All in favor of offshore Salesforce development: the platform services market will hit over $28600 million in 2028, says the global market report. With a whopping growth rate of 14.19% and blessings from AI trends, this unique CRM system is riding the wave.
For businesses, it checks all the boxes: the potential for mobile app development, a user-friendly interface, broad integration capabilities, strategic marketing & sales team perks, smooth collaboration, and many more. So, how to hire a Salesforce development team in the smartest and quickest way?
I’m Sergiy Ovcharenko, CBDO at Alcor, the leading IT recruitment agency in EE and LatAm. We offer an all-in-one R&D center solution for tech product companies. With 6+ years of expertise under our belts, my team and I will share all tips and tricks for your success offshore. Keep reading to get a grip on Salesforce outsourcing pros, salaries, questions, and best practices. I will also share how to pick a reliable partner for offshore Salesforce development. Ready to dive in?
Benefits of Offshore Salesforce Development
Superior Tech Skills
Although the US is the rightful Salesforce birthplace with the largest user base, other regions can boast rapidly growing communities of Salesforce experts. Latin America, for instance, has buzzing hubs of offshore Salesforce developers in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. These same hotbeds lead in SQL, so prized in Salesforce development, as well as databases and data science: Mexico is forging ahead the fastest, according to Coursera. Also, see regions that are a done deal for the platform, such as Central and Eastern Europe, which is also leading in data science and analysis. Salesforce trends coupled with tech prowess in this region will set you up for fascinating results!
Lower Labor Costs
In the case of offshore outsourcing, a Salesforce development company requires fewer expenses. The difference will be especially tangible for US and Western European businesses.
The first reason for this is lower salaries in countries with cheaper economies. Think about this for a moment: in the US, the Salesforce IT team leader salary per year is $120K – $140K. Contrary to that, in Mexico, the average base rate for such a senior role is 40% lower and amounts to $69K–84K annually.
What is more, hiring developers on a B2B cooperation basis will prove more lucrative thanks to lower tax rates. If you find it complicated, you can turn to an EoR provider to handle employment, taxes, and payroll on your behalf.
Vast Talent Pool
According to U.S. Labor statistics, there’s a global shortage of skilled workers amounting to 40 million worldwide. Furthermore, this number is projected to soar to 85.2 million by 2030, with the IT sector facing some of the toughest recruitment challenges. To tackle the widespread scarcity of programmers, tech companies often turn to the offshore model. It provides access to a vast talent pool of millions of IT professionals, making it straightforward and pragmatic to assemble an offshore Salesforce development team. By leveraging offshoring for Salesforce development services, IT companies can bridge existing talent gaps and tap into rare expertise.
Diversity
This benefit comes from the previous one. By extending geographical borders and hiring offshore Salesforce developers, you will enhance the corporate DEI metric. This is an indicator of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Varied employee backgrounds are likely to promote innovative ideas and approaches within your company. Statistics prove it: according to McKinsey research, diverse companies usually outperform their less diverse industry peers. Additionally, your company will form a positive and ethical image on the market, which is greatly valued by younger generations.
However, a tech leader should choose the offshoring country wisely so that cultural barriers don’t bog you down. In order to avoid misunderstandings on the grounds of contradicting views and values, I suggest you consider such regions as Eastern Europe and Latin America. Developers from these areas share a strong alignment with Western culture and business norms. With their English proficiency and knack for adapting to new work environments, they also foster a harmonious workplace atmosphere.
Streamlined Product Development
The truth is that the Salesforce journey doesn’t end when your project does. Quite often, businesses need continuous assistance and monitoring to identify CRM performance errors quickly. Offshoring Salesforce development services unlocks assistance around the clock. Geographically dispersed specialists will help run your business 24/7 and ensure prompt issue resolution. That’s why US companies favor Latin America and Eastern Europe, with minimal time zone differences of 1-2 hours with Latin American countries or 10 hours with Eastern European ones to maintain round-the-clock business functioning. Last but not least, offshoring Salesforce development allows you to streamline overall product development and get ahead of your competitors!
Offshore Salesforce Developer Salaries by Country
In the US market, a Salesforce developer earns an average salary of $112K. The question is: what will the cost be if you decide to hire Salesforce developers in other regions? Let’s focus on specialists in the LatAm and Eastern European markets.
