Outsourcing software development is a popular practice in the modern IT industry. Even though it has some obvious drawbacks, we yet have to admit that it makes much sense to consider outsourcing as the prospective method of the software development.
Before we move on to discussing how to communicate with an outsourcing software vendor , let’s talk about benefits and challenges you meet if you outsource your projects.
Outsourcing benefits
Talking about advantages, we should mention the most significant benefit – cost saving. In most cases, it works for companies that focus their endeavors on something not related to software development. For example, a company that provides house-moving services wants (needs) to implement an application for easier canvassing customers. This kind of business may also be interested in designing a software for company management. The staff of a house-moving company obviously is not filled with IT developers. Hiring a specialist for completing a single task is quite an expensive solution. And that’s when it comes to outsourcing.
For such companies (especially during the initial phase of company building and development), outsourcing software services is the most convenient decision. Such companies provide rapid software development process and future support services. Outsourcing is likewise popular among huge corporations.
However, pricing is not the only reason to prefer outsourcing software companies to an in-house developer. By outsourcing your projects, you get a chance to focus on your core assignments. A good and proficient manager is always concerned about every process in his or her company. Of course, a manager or a team of leaders would be interested in designing a perfect software, especially if it’s essential for company’s workflow. In this way, outsourcing companies can make it possible for managers to get rid of excessive stresses by creating performable software without anyone’s precise attention and control.
Most outsourcing software vendors work in their sphere for many years or even decades. Chances are, such company will have a lot of experience in a certain area of software development (mobile application development, for instance). These teams are usually capable of creating high-performance software at a rapid pace. Moreover, your co-working with such companies may be a source of undeniably useful experience. Without doubts, experience exchange is exceedingly important in such a fast developing industry as software development.
But let’s get back to pricing. Outsourcing projects (in most cases) are profitable because of their moderately low costs. Such countries as India, China, and Indonesia are famous for the enormous number of outsourcing companies with low wages. And here’s where we bump into the biggest trouble related to remote projects – low quality of the outcome. However strange it might sound, but companies that involve software development teams from China or India are not to expect high-performable applications and great overall results. Based on company’s reputation, you can find a team that will approach your project with attention and care. However, most of them would provide you with bugged codes and “raw” software.
Alongside with quality issues, you may also experience troubles with project management and communication. Due to the distance between you and your vendor, it becomes practically impossible to control the development process. Vendors might remain dishonest about who is actually working on your project. Non-transparent culture in the organization might even worsen this situation. This is a low margin kind of business, so providing junior developers instead of senior is quite an ordinary case. If the quality of the outcome fits your requirements, you might not consider that as a problem (but in most cases, quality is far below your humblest expectations). Communication problems are rather hard to overcome. As you have never met the vendor in real life, you cannot understand how to approach the team properly. The absence of a basic connection between the client and the developer frequently results in poor results, even if the company manages to create quality software. In the case of China and India, you might also be frustrated with previously unknown cultural peculiarities, which obviously cannot enhance your communication.
In the end, we would like to admit that, taking into consideration all the aforementioned features, outsourcing is yet one of the most efficient ways to do software development. To omit all the possible troubles we discussed previously, you need a proper planning of your projects. And, needless to explain, you need to choose proper outsourcing vendor for your project. It takes several steps to make the right decision:
1. Understand your needs. The most important step is to clarify what type of software you need, which features should be involved, it is a cross-platform software or something simpler etc. The tasks and purposes of your software determine the entire concept and functionality.
2. Estimate your project. How many users your application is going to have? Is it an in-house software for a small group of co-workers? Do you need permanent technical support? Answering these questions is crucial because it will help you understand what kind of software you need and, consequently, how serious your development team should be. Hiring an experienced and expensive company to design a single-page application with a short range of functionality can have a huge negative impact on your company’s budget.
3. Seek real references. Outsourcing vendors may write whatever they want on their official sites – unfortunately, not all of it is true. Your aim is to find real references that will help you choose the company that fits your requirements and demands.