Offshore Software Development Services Best Practices: Pros & Cons

Offshore Software Development Services Best Practices: Pros & Cons

Today, the software development industry has become incredibly saturated.

With tech start-ups mushrooming now and then, experts suggest that more than a million software companies are going to spring up within the next 10 years.

Competition is an all-time high, operational costs are always climbing, and talent is getting scarcer by the day.

Offshore software development services have now risen as a solution. Especially for companies that are looking to get ahead in the crowded and expensive marketplace.

However, a lot of businesses still don’t know how to take the best advantage of offshore development solutions.

The ultimate benefit of the outsourcing approach is the ability to fill any gaps in expertise.

If you are a layman who is not a programming pro, take the help of an experienced and good offshore development IT company.

They will help you in the complex process, business analysis, design, and while bringing your idea to life.

The best is, they allow you to save a huge chunk of your budget if you are a startup or have budget constraints.

Have a look at the offshore development best practices:

Offshore Development of Best Practices

Clear Communication Strategy

Do you know that 1/3 of the business project fails as there is a lack of communication within the team?

Keeping this in mind, most issues with outsourcing stem from poor communication.

If you are struggling to find a good amount of time to communicate because of the time zone differences.

It is important to understand language barriers, communication sometimes become a part of the software development services.

The offshore development team should have a strategy in place for circumventing communication-related issues.

Firstly, your in-house staff should create and distribute schedules for:

  • When certain tasks have to be completed.
  • When updates will be communicated to you.
  • This helps in keeping you in the loop while providing accountability for when things are being accomplished.

Not only should you know how to collaborate with the offshore development team and communicate transparently on a regular basis.

Tackle communication-related issues effectively, ensure that conference calls or video chats are also a part of the communication strategy.

Solid Project Management

When it comes to project management, companies face common issues like sharing information across developers, keeping team members on the right task at the right time, and staying organized.

Make sure the offshore programmers you have hired have solid project management.

This will help you feel confident that your team has these aspects of the project manager under control.

Ideally, make sure you have a team that has an efficient project manager. He is the one who acts like a leader for the software development project.

By communicating with your developers, it is the responsibility of the project manager to guide in the right direction as per your requirements.

As a result, this project manager will keep the level of the organization’s level, timeliness, and accuracy check.

Software Development Methodology

Whenever you are looking for an offshore development company, you will see terms like agile, scrum, or waterfall.

All of these are a part of software development methodologies. Software companies tend to follow the frameworks of the methodologies to take an organized approach to developing software.

Without ant methodology, it becomes very challenging for a team to decide where one should begin. Companies should consider the agile methodology and thereby adhere to it. If there is a lack of methodology, there is often a major red flag.

Partnership Over Client-supplier Relationship

There may be a possibility that you hired developers in the past, created a website or app, and then the development company moved on.

Although there are some companies that would complete the task and move on. Well, there are some offshore programmers that take a slightly different approach.

When there is a client-supplier relationship, your project is created via a collaboration between your already existing team and the offshore team.

Companies that follow this approach follow the agile methodology. This also helps in emphasizing on regular communication and feedback from the client as the software product is being produced.

This will help your project’s likelihood of becoming what you’ve envisioned.

Before moving ahead, it is time to have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing.

Pros and Cons of Offshore Development Services.

Pro #1 – Quality

Code Outsourcing, hiring offshore developers, Offshore Pros & Cons, Outsourcing Software Development, Pros and Cons of Offshore Software Development

Nothing is guaranteed but if you want to be careful while looking for a potential IT offshore partner, you end up with a final product that is of exceptionally high quality.

It is good if you hire Indian developers, as they are widely recognized as the most innovative and technically savvy across the globe. Plus, they provide you high-quality work at a genuine price.

Unlike onshore competitors, offshore software development companies understand that the smallest mistake may have adverse effects.

This clearly means the offshore coders in the team will hold themselves to the highest possible standard.

The result? You get a quality product and your customers are also satisfied. And all this is manageable within your budget.