Country, Latin America | Gross Annual Salesforce Developer’s Income, USD | ||
Junior | Middle | Senior | |
Mexico | 11,000-18,000 | 23,000-45,500 | 50,500-62,500 |
Argentina | 10,000-18,000 | 18,000-48,000 | 54,000-72,000 |
Colombia | 12,000-30,000 | 30,000-54,000 | 54,000-72,000 |
Chile | 18,000-30,000 | 30,000-54,000 | 54,000-78,000 |
Country, Eastern Europe | Gross Annual Salesforce Developer’s Income, USD | ||
Junior | Middle | Senior | |
Poland | 20,500-42,000 | 36,000-65,000 | 55,500-90,000 |
Romania | 14,500-30,000 | 36,000-60,000 | 66,000-78,000 |
Bulgaria | 18,000-30,000 | 30,000-54,000 | 54,000-78,000 |
Ukraine | 12,000-30,000 | 30,000-42,000 | 42,000-66,000 |
As the data shows, a Salesforce software developer salary in Argentina, as well as in Mexico, is lower than in Colombia and Chile, starting from about $10K-18K per year for junior Salesforce developers and reaching up to $50K-72K for senior expertise. In Eastern Europe, the lowest salaries are found in Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine — overall, they range between $12K and $78K for programmers of different levels. Meanwhile, to hire developers in Poland, you should expect to pay at least $20K of annual remuneration for junior devs and up to $90K for senior Salesforce coders.
To conclude, both regions allow you to save up on labor costs by offshoring Salesforce development services — about 70% in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine, and up to 60% in Mexico and Poland.
Tips to Choose an Offshore Salesforce Development Provider
To begin with offshore Salesforce development, you’ll need a provider. To pick one, focus on legal compliance, project management approach, communication, and willingness to adapt.
Let’s break that down:
- Legal side. Ideally, the Salesforce developer company of your choice should be compliant with all laws and regulations, especially in IP and data protection. This way, you’ll safeguard your product from the get-go.
- Systematic project management. Organizational capabilities matter just as much for your product development as the offshore Salesforce developers’ tech expertise. If your partner excels at tracking progress dynamics, communicating with team members, and handling KPI to ensure timely delivery, it’s a win.
- Seamless communication. Look for a partner with a match in values and communicative approaches. Clarity and responsiveness not only ensure top cooperation vibes but also result in great outcomes. Don’t miss out on companies that treat regular updates seriously — it’s the best way to stay on top of the process.
- Flexibility. Readiness to adapt is worth its weight in gold. Imagine: you find a top-notch offshore Salesforce development company, but your time zones don’t overlap. What a great partner would do is adjust their working hours. That’s just a minor example, but the extra mile from your partner goes a long way.
5 Questions to Ask Your Potential Salesforce Development Partner
An experienced offshore outsourcing Salesforce development company will help you get the most out of your Salesforce investment. Yet how can clients choose a vendor capable of bringing their business ideas to fruition? Below, I’ve compiled a list of essential questions to pose to your potential provider right from the start.
- How do you customize the Salesforce environment?
Customization lies at the heart of Salesforce CRM. In reality, no two companies utilize this system in identical ways. Therefore, opt for an outsourcing partner who has the engineering skills to customize Salesforce software development by extending the capabilities you find most important. Salesforce developers can adjust the CRM to your requirements and install applications to bolster your business operations. To achieve this, they must be proficient in Apex, Visualforce, and Lightning.
- Do you have a defined QA process?
You will probably rely on Salesforce to perform business-critical tasks, so you don’t want any bugs to arise suddenly. The problem is that testing Salesforce, especially when heavily customized, is quite a tedious process. It requires a lot of resources, patience, and knowledge about the most recent updates. To avoid any unexpected issues, select a provider who can ensure streamlined testing and quality assurance.
- What is your IP (Intellectual Property) agreement?
This is another important question to ask a potential Salesforce development company and steer clear of murky IP agreements. It’s no secret that entrusting core business operations, including outsourcing custom Salesforce software development, comes with certain risks. As a result of vague terms and conditions, the outsourcing team may inadvertently claim ownership of the written code. To prevent misunderstandings on this shaky ground, clarify the transition of IP rights and make sure that these conditions are beneficial for you.
- Do you have a portfolio and reviews from previous clients?
Needless to say, it’s essential to check the provider’s experience with problems and goals similar to yours to succeed in offshore Salesforce development. Consulting B2B ratings and reputable platforms like Clutch for client reviews is a wise move. Examining past case studies can further verify a company’s credibility and relevant expertise. For added assurance, I recommend reaching out to their previous clients for references.
- What’s the pricing and timeline?
