In this digital age where mobile app and web development have become the bread and butter for many businesses, having a competent development team is paramount.
However, setting up an in-house development team can pose challenges.
Enter the concept of outsourced development teams - a potential solution that might just give your business the strategic edge it needs.
Selecting the ideal outsourced advancement team to work with your business is no cakewalk either, though. It involves critical decision-making processes that can heavily impact your company's productivity, efficiency, and ultimately, success.
Stick around as we unfold three crucial steps guiding you on how to scout for, screen, and finally select the most compatible outsourced development team for you.
An outsourced development team is essentially a group of IT professionals from an external agency contracted by another organization.
These specialists handle diverse project-related tasks such as web or app developments, which ideally lie beyond either the expertise or capacity of your in-house staff.
Moreover, you may decide to outsource your projects partially or entirely. Often, businesses rely on offshore software enhancement companies located far from their home country. This strategy allows companies access to a global talent pool and lets them leverage specialists' unique skills and experiences across different nations.
The choice between employing in-house resources versus outsourcing software development often depends on factors like budget constraints, project length, and expertise required amongst other considerations.
As each approach has its merits and demerits, it essentially boils down to what best meets your specific business objectives.
There are myriad reasons to consider outsourcing your project to a development team. Among the most compelling benefits are substantial cost savings, access to specialized expertise, and flexible scalability.
Let’s go through each of these benefits in more detail:
Often regarded as one of the primary advantages of outsourcing is the potential for significant cost savings.
Hiring an outsourced development team eliminates overhead costs related to employing full-time in-house staff — including salaries, benefits, office space, and various resources required for software or app development projects.
Moreover, offshore software development companies typically offer competitive rates due to differences in economic conditions across countries. This distinct advantage allows your business not only to save on budget expenditures but also to reinvest these savings into other key areas that can drive further growth and success, such as marketing.
Another benefit of hiring an outsourced development team lies in the diversity and depth of experience each member can bring on board.
As expertise is their core product offering, these teams will more likely stay up-to-date with emerging trends and technologies within their domain than in-house staffing counterparts who juggle varied tasks outside of their field.
Outsourcing web or mobile app development offers you a way to collaborate with experts adept at a particular technology or industry vertical.
On top of that, it provides you with direct access to a larger talent pool unbound by geographical constraints. This means you no longer have to limit your choices based on local availability of skills alone.
Flexibility is integral when dealing with unpredictable business environments. The ability to scale up or down rapidly according to demand fluctuations makes outsourcing particularly attractive for businesses seeking agile operations.
When you hire an external development team, it becomes easier to respond swiftly in scaling the workforce size or applying specific skill sets instantly if your needs change over time.
Furthermore, having an outsourced team could be highly helpful during periods requiring intense work efforts, such as new product launches or feature upgrades, instead of maintaining unnecessary personnel year-round costing precious dollars. In essence, this approach serves the right resource optimization for maximum productivity while maintaining control over expenses.
These benefits make utilizing outsourced teams an appealing alternative compared to managing outsourced projects single-handedly, with expert qualifications.
The ensuing key challenge remains to select the right outsourced developer partner who discerns how best to integrate within your business ecosystem smoothly, ensuring the delivery of optimal results.
Understanding the types of outsourced development teams is the first crucial step to making an informed decision and ensuring you find a match that truly suits your project's specific needs.
Here are the main types of teams you can create:
Integrated teams provide an excellent option for companies who want to blend their internal workforces with outsourced talent, thereby getting the best of both worlds.
You can get access to specialized expertise not available in your internal team - perhaps because it's too expensive or simply hard to find near you - while maintaining control over the development process.
Your chosen offshore software development company will work as an extension of your existing department. This means smooth collaboration and optimal use of resources for overall improved results.
Creating this type of team will be less risky than completely shifting development operations externally.
Above all choices, going for dedicated teams gives you direct management over your outsourced developers as if they were part of your in-house structure.
This type of team shares some similarities with integrated teams, but goes a step further, as it’s focused on your project alone.
A dedicated team can adapt entirely to the norms, expectations, and culture prevalent within your organization. Their full dedication ensures deadlines are met without sacrificing quality—making them perfect for long-term projects where continuity is key.
Indeed, hiring dedicated teams through outsourcing is similar to operating a remote department within your firm, albeit without the logistical issues that come with in-house development.
Fixed-price outcome-based teams suit projects with well-defined scope and objectives that need result-oriented solutions on a budget.
