In today’s digital world, businesses need basic technologies to survive and better technology to thrive. Once your company is past the point of just using basic off the shelf products, you will need team members with software development expertise to build, maintain, and advance the products that will allow your business to succeed.
This leaves you with three options: hire an in-house team, use freelancers, or partner with an outsourcing software development company. Depending on the size of your company and your current growth needs, you may opt for all three options at once.
What is software outsourcing?
Simply put, outsourcing is hiring a professional to do work that is not right for you to do yourself. If you stop to think about it, you outsource dozens of tasks every day from brewing your favorite cup of coffee to tutoring your teen in Algebra. In business, software outsourcing is selecting another company to provide the talent you need for your software development. This can be for a single individual with a skill set that you do not keep in house or it can be an entire development team. Outsourcing software can be utilizing an onshore partner (or within the same country as the parent company) or an offshore software development company (any country other than your own). Both onshore and offshore outsourcing companies have uses but today we will focus on onshore software outsourcing.
5 Common Reasons to Outsource Software Development
1. Reduce Costs and Overhead
Cost saving is the most often given reason for selecting an outsourcing software partner. If you run a small company, hiring a full-time in-house team with the appropriate experience is an expensive endeavor. Will your HR team know how to build a recruitment process to select people with the correct talent to build your team? Will they know what roles you will need? Additionally, you may not have the infrastructure or tools needed to develop software and may have no idea where to start for those purchases.
If you run a large company with a big software budget, you may still benefit from using an outsourced team opting to partner with a company with the expertise you need to build your new ideas while your in-house team manages the day-to-day operations and small enhancements. A team with the skills to design and build and a team with the skills to maintain existing software are neither the same team members nor the same expense.
2. Improve Expertise and Capabilities
Your entire team is focused on running your business. You hire and train for expertise in your core business functions. Likewise, an software development outsourcing company hires and trains for the expertise needed to build software. Designing and delivering software outsourcing projects on-time, on budget, and on ask is their business. A strong outsourced company will have invested in or built a variety of tools to ensure projects move smoothly. By using a software development outsourcing partner to build your essential software, you will gain a competitive advantage reaping as a customer the same type of value you seek to provide for your customers–a top class experience.
Successful companies–even those in the business of developing software like Apple, Microsoft, and Google–all outsource software development. Software outsourcing allows companies to supplement and complement their existing teams for less than it would cost to hire, train, and maintain them. The outsourced partner will lead these projects building them alongside of your existing projects speeding up your project pipeline. Additionally, an outsourcing partner can be used during high volume periods when your demands on your team exceed their output.
Successful companies–even those in the business of developing software like Apple, Microsoft, and Google–all outsource software development. Software outsourcing allows companies to supplement and complement their existing teams for less than it would cost to hire, train, and maintain them.
The outsourced partner will lead these projects, building them alongside of your existing projects and helping to speed up your project pipeline. Additionally, an outsourcing partner can be used during high volume periods when your demands on your team exceed their output.
3. Address Critical Business Needs
Your time, and that of your leaders, tops the list of your most valuable resource. You need your team focused on your core business growth. For example, Starbucks wanted to keep its team focused on their core coffee business, so they easily decided to outsource their app development and ongoing support and maintenance to a software outsourcing partner. When working with an experienced software development outsourcing company, you can depend on them to guide you through the process of software development.
Your outsourcing partner should provide you with a leader who understands business in general and quickly learns your specific business. You should expect to spend an average of an hour a day describing your needs, answering questions, and seeing the software throughout the build process. In fact, you should beware of any company that does not require a bit of your (and your selected team members) each week during your project through established communication channels. If you are not involved at all, you will not have much of a chance that what your business needs is what you receive. However, a development team that needs too much of your time will hamper your ability to attend to your core business. When interviewing your potential outsourcing agency, make sure you feel like they “get your business”. Your gut is essential.
4. Quick Time to Market
Taking a great business idea and building the software to bring it to market will take time no matter what your current business model may be. If you have no IT team, you will need to time to recruit and hire before you can begin the first phase of the project. If you have an in-house team, chances are they already have a full plate and it would take time to either add to the team or shift projects and responsibilities to accommodate new work. Chances are you may need to progress at a slower pace with your team splitting time between the new project and existing work. Or you can choose to partner with an experienced software development outsourcing company and have an outsourced team.
When searching for a partner for outsourcing software development, you will need some time to make your decision and they will need some time to take on your project. If you call to start the process today and they can take on your work in just a few days time, pause. You want a team that is experienced and in demand. Strong outsourcing software development companies will tell you when their next team will be available–which will usually be a few weeks and still faster than you can build your own team–and work with you to get your project scheduled with timelines that you can manage against. After all, you will need to do a variety of work within your company from freeing up time from yourself and your leaders to provide input and make decisions on the project to designing training and marketing materials. It is far better to have a team that can deliver exactly what you need on the timeline promised rather than working with one that will start immediately with no hope of finishing on time. Your win is knowing when you will be market ready.
