You run a company somewhere between Lisbon and Warsaw, and you need software that no package quite covers. A local agency has quoted, a colleague has suggested a team abroad, and you have heard good and bad stories about both. This guide, written by a software company in Karachi, sets out how the work runs at a distance, what must be in writing, and when a supplier closer to home is the better choice.
Local agency, nearshore team or offshore company
A local agency is in your own country. A nearshore team is in a nearby country with working hours close to yours. An offshore company is further away; in our case, in Karachi.
| Local agency | Nearshore team | Offshore company | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meetings | In person whenever you want | Video, with a visit possible at short notice | Video only, unless travel is planned into the project |
| Working hours | The same as yours | The same, or an hour apart | Part of the day overlaps; the rest is quiet build time |
| Your country's rules | Already familiar | May need a briefing on your country | Needs a briefing from you and your advisers |
| Personal data | Handled inside your country | Depends on where the team sits | Supplier is outside the EU, so access and hosting are agreed in the contract |
| Price level | Usually the highest of the three | Usually in between | Usually the lowest; compare written quotes like for like |
| Suits | Work that needs someone on site | Teams that want occasional workshops in person | Projects that can be defined on paper and reviewed on a screen |
If the job calls for a person at your premises week after week, a local agency is the right choice. A project that can be described in a document and tested in a browser travels well.
The time difference, hour by hour
Karachi is three hours ahead of Central European time in summer and four in winter. At nine in the morning in Brussels or Berlin, it is noon in Karachi in summer and one in the afternoon in winter. Your morning and early afternoon are therefore shared hours, and that is when calls, demos and questions belong. Our hours before your day starts are build time, so a change agreed on Tuesday afternoon can be waiting on Wednesday morning.
What the gap rules out is a habit of late-afternoon meetings. Fix one weekly review slot in your morning and keep the rest in writing.
Put the scope in writing
Across a table, a vague brief gets repaired in conversation. At a distance it turns into the wrong software. Before any code is written, the scope should list every screen, each kind of user and what they may do, the reports, the systems to connect to, and what is deliberately left out. We add clickable designs of every screen, which you approve before development starts. Our guide to how a custom software project should run describes the stages.
Ownership: the code and every account
Ownership is the question that protects you if the relationship ends. Each item below should sit under your own company from day one. The supplier gets a login that you are free to switch off:
- The source code repository
- The domain name and the hosting or cloud account
- Developer accounts with Apple and Google, where an app is involved
- The payment provider account and any other paid services
- Analytics, email and messaging accounts
Have this written into the agreement, with a handover of code and documentation at the end.
GDPR when your supplier is outside the EU
GDPR governs personal data across the EU, and it goes on applying to your customers' and employees' data when the company building your system sits outside the EU. Settle the practical side before the project begins:
- Build and test on sample data wherever possible, so live personal data is rarely needed.
- Name the people on the supplier's side who may reach live data, and keep the list short.
- Choose the hosting region yourself: the developers can be in Karachi while the database sits in the region you pick.
- Write all three into the contract, together with what happens to the data when the work ends.
This describes how we work; it is not legal advice. Which contract terms or extra safeguards a non-EU supplier calls for in your situation is something only a lawyer or your data protection officer can tell you. Ask before the project starts.
Payments by milestone
A written quote should divide the price into milestones, and you should be able to check each one yourself: the designs signed off, the first part in use with your real records, the launch. Payment then trails finished work instead of running ahead of it. Ask too what the system costs to run once it is live; our guide to what you pay for after go-live covers hosting, support and changes.
How a first project runs
Hold a discovery call
A video call in your morning, where we note how the work moves today and who touches it.
Agree the written scope and quote
Screens, user roles, integrations, milestones, ownership and data handling, in one document.
Approve the designs
You click through every screen before development and change what does not fit.
Test a release each week
A working build on your own data, reviewed together on the fixed weekly call.
Go live and train
Your team is trained on the live system by video, in English.
Keep one line for support
After launch, questions and fixes go to a single WhatsApp line answered by the team that built the system.
Where Operix stands as a custom software development company for Europe
Operix Systems has a single office, in Karachi's Old Clifton, and serves European clients from it online. We have no office in Europe and no staff there. We have one European project so far: Zoya Couture, an online store for a new Belgian fashion label, in Dutch, French and English. The rest of our portfolio is mostly in Pakistan and the UAE. If your project needs a supplier on site, or one with a long list of clients in your country, a local agency or a nearshore team is the safer choice, and it is better you hear that from us now.
If a remote team fits, begin with our page for European clients, then read about ERP software in Europe or website development in Europe. The demo is booked online, at an hour in the first half of your day.
Questions people ask
What are the risks when you outsource software development from Europe to Pakistan?
The usual three are a loose brief, code that stays with the supplier, and no sight of progress until the end. A scope on paper, accounts under your own company, a release every week and staged payments answer all of them.
What is the difference between nearshore and offshore development?
A nearshore team is in a nearby country and keeps hours close to yours. An offshore company is further away and shares only part of your working day, so it suits projects with a clear written scope.
How does the time difference with Karachi work in practice?
Karachi is three hours ahead of Central European time in summer and four in winter. Calls and demos are booked in your morning or early afternoon, and our own morning is build time before your day begins.
What about GDPR if the developers are outside the EU?
GDPR still applies to your data. Agree in the contract which personal data the supplier may reach and where the system is hosted, keep access to live data to a minimum, and take legal advice on what your own case requires.
Does Operix have an office or staff in Europe?
Neither. The company's one office is in Karachi, and European clients are served online. Zoya Couture, an online store, is the only European project to date.
