Pick where the engineers sit by what the work needs, then mix.
A cutover weekend needs someone in your data center. A connector backlog needs steady hands and a daily handoff. Production support needs somebody awake at 3 a.m. your time. We staff each model, onsite in the US, nearshore, offshore or across all time zones, and help you decide which work goes where.
Onsite engineers work at your US sites. Nearshore engineers work hours that overlap with US teams. Offshore engineers make progress while your team is offline. Follow-the-sun coverage hands work across time zones for round-the-clock support. Most engagements mix models, with an onsite or nearshore lead holding design decisions and offshore engineers carrying build and run work.
you probably need this if
Your offshore team waits a day for answers because nobody's hours overlap.
A cutover needs people in the data center, but the build work could happen anywhere.
Production incidents after midnight wait for the US team to wake up.
terms on this pageConnectordefinitionThe integration between an identity platform and an app. It's how the platform reads and changes accounts and access in that app.explained in a field note →CutoverdefinitionThe moment traffic and users switch from the old system to the migrated one.explained in a field note →
From the first call to a setup your own team can run.
Here's what usually prompts a call about your Onsite, Nearshore & Offshore Delivery, what we do about it and in which order, and where you end up.
01 · where it hurts02 · what we change03 · how it runs04 · where you end up
incident board · onsite, nearshore & offshore…3 open
openYour offshore team waits a day for answers because nobody's hours overlap.
recurringA cutover needs people in the data center, but the build work could happen anywhere.
blockedProduction incidents after midnight wait for the US team to wake up.
exposure
Onsite in the USNearshore with overlapping hoursOffshore for overnight progressCoverage across all time zonesBlended teams with one leadData and access boundaries by…
S/4
startrehearsehandover
Sort the work
Set data boundaries
Agree the handoff
Run and adjust
we are here
ready to hand over
Questions get answered the same day, offshore engineers start each shift with clear next…
Known incidents are worked overnight from runbooks.
Build work restarts without waiting on a policy exception, and production access stays…
Workstream map showing delivery model and reason for each
chapter 01 · where it hurts
Why teams reach out
Your offshore team waits a day for answers because nobody's hours overlap.
A cutover needs people in the data center, but the build work could happen anywhere.
Production incidents after midnight wait for the US team to wake up.
chapter 02 · what we change
How we solve it
Onsite in the US
Nearshore with overlapping hours
Offshore for overnight progress
Coverage across all time zones
Blended teams with one lead
Data and access boundaries by model
chapter 03 · how it runs
Our approach
Sort the work
Set data boundaries
Agree the handoff
Run and adjust
chapter 04 · where you end up
What changes
Questions get answered the same day, offshore engineers start each shift with clear next steps, and the product owner deals with one lead instead of a ticket queue.
Known incidents are worked overnight from runbooks.
Build work restarts without waiting on a policy exception, and production access stays with the people compliance approved.
Workstream map showing delivery model and reason for each
what we do
Where we spend the hours
6 areas of work, each one done by an engineer who has run it in production.
Engineers at your offices, plants, hospitals or data centers. Best for discovery workshops, cutover weekends, work on systems that can't be reached remotely, and roles where your security policy requires US-based staff on your premises.
Engineers working the same business day as your US team. Best for agile delivery where developers join standups, pair with your staff and answer questions within the hour, without the cost of a fully onsite team.
Offshore engineers work while you sleep. Give them a well-defined backlog, such as connector builds, test automation, data pipeline work or regression runs, plus a written handoff at the end of each day, and the work keeps moving.
When an incident can't wait until morning, follow-the-sun shifts pass open incidents and in-flight changes from one region to the next. It's how we run production support, monitoring and on-call.
There's a single technical lead who owns design decisions and how handoffs are written. Engineers sit in different models, and the split is decided workstream by workstream. It changes as work goes from design to build to run.