When searching for a partner for outsourcing software development, you will need some time to make your decision and they will need some time to take on your project. If you call to start the process today and they can take on your work in just a few days time, pause. You want a team that is experienced and in demand!
Strong outsourcing software development companies will tell you when their next team will be available–which will usually be a few weeks and still faster than you can build your own team–and work with you to get your project scheduled with timelines that you can manage against.
After all, you will need to do a variety of work within your company from freeing up time from yourself and your leaders to provide input and make decisions on the project to designing training and marketing materials.
It is far better to have a team that can deliver exactly what you need on the timeline promised rather than working with one that will start immediately with no hope of finishing on time. Your win is knowing when you will be market ready.
5. Increase Flexibility and Stability
Software development projects are built across phases. While you might start with an MVP, or minimum viable project, you will then continue to develop and evolve the software. However, the progress of the software development process does not occur at a steady rate. There will be times where you need to ramp up the team to a larger size for a series of new features and other times where you will just need a bit of help to support the current software. If you are using internal resources, these changes in velocity can cause HR nightmares. On the other hand, this is a common part of software outsourcing services provided by a solid development partner. You will have a menu of choices to match what you need and the ability to scale up when you need more help and ramp down along with your needs.
Software development outsourcing companies will also provide deep knowledge and familiarity with your software. When you lose an employee, you can lose the knowledge that employee holds for your business. Because software outsourcing companies are experts in working with a diverse group of businesses, they have specific tools to document, update, and maintain a knowledge base for your software that will allow them to quickly scale up their own resources or assist you with training your new hires. Being your technology SME (Subject Matter Expert) is one of the software outsourcing services available to you.
5 Benefits You Gain from Using an Outsourcing Software Development Company
1. Experienced and Cohesive Team
In order to provide strong software development services, an outsourcing company will build teams dedicated to specific industries, technologies, or other client needs. These teams can vary in size, but will include business analysts, developers, quality assurance analysts, project managers, and both technical and business leadership.
Already experienced in working together, the software outsourcing teams have a rhythm developed over time through surviving pitfalls and thriving in success. Because they are trained to build software for various companies, each dedicated team has the experience and the tools to build efficiently and with the highest quality.
In fact, because these outsourcing development teams depend on their ability to exceed customer expectations, they adhere to the highest norms of software project and code quality.
2. Agile project management
Chances are good you have learned that your software development project, like your core business, should be agile. However, do you know what being agile will mean for your development or how to manage your project agilely?
Utilizing Agile methodology increases the chances you get exactly what you want and need in your software. Think about building a house.
You can sit down with an architect and a designer and describe everything you want (or think you want) up front and then not enter the house until it is 100% complete. However, that is a pretty risky way to go about managing one of your largest assets. And anything you do not like when you walk in will cost quite a bit to rip out and redo.
Software development is much the same. You want to see small items as they are developed–be able to play with them yourself and with other members of your teams to ensure they look and feel right. Often something you thought for sure you would want turns out to be wrong when you actually use it. An agile project manager will be able to help you make the right decisions for your software build.
3. Enhanced Quality
The quality of your software depends on the quality of the dedicated team that builds it. If you do not have the in-house expertise to lead a software development team using industry best practices, you may struggle to develop sustainable and scalable code.
On the other hand, a successful outsourcing company with a strong reputation will have delivered high quality projects over years across industries. As it is their core business, they will have the appropriate software development processes in place to exceed your expectations.
From project management tools to code reviews to implementation strategies, each phase of a build will be built on quality. The software outsourcing leaders will advise you on decisions instead of just following orders to ensure you are making the right choices to build a quality project.
4. Cutting Edge Technology
If you have an in-house team, they will know your tech stack–the collection of all the tools and technologies you use. However, your stack is not the only one available. Could the new project you want to build be completed cleaner using a different technology and slide smoothly into your existing application?
Software outsourcing team leaders continually learn and evaluate a wide range of products. They need to know all of the cutting edge technology and all of the classic options. An average developer may know several languages and a handful of technologies, but a developer working for an outsourced team may know a dozen languages and can provide a significant list of technological capabilities.
Software development outsourcing companies invest their time and money into the latest technologies so you won’t have to. Instead, they can provide you with guidance and reasons for the choices they recommend.
