Scaling without risk: the power of nearshoring in software development

As an IT decision-maker, you are likely familiar with this challenge: strategic software projects often require rapid scaling, while hiring permanent employees involves significant risk. Recruitment can take months, onboarding requires substantial time and investment, and once a project is completed, organizations are often left with excess capacity. Nearshore outsourcing provides direct access to specialized expertise without the knowledge-related, employment-law, and financial risks associated with permanent staff.

Demand for IT capacity fluctuates significantly. During a major implementation, for example, an organization may require twenty developers, while three months later only five specialists are sufficient for maintenance and support. With traditional hiring, it often takes three to six months to bring new employees on board: the recruitment process alone can take months, followed by another three to six months before new hires are fully onboarded and productive. Nearshore development teams offer a flexible alternative, enabling organizations to scale up within weeks and scale down just as quickly once peak development demand has passed.

This flexibility extends beyond team size alone. Access to scarce, specialized expertise also becomes easier. Do you suddenly need experts in machine learning, cloud architecture, or cybersecurity? An outsourcing partner with a broad talent pool can rapidly deploy the right capabilities, without requiring months of investment in recruiting and onboarding new staff.

Guaranteed continuity with a development team

Working with individual freelancers may seem like a logical way to achieve flexibility, but it can introduce new risks. Freelancers may leave at short notice, fall ill, or take leave without replacement. During critical project phases, this can have significant consequences. In addition, essential project knowledge is often concentrated in a single individual. When that person leaves, the accumulated knowledge is lost as well.

An external development team, by contrast, provides continuity. Within such a team, knowledge is actively shared and documented, ensuring that the project does not come to a standstill if an individual becomes unavailable. Expertise is also embedded at multiple levels within the outsourcing partner’s organization, so critical knowledge remains accessible. When necessary, the outsourcing partner arranges replacement resources and safeguards project continuity.

Dutch legislation on false self-employment (the DBA Act) has further increased the complexity of engaging freelancers. Since 2025, enforcement against false self-employment has become more stringent, creating risks of additional tax assessments and increased administrative burden. With nearshore outsourcing, organizations work within a legally robust framework, avoiding the risks and complexity associated with DBA enforcement.

Why nearshoring is more effective than offshoring

Within outsourcing, three main models can be distinguished: onshoring (outsourcing within the same country), offshoring (outsourcing to distant countries such as India or the Philippines), and nearshoring (outsourcing to nearby European countries). Nearshoring combines the cost advantages of offshoring with the operational efficiency and close collaboration associated with local development teams.

Although offshoring typically offers the lowest hourly rates, it also introduces significant practical challenges. Large time zone differences hinder real-time communication and extend feedback loops. Cultural differences and language barriers can lead to misunderstandings that cause costly delays. In addition, offshoring often involves different legal frameworks for data protection and intellectual property. Over time, these factors can create obstacles that undermine successful software development initiatives.

Nearshoring to Eastern European countries provides an effective alternative. In a country such as Romania, teams operate in virtually the same time zone, enabling synchronous collaboration and direct coordination. There is a strong alignment with Dutch business practices: English proficiency is generally high and work cultures are comparable. Moreover, the European Union applies the same stringent regulations (GDPR), ensuring legal certainty and robust data protection, while relatively short travel distances facilitate in-person meetings and the development of strong team relationships.

Romania: a European IT hub with highly skilled professionals

Romania has developed into one of Europe’s leading IT hubs. The country offers a strong digital infrastructure, including extensive fiber-optic networks, and a large pool of highly educated IT professionals. The Romanian education system has traditionally placed a strong emphasis on science, mathematics, and engineering, resulting in a substantial supply of well-qualified technical talent.

Romania is characterized by a professional, results-driven work culture with a strong work ethic. Romanian developers are accustomed to working in international environments and typically have a high level of English proficiency. At the same time, cost levels remain competitive without compromising on quality. This combination makes Romania particularly well suited for nearshore software development.

Within this context, NetRom positions itself as a leading Romanian nearshore partner for Dutch organizations.

How NetRom strengthens nearshore outsourcing

At NetRom, nearshore outsourcing goes beyond simply providing development capacity. What distinguishes our approach is the combination of deep technological expertise, extensive domain knowledge, thorough onboarding, strategically composed teams, and a culture in which employee satisfaction plays a central role. These pillars form the foundation for stable, productive collaborations that support organizations in achieving their digital ambitions.

Deep technological expertise

NetRom offers broad technological capabilities covering all layers of modern software development. These range from frontend frameworks such as React and Angular to backend technologies including .NET, Java, and Python, as well as cloud platforms like Azure and AWS and advanced database solutions. Our developers work daily with the latest technologies and methodologies, including microservices architectures, containerization with Docker and Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines for automated deployment.

This technological breadth enables NetRom to deliver solutions for virtually any digital challenge. Whether modernizing a legacy system, developing a new cloud-based application, or implementing complex data integrations, we have the appropriate technical expertise. In addition, we continuously invest in keeping this expertise up to date through training, certifications, and active participation in international developer communities.

