Why Your Offshore Team Needs a Hybrid-Shore UK Contract

What We Will Cover In This Guide:

• First, we reveal the hidden legal dangers of standard offshore software development.
• Second, we explain how foreign contracts put your Intellectual Property at risk.
• Third, we discuss why your business is liable for GDPR fines after a data breach.
• Finally, we explore the hybrid-shore model and how it gives you Kathmandu pricing with London legal protection.

Many UK businesses want to reduce their software development costs. Therefore, they look overseas to find talented developers at lower rates. This makes perfect financial sense on paper. However, a hidden danger exists that many founders ignore until it is too late.

The danger is the contract itself.

When you hire an offshore software team, the legal agreement is just as important as the code. Signing a contract with a foreign entity puts your entire business at risk. For this reason, you need a safer approach. In this article, we will explain why your offshore team needs a UK Limited Company contract. Furthermore, we will show you how the hybrid-shore model gives you total peace of mind.

The Big Risks of Signing with a Foreign Entity

When you sign a legal agreement with a company in another country, you step outside the protection of British law. Consequently, you are dealing with international legal systems. This creates three massive problems for your business.

1. You Could Lose Your Intellectual Property

When you pay someone to build software, you expect to own the final product. Under UK law, this is standard practice. In many foreign jurisdictions, however, the laws around intellectual property are very weak.

For example, an offshore agency might copy your source code and sell it to a competitor. If this happens, you have very few options. Trying to sue a company that is 5,000 miles away is incredibly expensive. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to win. As a result, your entire business idea could be stolen without any real consequences for the developer.

2. GDPR Fines Fall on Your Shoulders

If your new software handles customer data, you must follow strict rules. Specifically, you must comply with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). You are legally responsible for how that data is stored. (Read the official UK ICO guidelines for data controllers here.)

Imagine you give a foreign development team access to your databases. Subsequently, they suffer a data breach. The UK government will not fine the foreign agency. Instead, they will fine you. You carry all the risk, while the foreign developer walks away untouched.

3. The Risk of Ghosting

There is zero accountability when an agency has no physical presence in your country. For instance, a foreign agency might take your deposit and stop replying to your emails. If this occurs, you have no easy way to get your money back. There is no local office to visit. Moreover, there is no UK small claims court to help you.

How the Hybrid-Shore Model Protects You

We saw these problems happening to businesses all over London. Therefore, we built Periwin Solutions using a hybrid-shore model.

We have a highly skilled engineering hub in Nepal. However, we are a registered UK Limited Company based in London.

When you work with us, you do not sign a contract with a foreign agency. Instead, you sign a contract directly with our UK entity. This hybrid-shore approach gives you the best of both worlds. You get the cost savings of offshore development. In addition, you get the absolute safety of a British legal agreement.

The Benefits of a Hybrid-Shore UK Contract

Working with a UK-based offshore partner completely changes your safety profile. Here is exactly what you get when you sign a hybrid-shore contract with Periwin Solutions.

Total Intellectual Property Protection

Because you are signing a UK contract, strict British laws protect your intellectual property rights. Our agreements clearly state that all code belongs entirely to your company from day one. Therefore, you own everything we build for you.

Strict GDPR Compliance

We operate under the exact same data protection laws that you do. We build secure software using standard UK data processing agreements. Consequently, this ensures your customer data is handled correctly.

Local Accountability and Clear Communication

You never have to worry about us disappearing. Our management team is right here in London. If you have a question, you can simply pick up the phone. Furthermore, we provide dedicated engineers with a daily timezone overlap. This means our Nepal engineering team and your UK business overlap during working hours. As a result, communication is always fast.

Easy Payment and Accounting

Dealing with international wire transfers is a headache for your accounting team. Because we are a UK Limited Company, you simply pay our invoices via standard local bank transfers. Ultimately, it is just like paying any other local supplier.

Protect Your Software Investment

Building a software product is a major investment. You should never leave that investment vulnerable to weak foreign laws.

You need a partner who takes your legal security seriously. At Periwin Solutions, we provide the talent to build your vision. Additionally, we provide the UK legal framework to protect it. 

Are you looking for a safe way to outsource your next software project? Let us chat about how our hybrid-shore model can help your business grow without the risk.