Here’s how it works; You pay one price at the beginning regardless of how many hours it takes to complete the job.
Fixed-price outcome-based teams put most of the responsibility on the outsourced vendors. This removes a lot of the risk that comes with projects like outsourcing mobile app or web development. Often, local agencies struggle with budgets that spiral out of control.
But with this model, you know the costs upfront. You also get a clear timeline for when the work will be done. This is one reason why outsourcing is often better than traditional ways of doing things, which can have hidden costs and unclear deadlines.
Of course, this approach has its challenges. For example, there might be disagreements about what the final product should look like. But good planning and communication from the start can solve these problems. This ensures the project ends successfully.
Selecting your ideal outsourced development team may not be as daunting as you think. The secret lies in knowing what attributes to consider and the right questions to ask.
It goes beyond in-house vs. outsourcing software development or focusing primarily on cost. With careful vetting, it's possible to hire a development team that matches both your company's ethos and project needs.
The first step is examining the prospective vendor's portfolio meticulously. This lets you quickly see if they have the skills and experience to meet your needs. You can check out their design style, range of talents, and the quality of apps they've made before.
Assess their prior work critically for innovation, creativity, efficiency, and functionality. Do their designs resonate with the style you want? Do they exude professionalism and attention to detail?
Furthermore, delve into their experience within your specific sector. A little homework goes a long way here - probe into whether they have developed solutions related to your domain before.
Some vendors might excel in web app development while others may specialize in developing mobile apps.
Your next line of action should be conducting thorough interviews with possible vendors. This doesn't mean merely ticking off boxes on a fact sheet, but engaging actively with your offshore software development companies' representatives.
Enquire about project management methodologies used, inquire how issues such as language barriers are counteracted, establish channels of communication during the engagement period, discuss timelines, payment methods, etc.
Is there evidence they have managed outsourced projects successfully before? Assure them you're not just looking for anyone; you desire a team that appreciates high standards and can deliver promptly without sacrificing quality.
Finally — perhaps most importantly — choose an outsourced team that views you as a partner rather than another client. This represents an approach where mutual success and shared goals are the driving force behind actions.
A simple shift in perspective can lead to impressive results, including:
All these are advantages associated with partnership ties as compared to conventional client-vendor relationships.
When choosing a team, make sure both sides agree on the importance of working together. This will help turn your vision into reality in a way that makes everyone happy.
Managing outsourced projects - specifically software and app development tasks - could be a daunting experience.
To simplify the proceedings while maintaining team efficiency, it's important to structure your workflow around essential phases of project management.
Sprint planning is a big part of managing an outsourced development team. Essentially, sprint planning involves setting goals for the upcoming work phase and assigning them to your remote team members.
It might appear as a challenging task, but rest assured that it's a straightforward process if done systematically.
Start by producing a comprehensive list of tasks for the upcoming sprint. This should be a collaboration between you and your outsourced developers. Identifying their strengths would help allocate suitable tasks to respective members.
Remember, efficient sprint planning strikes balance - not overloading or underutilizing resources, ensuring every member knows their specific role and what they need to achieve.
At the end of each sprint cycle, you need to set time aside to review what has been completed during this period, also known as sprint review/demo.
This session allows stakeholders - including you as the client - developers from an offshore software development company, or anyone involved in outsourced app development to reflect on the work done.
During these sessions, teams demonstrate the actions they’ve implemented in the current sprint. Reviews offer insights into how well they’ve met objectives, which can aid future planning and adjustment efforts.
Critically assess outputs based on established metrics or standards priorly discussed with your hired development team. Also welcome improvement suggestions, taking care to ensure ideas align with your overall business goal while striving towards superior mobile or web development fruition.
Last but not least, continuous synchronization between you and your chosen partner or vendor, called 'Client Partner Sync,' is also important. This ensures both parties remain on track toward reaching desired project endpoints.
These regular meetings should be more than just a time to share progress reports. They should also be a space to talk about current challenges and plan how to make future work go more smoothly.
Remember, success isn't equated through mere task completion rather achieving predefined deployment objectives seamlessly harnesses cohesive functionality-oriented benefits inherent within engaging an ideal outsourced development company.
With the understanding of what an outsourced development team entails and its potential benefits, how does one embark on this journey?
Essentially, here are the easy steps you can follow:
The first step is to tap into your network.
Leverage it by asking friends, colleagues, or business associates if they have any recommendations. Some might have used similar services before and could recommend a reliable offshore software development company. This way, you'll gain firsthand insights about real experiences from trusted sources.