Before anyone starts, map which systems and data each location may touch, in line with your contracts and regulatory obligations. Engineers who can't see production data work on masked copies or in your virtual desktop environment.
capability 01 / 06in production
S/4
Onsite in the US
Engineers at your offices, plants, hospitals or data centers. Best for discovery workshops, cutover weekends, work on systems that can't be reached remotely, and roles where your security policy requires US-based staff on your premises.
Engineers working the same business day as your US team. Best for agile delivery where developers join standups, pair with your staff and answer questions within the hour, without the cost of a fully onsite team.
Offshore engineers work while you sleep. Give them a well-defined backlog, such as connector builds, test automation, data pipeline work or regression runs, plus a written handoff at the end of each day, and the work keeps moving.
When an incident can't wait until morning, follow-the-sun shifts pass open incidents and in-flight changes from one region to the next. It's how we run production support, monitoring and on-call.
There's a single technical lead who owns design decisions and how handoffs are written. Engineers sit in different models, and the split is decided workstream by workstream. It changes as work goes from design to build to run.
Before anyone starts, map which systems and data each location may touch, in line with your contracts and regulatory obligations. Engineers who can't see production data work on masked copies or in your virtual desktop environment.
We pieced these together from Onsite, Nearshore & Offshore Delivery situations that come up a lot. They're patterns. You won't find a specific client in them.
case file 01
Salesforce rebuild with an offshore team and a one-day feedback loop
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
Developers work entirely offshore. Every question goes into a ticket that the US product owner answers the next morning, so a two-line clarification costs a day and stories bounce back and forth several times.
What we dothe work
Add a nearshore lead who works US hours, owns story refinement and answers offshore questions in a short overlap window. Introduce a written end-of-day handoff and move acceptance testing to the nearshore side.
Afterwhere you end up
Questions get answered the same day, offshore engineers start each shift with clear next steps, and the product owner deals with one lead instead of a ticket queue.
case file 02
Overnight incidents on an identity platform that only the US team supports
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
Provisioning failures and certificate expirations that happen after US business hours sit until morning. The on-call engineer is also the person who works the day shift.
What we dothe work
Write runbooks for the incidents that recur, such as connector timeouts and expiring certificates. Stand up follow-the-sun shifts with a handover checklist in the ITSM queue, and keep a US escalation contact for changes that need approval.
Afterwhere you end up
Known incidents are worked overnight from runbooks. The US engineer isn't working two shifts anymore. Handovers show what happened while they were offline.
case file 03
Data platform migration where compliance blocks offshore access to production
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
The plan has offshore engineers building pipelines against production tables. Compliance won't allow anyone outside the US to access patient or customer data, so the project has stalled.
What we dothe work
Divide it along the data line. Pipelines get built and tested offshore against masked or synthetic data in their own environment. Production loads and reconciliation stay with onsite or US-based engineers.
Afterwhere you end up
Build work restarts without waiting on a policy exception, and production access stays with the people compliance approved.
case studies
Onsite, Nearshore & Offshore Delivery case studies
How work moves between onsite, nearshore and offshore engineers
A technical lead splits workstreams by what each one needs. Onsite engineers handle workshops and cutovers, nearshore engineers join the US working day, offshore engineers build overnight from written handoffs, and support shifts pass open tickets across time zones.
01 · Your team
Product and platform ownerspriorities · approvals → Cohash technical lead · priorities
Security and compliancedata access rules → Data access matrix · access rules
ITSM queueServiceNow · Jira → Follow-the-sun shifts · open tickets
Follow-the-sun shiftshandover checklist
Read the diagram as text
Product and platform owners → Cohash technical lead: priorities
Security and compliance → Data access matrix: access rules
Data access matrix → Cohash technical lead: constraints
Cohash technical lead → Onsite (US): workstreams
Cohash technical lead → Nearshore: workstreams
Cohash technical lead → Offshore: specs
Offshore → Nearshore: daily handoff
ITSM queue → Follow-the-sun shifts: open tickets
Onsite (US) → ITSM queue: cutover
how it runs
A typical engagement
We don't start a step until the last one has produced something you can check.
