While our previous blog about custom software development has convinced you to follow the righteous path of building custom software for your business, we now believe outsourcing Custom software development will now take you one step ahead of your competitors. From the illustration below the growth in IT spending has taken a huge leap in 2019 from the humble figure in 2014.
Source: Medium
Software outsourcing has become a common practice that is increasing in its applications
Computer Economics study on IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks study, last year mentioned large companies increased their IT spending on nearshore software outsourcing from 6.3% to 8.7%, while medium companies augmented their spending from 4.7% to 6.5%.
Many bigwigs like Google and Whatsapp owe a major part of their success to software development outsourcing. Boilerplate software has become commonplace and is no longer a valuable tool you can provide. Every brand now seeks to use custom software to address the specific needs of the customers. For those companies who lack the funds and expertise to create custom software, outsourcing the job is the best choice.
Every business enterprise needs custom software applications in the digitalized world of today. To improve customer experience and provide irreplaceable value to customers custom software application is a need and not a luxury anymore. There are two ways with which you can opt for custom software development, one is to hire a team of software change experts who will work in your organization and use up your internal sources in order to complete the work. The second option is to hire a software development company that works with their own resources and provide a solution for you.
Outsourcing of software development is in good hands with India leading the pack followed closely by China and Malaysia.
Understand the need to outsource
We suggest that before looking out for a custom software development outsourcing company you identify your exact needs. All the requirements should be gathered and based on how dynamic the project is. You have to then decide on the path of progress by employing methodologies that give the entire process a boost. Sourceseek has enumerated in its 2017 global software services report that 12% of the software development projects do not see the light because of poor communication, and another 12% because of the lack of clarity.
Source: Clutch
Based on the goals so identified, the next important step is to analyze what skill sets are needed to execute the project. A comparative study needs to be made between the available skill sets of your current team vis-a-Vis the potential outsourcing partner.
Top reasons to opt for Outsourcing
A wrong business decision can change the stakes for an organization. If you are successfully growing company and looking at concentrating on your core offerings, we believe it is a reason good enough to switch to outsourcing. Let’s see in detail why outsourcing is the need of the hour:
Source: Perfectial
1. Budget: If an organization has decided to develop software all by itself it needs resources. These resources can be staff, software experts, developers, licenses and most importantly an infrastructure to start software development. Software development is a pricey challenge and not every organization can fund the growing budget needs of a custom software development. With dynamicity being a whole sole factor in the market, keeping the software updated with the inherent changes can get expensive. Therefore outsourcing the development process is the right way to go ahead.
2. Focus on Core operations: If IT operations are occupying a major chunk of your time and work, then it’s high time you make a decision. Here the better decision is to outsource the software development process so that organizations can shift their focus and concentrate on their core activities. Your goal is to take your company forward and if you waste your time on software development, it will be difficult for you to compete with your competition who have already outsourced their software development process.
3. Lack of skills and expertise: Software development requires professionals that have a deep understanding of the company as well as the latest trends. If you find it difficult to have a dedicated IT department and the technical know-how it is better to look for software development outsourcing firms that have produced the best result like us.
While choosing the right outsourcing partner you need to ensure that the software development company understands your project needs and devotes the time of skilled software developers to work on your project. You need to sit with your partners and specify time and budget without even hindering your regular core operations. These developers will employ the best software development methodologies to ensure your project doesn’t suffer and regular updates are provided to you so that you can track the progress of your project.
4. Support team: An outsourced software development provider is not vested only with the responsibility to create the custom software and sit back. Its support and maintenance form a major part of the package, implying that the company is liable to provide ongoing support even after its implementation. When your business experiences change, the support has to be continuous which will help the company modify and update to accommodate the changes. Ask yourself the question if your company has the requisite skills and proficiency to fix bugs and update it. If the answer is not even a confident yes, then outsourcing is the best and the right way.
5. Quality Control: When a software development company is providing custom software development services to the company, it only means that it has the necessary experience, skills with the expertise to handle everything related to custom software development. The custom software so developed will incessantly be sent to the client for continuous improvement ensuring quality progress of the project.
The team at Chapter247 is quite experienced in taking care of concerns related to the entire software life cycle development. Right from coding to quality tests, custom software is amended and modified at regular intervals so that quality is not compromised at any cost.
