- February 2, 2023
Table of Contents
Although there are plenty of off-the-shelf software solutions and software development services to choose from, the successful brand owner probably already knows custom software solutions that can enhance his/her business.
Bespoke software is essential for professional and forward-thinking businesses, however, most small and medium-sized enterprises simply don’t have the budget or space to employ their own team. This is where software development outsourcing comes in handy.
As you are surely aware, outsourcing is the process of handing the responsibility of software development to an individual, a software team or an external company. It has a number of benefits; most importantly it gives the ability to tap into a talent pool of highly skilled software developers with experience and expertise who may not be avaiable within your own company. What is more, Outsourcing software development can save companies significant amount of time and money, freeing up current employees for other projects related to the core business. Most importantly, by using a dedicated software developer or a software team, you’re ensuring that the latest technological solutions are available for your project. Additionaly, for many businesses, the outsourcing software team becomes a valuable extension often considered more as an IT partner than a supplier.
The world is, quite literally, just a global village. There are plenty of outsourcing companies to choose from and the options available encompass various ways of working and different locations. The following are the main kinds of software development outsourcing, that are being used by businesses around the world.
The above-mentioned types of software development outsourcing are grouped according to different options available in terms of location for software development; now let’s take a look at the ways in which your project may be tackled.
There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to outsourcing a software development project successfully. We’ll look at them in more detail in this article but, in order to ensure the success of your software project, the following should become your mantra:
Far-flung countries are rarely the best choice for brands based in Europe due to different time zones, language and culture barriers. As a result, a number of European countries are becoming software development hot spots.
Currently, of all the countries providing outsourcing services, Poland is fast emerging as a world leader for a number of reasons. Poland’s Central Europe location means that it is easily, affordably – and quickly – accessible to people from many countries. Additionally, it shares a similar time zone and culture with lots of other countries. On top of these aspects, the Polish education system is ranked 14th in the world with many Polish people excelling in language skills and technical expertise. Finally, despite the high level of expertise and skills, Poland remains an incredibly cost-effective option for software suppliers in comparison to other European countries.
The table below presents the top 10 counties with best developers ranked by average score across all HackerRank challenges. Poland is in the third position.
Rank | COUNTY | SCORE INDEX |
1 | China | 100.0 |
2 | Russia | 99.9 |
3 | Poland | 98.0 |
4 | Switzerland | 97.9 |
5 | Hungary | 93.9 |
6 | Japan | 92.1 |
7 | Taiwan | 91.2 |
8 | France | 91.2 |
9 | Czech Republic | 90.7 |
10 | Italy | 90.2 |
Of course, we can’t give you an exact number when it comes to outsourcing your particular software project as
this depends on many different factors such as complexity, size of the software team and the time needed for completion. However, we can provide you with this brief guide which will give you a rough idea of what to expect:
Although these rates are considerably higher than those you would pay in distant countries, they are much more cost-effective due to the cultural and offshoring issues that we already mentioned above.
Now that we’ve covered the reasons for outsourcing and discussed different options available for businesses, we’ll delve a little deeper for those wondering how to go about it.
Although it may seem obvious, this important first step should never be overlooked. This stage requires you to examine your reasons for outsourcing and to perform a cost and skill analysis in order to figure out if outsourcing software development is the right choice for your project. Although rare, there are times when it may actually be more cost-effective and more efficient to look for in-house software development services to complete the work required.
What may help you is to create a checklist in order to compare the various aspects involved in terms of hiring a member of staff or outsourcing the project.
This is, of course, an extremely important step and one which will become the central hub of your software development project. For this reason, it’s crucial to dedicate a substantial amount of time and energy to this stage.
Your first task is to decide on the location of your new software outsourcing supplier. Next, you’ll need to compile a list of relevant outsourcing companies in the chosen country. For this, it’s a good idea to seek recommendations from other businesses, take a look at rankings or forums as this will help you to whittle down what may be a rather long list!
Your RFI or RFP should include:
Once you have your shortlist of outsourcing companies, you’ll want to see what they can do. At this stage, you’ll be asking the suppliers to provide details of previous projects which are similar to yours. From here, you can visit websites and apps in order to see how well these previous projects function in terms of design, useability and efficiency – again, this should cut down the shortlist.
Now that you have a manageable shortlist of software outsourcing suppliers, you may want to task them with a test project before making a final decision. This will help you to analyse each company in terms of communication, reliability, time management, and, most importantly, abilities. At the end of this stage, you should have a pretty good idea of which is the best company for the job. From here, all that’s left to do is to meet with your new supplier to ensure that you’re on the same page when it comes to cost, the timing of the software project and the expected end result.
Before embarking on any outsourcing software development project with a supplier, it’s of paramount importance to have a proper, legally binding contract. Not only does this reinforce the agreed details of the project but it will protect both parties in the event of any issues. In general, there are three kinds of contracts to choose from and these are:
You’re ready to start your development outsourcing project – time to sit back and let the team get on with it, right? Wrong. First, there are a couple of things to think about to help make sure that the project succeeds:
As much as you may trust your software development outsourcing company, the project is, at the end of the day, yours. This means that, although you may not physically be doing the work yourself, you still hold responsibility for its success. For the savvy business, this means putting into place a proper monitoring system to make sure that everything is going accordingly to the plan. You might be looking at a number of factors, including:
Even though monitoring your software team is important, especially if your team is in a different country, remember that is important for your IT partner to be trusted. If you let them know that they’re doing a good job, you can be sure that end result will meet your needs.
With good quality IT outsourcing companies, it is quite often the case that contracts are extended or renewed to cover other projects or services (e.g. support and maintenance).
Once a decision to terminate a contract has been made, it is the time to see how the exit strategies you included in the contract, together with transition plans and arrangements for transfer files are working. It is good practice to keep a lessons learned’ document which will be valuable learning material on your experiences with outsourcing for future use in your company.
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Summary
By following this guide and making an informed choice for your business, you can form a mutually beneficial partnership not only with your software development company but also with the team and ensure the success of each and every project, no matter how complex.