step 01
Sort the work
List the workstreams and mark which need presence, which need same-day conversation, and which can run on a written spec. That sorting decides the model mix, not the rate card.
step 02
Set data boundaries
Sit down with security and compliance and agree which locations may access which systems. For each, decide the method, VDI, masked data, a jump host, or nothing.
step 03
Agree the handoff
We agree a daily handoff template, overlap hours, escalation contacts and what counts as blocked. For follow-the-sun support there's also a shift handover checklist that lives in your ITSM queue.
step 04
Run and adjust
Review the mix at each milestone. Work often shifts offshore as specs firm up and back onsite for cutover.
you keep
What you're left with
We write these for your Onsite, Nearshore & Offshore Delivery setup, and they're working documents. Your team should be able to keep things running from them long after we've gone.
design01
Workstream map showing delivery model and reason for each
yours to keep
document02
Data access matrix by location, system and access method
talent and delivery · onsite, nearshore & offshore delivery
Certified engineers, wherever you need them.
Some clients want a project team, some want a couple of engineers on theirs. Either works. Onsite, nearshore or offshore, with handovers across time zones that keep things moving.
Onsite
Engineers at your sites in the US
Nearshore
Overlapping hours with US teams
Offshore
Overnight progress on your backlog
All time zones
Coverage handed over across time zones
24-hour coverage · US Central time
OnsiteUS business hours
Nearshoreoverlapping US hours
Offshoreovernight progress
Combinedhandover, not hand-off
00:0006:0012:0018:0000:00
due diligence · onsite, nearshore & offshore delivery
Questions to ask any partner, including us.
Put these to anyone bidding on your Onsite, Nearshore & Offshore Delivery work. The ones who've done it answer differently from the ones who've read about it.
Q1
Which of our workstreams would you put offshore, and why those?
If the partner's plan is everything offshore, you're looking at a rate card. Ask them to say which work can run from a spec and which can't.
Q2
What legal entity employs the offshore engineers, and where are they?
Your data protection, export-control and subcontracting reviews need the real entity and country. Get it in writing before contracting.
Q3
What does your daily handoff look like? Can we see a real template?
Split teams fail on lost context. A partner who runs this well has a handoff format and can show it.
Q4
How many overlap hours will we get, and who is awake during them?
Overlap hours only help if the people who can answer questions are actually there. Ask for named roles as well as the time window.
Q5
How do you stop offshore engineers from touching data they shouldn't?
Look for technical controls in the answer, things like VDI, masking and role-based access in your identity platform. A policy document on its own won't stop anyone.
01Where are your nearshore and offshore engineers?
During contracting you'll get the locations and the employing entities. Your data protection and export-control reviews depend on them, so we share them then rather than publishing them here.
02Which model is cheapest?
Offshore rates are usually lowest per hour. The total cost depends on how well the work is specified and how much rework a slow feedback loop causes. Badly specified work done offshore can cost more than the same work done nearshore. We cost the blended plan, not the hourly rate.
03Can offshore engineers work on regulated data?
Sometimes. It depends on your contracts, your regulators and data residency rules, and on controls such as VDI and masking. Some work may have to stay with US-based staff, anything touching export-controlled technical data for example. We set those boundaries with your compliance team before the work is split.
04How do you keep a split team from losing context overnight?
A written handoff at the end of each shift: what changed, what's blocked, what the next shift should pick up. Short overlap hours each day give people time to ask questions. The lead reviews the handoffs.
05Do you provide 24x7 production support?
Yes, through follow-the-sun shifts. Put hours, severity definitions, response targets and escalation paths in the support agreement. Run shift handovers through your ticketing system.
06Can we start onsite and move work offshore later?
Yes, and it's common. Discovery and design happen with people in the room. Once specs and environments settle down, build work moves. Cutover usually comes back onsite.
related
Often paired with
Projects on Onsite, Nearshore & Offshore Delivery usually end up touching one of these, so they're worth a look.