Before you hire a Salesforce development team, address costs and deadlines upfront. Ask your potential offshore Salesforce partner whether they have a defined software development lifecycle, which indicates mature processes and a thoughtful approach. Next, meticulously outline your project requirements and establish clear deadlines for deliverables. Plus, don’t forget to ask about the costs of possible adjustments and fixes. To avoid paying a fortune at the end of cooperation, opt for providers offering transparent pricing and guarantees.
Best Practices of Offshoring Salesforce Development Easily
Manage Expectations
Be clear about your objectives, jobs to be done, and deadlines. Be realistic to establish feasible goals and discuss them. Besides, your offshoring partner should also be up-to-date on the speed and quality you expect.
Set the Project Scope
Define the scope of overall work, the timeline, the budget, and all the specific tech skills of your ideal dedicated Salesforce developer. One more tip: discuss and include potential challenges to your plan for better risk management.
Agree on Reports
If you work with remote Salesforce developers, communication and tracking results are indispensable. You’ll need to reach an agreement regarding your working hours depending on the time zones, preferred communication channels and project update schedule.
Considering IT outsourcing to Latin America or Eastern Europe? Alcor has a better and safer all-in-one solution — your own R&D office! Besides, we boast a proven track record. Check out our successful R&D cases for Sift, ThreadUp, and Dotmatics to start with offshore software development in Eastern Europe & Latin America!
Things that Should Be in Your Salesforce Development Contract
1. Responsibilities
This part includes duties of each party in cooperation with the other. It’s here that you establish all your expectations, costs, and desired results. Also, add more detail for contingencies — for instance, delineating the course of action in case the overall cost increases will save your negotiation and decision time in the future.
2. IP rights transition
Recapping the facts mentioned before, outsourcing poses a threat of losing IP rights to your core code. Thus, make sure to state that the final product is your intellectual property right in the contract. After all, better safe than sorry.
3. Buy-out fees, if any
Picture this: you’re satisfied with the offshore Salesforce developers and want to keep them in-house. But to get them onboard, you have to pay an exorbitant buy-out price. Try to negotiate the fees beforehand. An even smarter solution is hiring a tech team in-house straight away or opening your R&D center. This way, no buy-out fees with all the expertise.
Consider Hiring Your Own Offshore Salesforce Team with Alcor
At Alcor, we offer a comprehensive solution to opening your own R&D office and assembling top-notch development teams for IT product companies. Therefore, if you want to hire Salesforce developers in Latin America or Eastern Europe, you came to the right place!
Our company is on a mission to support ambitious business expansion plans of the US and Western European IT companies. That’s why we’ve developed a comprehensive offshore development center services solution. It covers IT recruitment, legal & payroll, and WFH support. The cherry on top is our assistance with office lease, equipment procurement, and back-office operations, as well as other on-demand services, such as EoR.
Alcor’s team needs only 3-6 weeks to snag a tech candidate for hire, and 8 sent CVs to get 1 accepted offer. Here’s what we guarantee:
- 5 developers for hire during the first month,
- 20 developers in 3 months,
- and 100+ in a year.
People.ai has already reaped the benefits of our R&D services. They were seeking rare talents for AI algorithm development and aimed to streamline team management and marketing. Prior to the candidate search, we provided recruitment consulting and a feasibility study, plus a detailed analysis of the client’s vacancies — from salary ranges to availability on the market. Then our researchers and recruiters handled full-cycle IT recruitment. We also handled arising legal queries, assisted in an office lease, procured tech equipment, and took care of payroll.
As a result, our cooperation was a roaring success! In total, we managed to hire over 25 talented software developers with Python, Scala, Java, React, Javascript, Kafka, and AWS skills. The icing on the cake? A fully-operating R&D center for People.ai! Now, the company employs 125+ people around the globe and plans to expand further.
FAQ
How do I choose a Salesforce partner?
To choose a reliable Salesforce partner, you should discuss the CRM customization, QA process, and IP agreement. Also, check the portfolio of previous works, examine pricing, and set deadlines.
What are the advantages of offshore Salesforce development?
The advantages of offshore Salesforce development include lower business expenses, access to a considerable and diverse talent pool with superior expertise, and round-the-clock support.
Is there an alternative to Salesforce outsourcing?
A more long-lasting alternative is setting up your own R&D office in a chosen location. This way, you get a team of software developers abroad, plus the office — an entire R&D branch to sustain you in scaling your business. The Alcor team will be glad to hire the perfect Salesforce programmers in accordance with your needs!
What is an average Salesforce developer’s salary?
In the US, it ranges between $110K and $120K. In Latin America, the average Salesforce Developer’s salary equals $42K, while in Eastern Europe, it will reach up to $47K.