Moreover, you'll also get to know their level of satisfaction with the projects managed by the respective teams.
Moreover, you might want to look out for listing services - these are platforms that compile lists of service providers based on certain criteria. Websites like Clutch and GoodFirms provide comprehensive databases of IT service companies including mobile app development firms and web development companies. Pay close attention not only to ratings but also to reviews as they give more context about each firm's strengths and weaknesses.
Think through several key aspects during your decision-making process:
While these steps require due diligence initially, rest assured they pave the way towards building strong relationships between your organization and your chosen outsourced development team.
When you decide to hire an outsourced development team, partnering with Make IT Simple can streamline your journey. The potent mix of high-quality tech professionals, results-driven design thinking, and business-minded engineering makes us a robust choice.
At Make IT Simple, you'll have the opportunity to engage top-notch tech professionals who are skilled in managing outsourced projects with ease.
Our developers possess rich domain expertise in web and mobile app development, making it possible for you not just to outsource app development but also delegate comprehensive project management tasks.
Design is just as critical as the code itself when it comes to software development.
True to its name, Make IT Simple creates designs that are straightforward yet effective, ensuring they drive results aligned with your business goals. Embracing a results-driven approach ensures that every feature and functionality serves a purpose and plays an integral part in achieving the desired outcome.
Understanding the 'why' behind the software is crucial for successful delivery.
Here, engineers work with a business mindset; they don't just code - they relate their coding efforts to real-world applications, optimizing both product performance and relevance. It's what sets software development companies like Make IT Simple apart: they bring in-house efficiency coupled with outsourcing advantages.
Before engaging an outsourced development team at Make IT Simple, start by clearly defining your needs. Whether you require full-stack developers or specific niche skills like cloud computing or AI technologies, outlining precise requirements facilitates hiring the appropriate resources and setting relevant expectations.
After describing your needs, schedule a meeting to sync on project goals and timelines. This step allows mutual knowledge sharing between your in-house team and the outsourced staff resulting in better alignment for project success.
Once we discuss your needs and hold planning meetings, we'll suggest experts from our team for you to approve. This way, you get the final say on who joins your project, building trust and a strong working relationship.
Once you approve the team and sign the contracts, you can start the project right away. Your remote team will start building great software and keep you updated using easy-to-use online tools. This approach saves you money without compromising on quality, just like having an in-house team would.
If you're trying to decide between hiring a remote team from another country or keeping all your work in-house, it helps to know the benefits of going offshore. Mainly, you can save money and tap into specialized skills that might not be available locally.
Here is a more detailed look into each of these advantages:
One significant advantage of resorting to offshore development companies revolves around capital conservation. Quite often, hiring local experts for in-house development may strain your budget considerably due to higher pay scales prevalent within certain regions.
On the other hand, engaging with an outsourced development team from overseas can effectively slash these overhead costs.
By tending towards more economically viable geographies for technological talent procurement, you stand a chance to save nearly half — sometimes even more — compared to what you'd have shelled out on domestic resources. It's crucial, however, to not just cherry-pick programmers offering rock-bottom rates.
Instead, aim to strike a balance between quality and affordability when zeroing in on your ideal outsourced development team.
One big plus of hiring an offshore software development team is that you get access to a global talent pool. Finding such a wide range of skills locally can take a lot of time and effort. Many companies just can't afford to do this in today's fast-moving digital world.
These remote teams are experts in various areas, from mobile apps to cutting-edge tech like AI and blockchain. Their broad skill set makes them flexible and well-suited to handle projects from different industries at the same time.
By going this route, companies bogged down with too much work can speed up their product development. They can also keep their focus on what they're good at, which is coming up with new ideas. Meanwhile, the hard work of making those ideas a reality can be handled by experts who are just a click away, even if they're in a different country.
To sum up, hiring an offshore development team can save you money and give you access to specialized skills. It does require careful planning and the right choice of team. Make sure to review portfolios, interview vendors, and find a partner who shares your vision.
Outsourcing versus keeping work in-house is a big decision. However, outsourcing can offer you more flexibility and help you scale your business. Companies like Make IT Simple can match you with the right tech pros for your needs.
Your next steps are to describe what you need, agree on goals, pick your team, and get started. Outsourcing can make things simpler without sacrificing quality. By following these steps, you'll be well on your way to growing your business.
If you are looking for a bespoke software development company, please get in touch by phone by calling +44 (0) 1905 700 050 or filling out the form below.
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