What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of software development outsourcing? Probably better cost-effectiveness compared to hiring in-house developers. Some of you might even describe outsourcing as “cheaper option” but we know that it’s not about choosing the cheapest alternative but the value you get for the money invested. Especially in these difficult times, when everyone makes the decisions more carefully it’s essential to see the whole picture and be aware that outsourcing software development is not only about the developers and the lines of code they write. That’s why we prepared this short guide about the underlying benefits of cooperation with the external company. Keep reading to find out how outsourcing software development might boost your growth!
1/ The time you need to grow your business
Time is considered to be one of the most valuable assets and outsourcing is a great way to make sure that you would be able to focus on core business. This is true not only for the non-tech founders, who would have to spend hours learning how to manage software development, but also every executive. Leaving the day-by-day work management to outsourced Project Manager who knows his ways around developers, allows you to focus on what’s essential – growing your business. While we’re at the time aspect we can’t overlook the time necessary to start the work. Setting up the project, especially if you’re not familiar with software development management might be time-consuming and stressful. Leave it to outsourced specialists who had been in this process many times and would guide you through it making the project launch almost effortless and enjoyable (yep, team integration is an important step of the process 😉 )
2/ Continuous personal development
Inhouse developers, especially those who work over one project for a long time, are often experienced only in the narrow field regarding the scope of development they are responsible for in their company. At the same time, developers working in software houses need to keep up with the rapid tempo of technology changes and combine their skills and knowledge with experience from multiple environments. That makes them able to adapt to almost any surroundings and take advantage of what they already meet on their career path. And it’s not only personal experience that they can benefit from. In outsourcing companies, developers from different projects work in one building, which allows them to discuss their experiences and share knowledge finally making them capable of handling any given task. What’s more, hiring in-house developers makes you responsible for providing them with possibilities for growth. These means organizing workshops, delegating them to conferences or simply allowing to use some of the work time to learn. If you decide to cooperate with the external company, it would be responsible for the developer’s growth. And they would do it not only to keep devs motivated and happy but also to maintain the most important advantage on the highly competitive market – employing top-notch specialists.
3/ Know-how and experience
Working in one environment for a long period of time makes us all kind of blind – we get used to the way things are being handled. Outsourcing companies master software development processes to improve the effectiveness of their work. This proficiency makes them able to adapt Agile processes to specific environment which differs between each and every project. That’s why cooperation with the outsourcing company might feel like opening the window and letting some fresh air into your company. Due to the extensive experience, outsourced developers and PM’s have their eyes are wide open and can detect all fields that need improvement. Even more – the problems you encounter might be something that they already dealt with during one of the previous cooperation’s. All of that allows them not only to identify the bottlenecks but also suggest what should be done to improve those.
4/ Responsibility
Confused seeing responsibility as one of the outsourcing benefits? If so, we managed to choose the right benefits to include in this list ? Making the long story short – the developer loses a job, software house loses a client. As experienced developers do not have to look for the new one because the job finds them right away, losing it is not a big deal. But when software house fails to deliver and loses client, it affects not only their business but also reputation, which is one of the best advantages that this kind of company can have over the competition. Building the reputation of a professional and reliable partner is not a piece of cake. And a single slip might destroy all previous hard work. This makes the responsibility level much higher. The outsourcing company would go the extra mile so the outcome of their work would be satisfying for you and the cooperation run smoothly. At the end of the day that’s an ideal scenario for both sides – you would get the work done perfectly and the external company would be able to add one more partner to their list of happy customers boosting the social proof of their professionalism.
5/ Scalability
Developing and maintaining products requires flexibility. Changes during your project lifespan are almost inevitable, period. Employing in-house developers would highly limit the possibilities when it comes to scaling up and down your teams. In the same time, it’s exactly opposite with outsourcing companies. Teaming up with an external company would make it cheaper and faster to change your team size. Think of it as part of risk mitigation. If you would need to customize your product for a new big customer your outsourced partner has the possibilities to provide you more developers in a shorter time than it would take you to recruit specialist to work inhouse.
Read also: Managing outsourced team – 10 tips
6/ The complete ROI
It’s obvious that if you decide to outsource, you assume it would be more effective than hiring in-house developers. However, to see the real value, you need to consider every field that is affected by cooperation with outsourced developers, not only the lines of code they wrote. And that’s the underlying truth. All the previously mentioned outsourcing benefits boost the final ROI, but we need to make it clear – the quality comes at a cost. Not as much as hiring an in-house developer in US or UK if you decide to go abroad , but still you need to spend some resources in order to get your money’s worth. Don’t worry though. All these elements combined make a perfect combo so even in you would have to pay more in the first place, the cost-effectiveness would be much higher and at the of the day from each invested dollar you would get much more than just several contractors and some code lines.
All things considered
Now you know that cooperation with outsourced development teams would not only affect your product but benefit the whole company. The profits generated by cooperation with experienced specialists would exceed the cost of it, letting your business grow if only you select the right partner for cooperation. Reducing risk and increasing profit would in result allow you to obtain a competitive advantage over your competitors. The stable flexibility and extensive experience of dealing with almost any obstacle that might surprise you on the road are what best outsourcing companies would take with them on your mutual journey.
Would you like to verify how an external team can fit into your company’s reality? Don’t wait any longer – fill the form below and let’s talk. Completely nonbonding conversation might in the worst-case scenario be a short break from your activities, but it can also result in taking your business to the next level or be just a chance to ask all the questions regarding software development outsourcing that are going through your mind.
About the authorSoftware Mind
Software Mind provides companies with autonomous development teams who manage software life cycles from ideation to release and beyond. For over 20 years we’ve been enriching organizations with the talent they need to boost scalability, drive dynamic growth and bring disruptive ideas to life. Our top-notch engineering teams combine ownership with leading technologies, including cloud, AI, data science and embedded software to accelerate digital transformations and boost software delivery. A culture that embraces openness, craves more and acts with respect enables our bold and passionate people to create evolutive solutions that support scale-ups, unicorns and enterprise-level companies around the world.