What is Offshore Software Development? Advantages and Disadvantages
Overview
In today’s internet age, the online presence of a business is a new need and to achieve that mark, developing web applications is necessary.
But when the Businesses don’t have the required skill set or couldn’t afford to take on the project in-house, they look forward to the outsourcing companies while focusing on their key strengths.
And then Software Outsourcing companies come into play. The business assigns the whole application development project to the company who offers the software outsourcing services.
There are two ways for software outsourcing.
- Nearshore
- Offshore
If the software outsourcing company is native to a country in which you run business, it is said to be nearshore outsourcing.
A company hires a service from another nation respective to their own, to meet the requirements of the project. This concept is called offshore outsourcing. It generally varies with the nearshore in just the terms of location.
But the trend is in a little more favor of offshore outsourcing. Especially most of the US and European businesses have offshore companies as their software outsourcing service partner. Now, allow me to give you a brief introduction to this concept.
The aim to write this article for you was to enable you to make a wise decision and get your business priorities straight by weighing the pros and cons of software outsourcing.
So let’s start now, shall we?
Advantages of Offshore Software Development
1. Cost-effective
Hiring a software outsourcing company will always be cost-effective rather than employing a full-time staff, paying them a salary, setting up a workstation, IT infrastructure, and many more.
You already know that businesses thrive on their cash flow, so it is essential to have tight expenditures and invest the money for other resources. Hiring software development services can avail you of the benefits of top talents in an economical way.
Also, you can get complete access to innovative technologies for distinctive solutions.
2. Time-effective
Outsourcing the whole project to the custom software development company will just speed up the process while recruiting a team and setting everything up may take a while.
Other than claiming to give the quickest time-to-market, software outsourcing companies do assist in overcoming potential challenges. Thus, nothing can stop businesses from being a cut-above. The game-changing factor, I must say!
If the work is time-consuming, then also assign it to the outsourcing company and focus on the other principal tasks. Their professionals have the potential to complete it up to the standards within the deadlines.
3. Flexibility
You can always hire a software outsourcing company as a full-time development partner or on the project to project basis. Professionals these days tend to juggle with a lot of tasks at a time and outsourcing the projects will give them the flexibility to focus on some other business-critical function.
That newly gained focus offers clarity and an increase in efficiency & productivity. Moreover, it gives the chance to take on more projects or campaigns with enough time to design, plan, and execution.
While employing a new team would be messy and a lengthy process at the start, the software outsourcing will enable you not only to continue but also scale at large with the currently available resources.
4. Expert professionals
In these times, when finding the right talent is hard, software outsourcing will give you immediate access to the talented professionals of the field.
Besides, having numerous requirements and high-end complexity of the project calls for an expert who ensures to deliver the best possible solution in no time.
Also, when the experts work in collaboration, they make the whole project management process simple through their guidance along with increasing the skill set of the entire team.
Even if the businesses have a good team in-house, still they can assign the task to the software outsourcing company for better quality and performance. Gaining a competitive advantage is the sole purpose behind it.
5. Battle-tested process
To meet the challenges, many software development companies came up with the adoption of agile methodologies, complete transparency, and a very well-defined workflow.
It might interest you to know that maintaining the high quality at every step of the development process is what keeps the team more productive.
Also, to meet customer expectations, various tests are conducted so that the product doesn’t fall short in achieving success.
Disadvantages of Offshore Software Development
For a very long time, being considered as an advantage, there are possible disadvantages along with it too.
1. Miscommunication
Whenever you assign the work to an outside team, there are the chances of miscommunication. And it will just increase with offshore outsourcing as the native language of both countries won’t be the same.
Even if both the countries have a similar native language, still the use of words, phrases along with meaning and many more varies a lot from the geographical perspective and misunderstandings are likely to happen.
Things tend to get lost in transaction or translation of the information. It can happen over phone conversations, emails, etc. and could create a hassle. The loss of time and money that occur with it can cause some critical damage.
2. Lack of Engagement and Control
You might have installed a culture to keep your team motivated to work for the mission. But the same can’t be said for the software outsourcing company as their values and culture may not align with yours.
That can cause trouble with connecting or coordinating with their team. And the collaboration won’t become fruitful.
Even if you are software outsourcing to say a well-talented team of developers then also there might be some setbacks and roadblocks. After completion of the project, there will be a probability that some issues may arise.
And as you might have limited or no talented team to handle the situation, you will have to run every time even to fix a small or a simple issue to the offshore software development company.
3. Business and Security Risks
The technology sector shifts day in day out and the IT sector is no exception. Innovations and unique solutions emerge daily. And to hold a high position with so much competition around is very challenging and that needs to stay updated on current trends and technologies.
Apart from that, are you ready for the big surprises? Yes, the low sales, reduction in the operations, new launches, hostile taking over, etc. Are you prepared to deal with all these potential hurdles? Probably not!
So be prepared, gather and verify the information about the position and performance of your potential software outsourcing partner.
Another most important concern is security. When you outsource the application development, all of your user data goes directly to the software outsourcing company.
You might already know that when all of the user data gathers at the custom software development company despite having a secure infrastructure, it’s always a third party risk. With the insane amount of increase in cyber breaches, data protection is essential nowadays.
4. Time Differences
Finishing the work within the deadlines is crucial for meeting the business goals. But when you hire software outsourcing services, you have to look out for the two different time zones.
Generally, offshore outsourcing companies have 10–12 hours difference. And they often indicate it as an advantage of 24-hour availability.
But still, it can cause many problems as stated above. It would be tough for the business to complete the project by juggling between two different timelines.
Also, it’s hard to establish a connection or to have control over the developing process with the time differences.
5. Messy code and documentation
Sometimes if the software outsourcing company fails to deliver the product or the team might have to be switched then the process becomes messy.
The risk here is that the documentation of the project needs to be complete if it’s not then doing the same or scaling the previous projects would be challenging for another team of developers.
But in all of this, the code quality plays a critical role.
I hope you have now got the complete picture of offshore outsourcing. As I mentioned earlier, weigh the pros-cons and take the most suitable way. And if you have come up with a decision to go for offshore outsourcing, here’s a little guide that would be helpful to you along the journey.
How to launch a perfect outsourcing collaboration?
- Check out the reviews of the company on various platforms.
- Pick a top market established company.
- Check their website.
- Check out their portfolio for what kind of services they offer.
- Check the work of the company with their previous clients.
- Gather information about the company and its team.
- The company must be easily accessible even for in-person meets.
- Set the call.
- Know more about the company and their work by visiting them.
- Have clarity in the contracts and mutually beneficial agreements.
- Be specific for the quality of code and documentation.
- Learn about their product development and risk management methodologies.
- Get regular updates on the projects with the help of progress reports.
Final Words
Nowadays, with so many alternatives, businesses are getting confused to pick the right way. And the new moral judgments are making it more difficult.. I hope this post might have been useful and you would have enjoyed reading it. If you have something more to discuss, feel free to share it with us in the response section below.