5. Reduced Risks
Building software is for the strong. There are a wide variety of risks that need to be considered during event
Building software is for the strong. There are a wide variety of risks that need to be considered during even the simplest software project including security, technical, financial, and timing. As a business owner, you can identify the risks that are your priorities and communicate them to your partner.
The company providing your software outsourcing services must include mitigating risk as a priority from the start of your project requirements through the completion of your testing. Some risks that you might have faced will be smoothly handled by an experienced software outsourcing development partner who knows how to analyze, forecast, and adjust the progress of your project.
How to Find a Good Software Development Vendor
Define Your Goals
Before you can start outsourcing your software development project, you need to set some starting goals. These should include a description of your business needs and the return you forecast on your investment. After all, software should either generate income or reduce costs for your business. You also should have some idea of your budget and timeline.
Interview Potential Partners
Whether you have just an idea or a full feasibility study and a defined global strategy, you can start with an introductory call with several prospective software outsourcing companies. Some items to consider during this call:
Who are you speaking with? Did the company connect you with a leader who can ask the right questions and start to help you flesh out your project a bit more?
If you request a nondisclosure agreement, was that request quickly and cheerfully handled? You need to protect your intellectual property rights from the start of your relationship.
Are they listening to you? The ability for your software development outsourcing partner to hear what you say and clarify what you mean is essential to you receiving the software you need. Communication barriers begin with poor listening.
Can you understand them? Technology is certainly complex, but a strong software development partner should be able to make it feel understandable and take the time to ensure you are on the same page. They should be able to clearly communicate the software development process and how your project will work from start to success.
Did they answer your questions? If it is important to your business to have developers worldwide or to only have outsourced employees within your own state, did you ask and get a clear answer that satisfies your needs?
Do they provide clear information about next steps? Again, communication is key in outsourcing software. A good partner should tell you what is going to happen next and set a commitment to when it will happen?
Did they meet that commitment? If the potential partner says I will put something together and have it for you by the end of next week, did they deliver? If they miss the very first deadline they set for themselves, how can you trust your entire project will be delivered on time?
Is the proposal on target? The software outsourcing company should warn you that the first proposal cannot be perfect as there will be many decisions you make along the way, but it should still “feel right”.
Did you learn about outsourcing services? A company experienced in outsourced software development will have a clearly defined suite of services to meet your needs.
Is your time being respected? If the partner cannot run a meeting on time, they will struggle to run a project on time. They should be able to communicate quickly and effectively. Outsourcing your software development will require excellent time management and clear expectations.
Are you being pressured? The time from initial call to signing a project contract can be a quick one or can take several years depending on your needs. You might call in March of one year for a project you are thinking about starting the following January and that is perfectly acceptable to a quality software development outsourcing company.
Check the References
Always. Because you want to be respectful of both your own time and the time of the software development company’s previous clients, you should be down to your last couple of companies before you begin to check references, but you should check them. What an outsourcing software development partner did on previous projects is important to your project success.
Examine the Services
Make sure to ask about services the company offers either as part of a full development team or as independent services. Successful software outsourcing companies can be useful in supplementing your in house development in addition to running full projects for you.
Having a partner who can offer you outsourced developers who know your technology to supplement during times of turnover can save your in-house projects. Some to consider:
Business Analysis Services. These will include business analysts to help you develop your project requirements, define and manage your project scope, articulate the entire development process, and begin your risk management. These team members will help you select ideas that are better set aside for future projects or future features. They can also provide usability consulting based on best practices for how your customers or users will interact with your software. They set the tone for the global strategy for your entire outsourced project and handle the project coordination.
Software Development Services. This outsourced team provides the entire range of development efforts with significant coding expertise. Roles available to you should include software architecture, software developers, software engineers, project manager and/or a scrum master. The dedicated team should have a mix of technical expertise which will provide you with the right ratio of code quality and cost savings. The team will utilize a development process that will work with any in house standards and processes in place.
Quality Assurance. Services with an established quality assurance process are essential for the success of your outsourcing team. Quality analysts and QA engineers experienced in software testing and in communicating to your in house development and business teams will provide you a successful release. Your outsourced team will help you to set up and complete your acceptance testing.
Software Support. If you need to ramp your team down after a build, does your partner’s software outsourcing model include ongoing support services that will meet your needs? There should be clearly established communication channels to ease your users interactions with support. All strong outsourced software development companies should be experienced in supporting the applications they build.
Take the First Step
If you are considering outsourcing software development, give Geneca a call. We offer a no nonsense, no pressure conversation with a leader who can speak both technology and business fluently.
We love nothing more than geeking out about your new idea or commiserating about your current challenges. We have been working as an onshore outsourcing development company for over 20 years and will give you straight talk and solid advice as you start to create your outsourcing strategy.