offshore refers to a foreign locale that is far away in distance and, more importantly, far apart in time from your primary location.
• Nearshore also refers to a foreign locale but one that’s much closer to you.
• Onshore is a locale in the same country as yours.

An Example

Relative to a business in California,

• India, China and Eastern Europe are considered offshore locations since they are thousands of miles away and between 9 and 13.5 time zones away.
• Mexico, Central America and western Canada are considered nearshore locations since they are all pretty close in distance (i.e., can be reached with a same-day flight) and between zero and two time zones away.
• Any US locale is considered onshore.

So, Which “Shore” is Best for You?

Of the two considerations, distance and time, the latter is the most critical. All other factors being equal, it is much more effective to work with a nearshore partner that is in the same time zone as yours than it is to do it with an onshore vendor that is three or four time zones away.