Lock the type of outsourcing
Once the decision has been made to outsource custom software development, organizations then have to decide which type of outsourcing will be best suited for their project. Primarily there are three ways of outsourcing your project namely:
- Local outsourcing
- Nearshore outsourcing and
- Offshore outsourcing
Let us see them one by one
Local software outsourcing has many advantages of its own. They are easily approachable and there are fewer language barriers as compared to other types. They also live in the same time zone which makes the two-way flow of communication better. You can also quickly give feedback on the progress and also travel to the place for a better encounter. But not everything is as bright as it seems. In a country like the US and many Western European countries where the cost of living is high, the hourly rates of developers also are exorbitant. Such conditions will spoil your budget but despite paying high rates it does not imply that you will get high quality. There is a chance then that Local outsourcing does not work well and the need to look beyond your own country becomes necessary.
In the nearshore outsourcing type, the companies choose their outsourcing partner in a neighboring country and are considered more affordable compared to a local outsourcing partner. It also provides organizations with a better pool of talent. Time zones if not completely are partially compatible but communication style may vary.
When companies hire a custom software development company outside the bounds of their reach or an altogether different region it implies that it is seeking offshore outsourcing. This is one of the most popular ways to go because it gives organizations access to a global talent pool. This type also helps companies to reduce their overheads without compromising on quality while innovating continuously. Without the need to establish a new infrastructure within their organizations, companies only have to calibrate their team.
The correct and appropriate outsourcing partner should and only should be dependent on your business needs.
What you should decide before signing on the dotted lines
1. Budget & Quality: In Deloitte’s 2016 Global Outsourcing Survey 59% of companies outsource to cut costs. The same research shows that 31% of companies outsource to augment the quality of service. One research and two facts generated! Both cost and quality are important and companies while outsourcing should focus on more. Organizations have to remember that in order to cut costs they do not compromise on quality and vice versa. So the right balance has to be maintained between budget and quality.
2. Realistic goals have to be set: Companies have to be realistic in deciding a time frame and the expectations from a project. They usually miscalculate the time needed for custom software development. Hence, it is always advisable to have a rough calculation of some important breakthroughs well in advance thereby giving additional time for testing and adjustment. Project requirements should pragmatic, attainable and accessible. State of Software Development report states that impractical expectations is the key cause of delivery issues and software development companies.
Source: Clutch
3. Know the legalities: Before deciding to go ahead with software outsourcing, it will be recommended that you meet your legal team and get a non-disclosure agreement created. Your NDA should have certain clauses that give you access to source codes and ensure what is to be confidential has to be confidential even later.
Having understood everything you should know before you make this strategic IT decision, the boons and banes that come with it.
Perks of Software outsourcing
- Cost- effective- Yes, this is surely the main advantage of outsourcing a project to a good software development company. As seen earlier, local outsourcing can be expensive but the quality is not assured. Whatever the outsourcing type is, you will save costs compared to if you had done it internally. Outsourcing is a wise option to go for cheap alternatives, but don’t get carried away and go for the cheapest!
- Saves time- If you need the time to concentrate on your core offerings, then outsourcing is needed. Fixate on the work you do the best, and leave your project outsourcing to experts like us.
- A better approach for harder times- If you have an internal software development team then you are stuck with them for every project even when you believe you will find a better pool outside. For a responsive web design project, approaching an outsourcing partner is perhaps the best thing to do. If your business is going through a slack phase, it is surely more economical to go for custom software development outsourcing.
- Better skills- With outsourcing, companies can successfully fill their skill gaps. Often it is seen that it is difficult to get good developers and hiring one can be daunting. It is far more expensive to hire a developer internally compared to hiring a software developer outside your company. It is cheaper plus it also gives you access to diverse skills which might be missing in your internal employees.
- Flexibility- If you hire someone for your organization, it is a long term deal. But, hiring and maintaining an employee is both an investment and an expenditure. For your individual project needs, you might want to look at other skilled developers outside the scope of your office too because your current employees might not possess it. Outsourcing surely gives you the flexibility to switch to different developers based on your needs without being stuck with one person.
Finally!
Software outsourcing offers many advantages and it surely has proved to be one of the most efficient, illustrious and cost-effective solutions for all your IT needs. It is your link to achieve a high-quality project with lower costs. It is important to be aware of every aspect of the project before making this decision. Ensure that your communication doesn’t hamper even if the software development team is geographically away from you.
Our custom software development team will ensure all aspects of your project are driven by quality and effective communication. For more queries on custom software development contact us.