One of the key advantages of a large organization with more than 500 developers is that technical knowledge is widely shared. When a developer encounters a challenge, they can rely on the available expertise of colleagues with specialized skills. This culture of knowledge sharing ensures that projects do not stall due to technical obstacles and allows us to consistently recommend the most suitable technological solutions for each specific situation.

Extensive domain expertise across multiple industries

Domain knowledge is a critical success factor in software development. When developers have experience within your industry, it delivers tangible benefits: faster implementation, relevant industry-specific insights, and a direct impact on project success.

An individual freelancer may have excellent command of a programming language but cannot realistically keep up with current developments across multiple industries. NetRom, by contrast, has a large team of developers working for clients in a wide range of sectors. This has resulted in a depth of domain expertise that individual freelancers cannot match.

Our experienced IT specialists, for example, understand the compliance requirements in finance, how data protocols operate in logistics, and which security standards apply in healthcare. This sector-specific knowledge helps prevent costly mistakes and ensures that solutions comply with all relevant laws and regulations from day one.

Thorough onboarding for long-term success

Every collaboration at NetRom Software begins with a carefully designed onboarding process. This onboarding goes far beyond a simple list of requirements and represents a deliberate investment in long-term success. Senior Engineers and Solution Architects with extensive hands-on experience conduct in-depth discussions with all stakeholders on the client side.

The objective is not only to understand the functional and technical scope, but above all to gain a clear understanding of the business logic behind the software product. This approach is essential for effective collaboration and successful software development.

Through these comprehensive onboarding sessions, a solid knowledge base is established together with your organization. This enables our developers to add value from day one, contribute to strategic decision-making, and proactively propose solutions that align with your business objectives.

During the onboarding process, dedicated time is taken to gain a deep understanding of your organization. This knowledge is documented and safeguarded, ensuring continuity even when team compositions change.

Teams-as-a-Service: carefully composed development teams

The success of outsourcing ultimately depends on the people behind the project. A collection of CVs with impressive technical skills does not automatically result in a well-functioning team. Team dynamics, communication styles, and complementary personalities are equally important.

For this reason, NetRom applies an integrated approach when assembling development teams. We look beyond technical competencies and carefully assess which personalities, communication styles, and ways of working best align with each other and with your project. In some cases, a more introverted analyst may be the best fit; in others, an extroverted communicator adds greater value. Do you require room for innovative experimentation, or a more methodical approach within complex enterprise architectures?

By deliberately composing teams in which individual members reinforce and complement one another, the result is a unit that consistently performs better than a loose group of individuals. This Teams-as-a-Service approach leads to higher productivity, improved communication, higher code quality, and a stronger return on IT investments.

We work with modern communication tools and apply the four-eyes principle in software development, meaning that code is always reviewed by at least two developers. This ensures structural quality assurance. Our developers work together in the same physical environment, facilitating spontaneous knowledge sharing and rapid problem resolution. At the same time, they are seamlessly integrated into your organization through blended teams.

In a blended team, your in-house specialists and NetRom developers operate as a single, integrated unit. Supported by modern communication tools, this collaboration model makes physical location largely irrelevant. The result is a flexible, scalable development team that combines the stability and continuity of permanent staff with the cost efficiency and expertise of nearshore outsourcing.

Stable teams through a focus on employee satisfaction

From Craiova, Romania, more than 500 university-educated developers work at the NetRom Campus—an inspiring environment designed to encourage collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation.

NetRom offers competitive employment conditions, continuously invests in training and personal development, and provides facilities such as complimentary meals, sports amenities, and an on-site company restaurant. The quality of software development is ultimately determined by the people who write the code. Motivated developers deliver better results than disengaged teams. This approach is embedded in our company philosophy, which we describe as Employee First = Customer First.

This policy results in a notably low employee turnover rate. The average tenure at NetRom is twelve years, significantly higher than the IT industry average of three to four years. For your organization, this translates into stable teams, retention of project knowledge, long-term partnerships, and successful software initiatives. You directly benefit from this sustained investment in our developers.

Make the strategic choice for nearshore outsourcing

As an IT decision-maker, you face a clear choice: continue investing in in-house IT staff with all the associated risks and costs, or opt for the strategic flexibility of nearshore outsourcing. With more than 25 years of experience in nearshore software development for Dutch clients, NetRom offers the reliability of an established partner combined with the agility required to support your digital ambitions.

Outsourcing through nearshoring is not a compromise, but a strategic decision for organizations that want to accelerate without taking on additional personnel risks. This means:

• Direct access to more than 500 university-educated IT specialists
• Stable, proven development teams with an average tenure of 12 years
• Deep domain knowledge combined with high-level IT expertise
• Flexible scaling up and down of development teams based on current demand
• Legal certainty within EU regulations (GDPR)
• Cultural alignment and the same time zone for smooth collaboration
• A cost-efficient solution without compromising on quality

Nearshore outsourcing can strengthen your competitive position by striking the right balance between flexibility, quality, and cost. Curious to learn how our nearshoring approach can support your organization in achieving its digital ambitions? Get in touch with us to explore the possibilities.