Offshoring has long been a staple of the IT industry, but the rise of artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping global talent strategies. With Mexico as the undisputed go-to nearshore destination even non-tech companies are now looking to establish there. The value is clear: proximity, a skilled workforce, and cost efficiency. But the path to entry has often been confusing.
Traditionally, companies start by hiring a law firm, headhunting agency, payroll provider, maybe a PEO, followed by accounting and tax advisors, office vendors, local IT providers, and an international regulations consultant. All of this must be stitched together while also hiring the local staff. The result? A patchwork of vendors that the foreign company must coordinate—often while climbing a steep learning curve. It’s slow, expensive, and riddled with opportunities for error.
This discourages any company with a tight timeline and limited resources. Some attempt to cut corners by using an International Employer of Record (EoR) platform, assuming it will be “good enough” for the moment. But they find that they still need a recruitment agency, contract offices, buy salary and market research data, and hire a compliance consultant to oversee how the setup is doing. After all, an EoR is just that, a self-service web platform optimized to work simultaneously for 160 countries.
Surprisingly, both local incorporation and using an EoR will rely on using multiple firms, creating accountability gaps, compliance blind spots, inefficiencies, and unforeseen fees.
So how companies are opening nearshore operations in Mexico more than ever? What options have they found?
Traditional Strategy
Local Incorporation means creating a new legal entity that will operate independently, submitting the owners to Mexican laws. It requires the hiring of legal, accounting, and labor firms, along with local vendors for infrastructure and systems, plus hiring a local staff. On top of that, you need advisors for compliance and international regulations, which will be as expensive as risk-averse the company is.
In a competitive talent market like Tech, top candidates avoid companies without a local presence. During the pandemic, top tech talent in Mexico saw many remote us companies disappear leaving them hanging. So relying on EoR platforms will not instill confidence.
So, how can a foreign company avoid the responsibility of coordinating several unconnected firms in an unfamiliar region, which leads to diffused responsibility when things go wrong. But also, how to lower the overhead cost from vendors to maximize an expansion budget that is already tight.
Soft Landing Options
Countries with strategic locations have a long history of providing soft-landing options, to ease the entry for foreign firms. These models provide one-stop expansion solutions and are available across most industries.
Instead of assembling a puzzle of disconnected vendors, companies can now tap into a turnkey operation from day one. A single provider handles everything—recruiting, payroll, HR, compliance, tax, office space—while the foreign company retains full control of its team, culture and strategy. After all, is their operation, just sheltered from local risks. A single point of accountability.
That’s why more companies are choosing local specialists over the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach, with usage rising from 30% to 45-50% in just four years. This integrated strategy delivers:
- Faster time to market (weeks, not months).
- Protection from local risks using the provider’s legal entity.
- Scalability to any operation size.
- Easier pivots or exits.
- Avoids cultural missteps and regulatory gaps.
And more importantly, soft-landing providers have built over many years true economies of scale. This enables their customers not only to avoid the typical overhead cost of subcontracting another company, but even lowering operative expenses than the DIY approach.
But not all providers are equal. Avoid global firms that offer expansion services as a side business—as other divisions compete with your core business. Instead, look for pure-play soft-landing providers.
Best Practices
Pure play soft-landing providers have spent years building infrastructure, local relations and industry hubs. This enables them to offer pay-per-use models. Similar to how a startup does not need to build a data center anymore but use from the Cloud only what they need at the moment.
Foreign companies now use models like the Subsidiary-as-a-Service (SUBaaS), also known as GCC-as-a-Service. It lets them start big or small if they want to, eliminating the belief that you need to open a large operation to justify the expansion risk. In fact, some start small to validate assumptions first, adjust, and then scale.
Mexico, the top trading partner of the USA, offers industry-specific specialists, like:
- Everscale Group – SUBaaS built for tech companies, offering end-to-end support and flexible scaling. Great for B2B SaaS, IT services, and systems integrators.
- Tetakawi – A pioneer in the Shelter model, largest provider for the Manufacturing Industry, with community hubs by manufacturing type.
- Intugo – A leader for call-centers, back-office outsourcing, and legal/accounting firms.
These providers simplify Mexico entry by bundling services with one accountable contact, one invoice, and no finger-pointing between vendors.
In Conclusion
Fragmentation creates not just delays, but also blind spots -which, in Latin America’s landscape of regulatory nuance and government complexity, is a risk you can’t afford. Integrated partners reduce friction, accelerate outcomes, and de-risk your investment.
But it does not just simplify expansion, it changes the economics entirely. Previously, only large-scale rollouts could justify the investment. Now, even SMBs can launch small teams, without compromising quality or control
That’s the value of the Subsidiary-as-a-Service model. You plug into existing infrastructure, scale on demand, and stay lean. The partner sees your full operation—HR, legal, payroll, compliance—and can anticipate issues, not just react to them. Their incentives are aligned with yours because they carry the liability.
For companies who want to move fast, stay lean, and scale with confidence, soft landing services aren’t just an option—they’re the strategic default. Now it’s a matter of finding the partner with the most experience in Mexico AND in the preferred industry.
