After a Bad Experience With Offshore Development: What Usually Went Wrong
When an offshore or nearshore team disappoints, the cause is usually one of a few well-documented failure modes: people rotating off your account, more coordination work than the rate suggested, a team that builds what it is told without pushing back, less experienced people than were sold, and problems that are reported too late. Most of these are strongest when the supplier also runs the work, and most of them can be checked before you sign. In Tunga's model, the professional works in your team under your direction, you interview the people who will do the work, and a delivery manager checks in with both sides. That does not remove every risk, and the questions to ask any partner, Tunga included, are on a separate page.
What most likely went wrong
The best Dutch data comes from the Eraneos/Whitelane Dutch IT Sourcing Study 2025, which covers 652 supplier relationships at nearly 300 large Dutch IT buyers. The weaknesses buyers named most often:
- No proactive challenge from the supplier, in 41% of relationships.
- Insufficient business knowledge, in 31%.
- Less experienced people than expected, in 27%.
- High staff turnover, in 22%.
Two more failure modes come from older research. Work split across locations took about 2.5 times as long as comparable work in one place (Herbsleb and Mockus, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 2003). And suppliers' staff often stay silent about problems until it is too late, which researchers call the "mum effect" (Jain, Simon and Poston, Journal of Management Information Systems, 2011).
Which failures depend on the model you chose
Most of the research above covers project outsourcing and managed teams, where the supplier also decides how the work gets done. In that model, specifications have to cross a contract boundary, domain knowledge stays with the supplier, and bad news passes through a layer of management before it reaches you. Coordination cost, missing domain knowledge and late bad news are all strongest there.
When individual professionals work inside your own team, other risks matter more:
- Turnover, because every departure means a new person in your team.
- Identity, because remote hiring through freelance channels has been targeted with false identities. Google's Threat Intelligence Group reported in April 2025 that North Korean IT workers were applying to European companies as remote freelancers; the FBI advised stricter identity checks and personal contact during hiring (January 2025).
- Social onboarding. In a 2021 survey of 267 new Microsoft developers who were onboarded remotely, building a connection with the team was the biggest challenge (Rodeghero and others, ICSE 2021).
What tends to make it work
The same research points to a short list of conditions:
- Choosing a partner for knowledge and stability rather than for the lowest rate.
- A stable team, so that knowledge of your product stays in your team.
- Plenty of overlap in working hours, especially for agile work with a lot of daily contact.
- Deliberate attention to culture and to raising problems early.
- A personal, social onboarding.
- Strict identity checks, with personal contact during selection.
Most of these can be tested before you sign. The 8 questions that do this, one per failure mode, are on the page What to ask a nearshore or offshore development partner before you sign.
How Tunga's model relates to these failure modes
- You direct the work. The professional works in your team, in your tools and rhythm. There is no supplier layer that specifies, coordinates or reports on the work.
- You choose the people. Tunga turns your profile into a briefing, searches, vets and presents a shortlist; you decide whom to interview and who works with you.
- Continuity. In 2025, about 1 in 56 placements ended because the professional left for another job. Tunga replaces without a time limit.
- Someone watching both sides. A delivery manager checks in with you and with the professional at least once a month, and more often when needed.
- Speaking up. Pushing back on a client's decision comes more naturally in some working cultures than in others, and Tunga pays particular attention to it: in selection, in the Tunga Academy and in the support of professionals who are already placed.
Tunga's answer to each of the 8 vetting questions is on the separate page.
What no partner can take over
Some conditions sit with you, whichever partner you choose. Someone in your team has to know what needs to be built and be available to answer questions. The first weeks of onboarding take attention, as they do with any new team member. And whether the work is good enough is your judgement; a partner can act on it, but cannot make it for you.
Where Tunga fits
Tunga takes the staffing side off the plate of companies that need digital professionals: software engineers, AI operators, product managers and other digital roles, from across Africa. The client directs the work. Tunga handles finding and vetting, contracts, payments and compliance, onboarding, keeping people, and replacing them when someone leaves or it isn't working. The professionals are independent freelancers contracted by Tunga and work remotely from their own country; the client has one contract, with Tunga, and a delivery manager who checks in with both sides. In 2025, about 1 in 56 placements ended because the professional left for another job. Founded in 2015; 3,500 professionals across 38 African countries and 300+ client companies, as of September 2026.
Tunga is not the right fit when the role has to be on site, when the work means talking to your clients in a language other than English or French, or when saving on cost is the main reason you're looking.
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