Pro #2 – Cost-efficiency

Code Outsourcing, hiring offshore developers, Offshore Pros & Cons, Outsourcing Software Development, Pros and Cons of Offshore Software Development

The major reason why companies look forward to utilizing offshore development services is cost-efficiency.

For example in the US, the hourly rate of a mobile app developer is approximately $60-80 whereas in India it ranges from $15-40.

When you partner with an overseas development firm, you get connected with passionate and experienced tech-savvy while saving a lot simultaneously.

Pro #3 – Speed

Code Outsourcing, hiring offshore developers, Offshore Pros & Cons, Outsourcing Software Development, Pros and Cons of Offshore Software Development

  • Offshore software development firms tend to work fast.
  • That too really fast.
  • Well, this is significantly faster than the others.

There are various reasons for the quick delivery of the project:

The offshore company wants to make sure you get a great impression about them so that you consider them whenever required.

Usually, there is no hidden cost and everything is transparent from the beginning. Plus, they never ask for non-refundable deposits in advance.

IT outsourcing companies know their access to your market is almost entirely reliant upon referrals.

This means they have to satisfy you because you are their customer and will further praise them when with others.

When employment cost is less, the offshore development firm has a skilled workforce that works at the drop of a hat.

Plus, you can scale up or down as per requirement. This is the level of responsiveness normal service providers compete with.

Pro #4 – Turn-Key Development Team

Code Outsourcing, hiring offshore developers, Offshore Pros & Cons, Outsourcing Software Development, Pros and Cons of Offshore Software Development

The market is super competitive. This clearly means that the software development companies either have to increase their rate or lure top talent.

Rather than hiring near talent to meet the robust demands of your project, these service providers are more likely to stretch their existing resources.

They further force their staff to work long-hours that jeopardize the integrity of your software.

When it comes to offshore software teams, they don’t have this issue. This is because the programmers you hire are super talented, dedicated, passionate as well as experienced.

Further, they form key development teams that are ready to meet any technical need or timeline.

Pro #5 – Save Resources Other Than Time and Money

Code Outsourcing, hiring offshore developers, Offshore Pros & Cons, Outsourcing Software Development, Pros and Cons of Offshore Software Development

Collaborating with overseas offshore development company means your in-house staff has the free time to invest in the core activities.
This clearly means you can focus on better results and an overview of the bigger picture.

Pro #6 – Improved Industry Awareness

Code Outsourcing, hiring offshore developers, Offshore Pros & Cons, Outsourcing Software Development, Pros and Cons of Offshore Software Development

As the offshore company deals with a broader array of clients with diverse needs, they have to be on the cutting-edge of what’s happening in the software industry at all times.

These were quite a number of advantages. Now let’s move towards the cons of outsourcing.

Con #1 – Still Takes Time and Attention

There are a lot of advantages that come with hiring offshore coders but there are still a few ideal realities to face.

The first one is you have to spend a considerable amount of time while keeping a track.

There is a lot that the offshore team can do for you but it is not possible for them to work independently.

They still need your input and feedback if you genuinely want to be successful in the development.

For that, it is recommended that you take the help of the best person and appoint him as the manager. That person has to be a lead representative who is able to communicate efficiently.

Make sure the manager has a clear understanding of what your requirements are and whether they are being accomplished and the processes are moving forward in the right direction or not.

Con #2 – There Will Still be Setbacks

No project is 100% perfect, and when you hire developers, the project you undertake with an offshore software developer won’t be perfect either.

There may be mistakes.

There will be setbacks.

But it is important you stay patient and not get frustrated.

There is a possibility that you are unable to convey everything to the offshore remote team.

There may be some iterations—before your solution is finalized and ready to go.

The first version of the product may either be flawless or has some flaws. There is a possibility for both.

What you can do is keep reminding yourself that the first version of any product or service isn’t perfect.

And alterations and certain refinement are what builds a truly winning piece of software.

Con #3 – Time Zones and Languages can be Tough

Well, there will certainly be time-zone and language differences that have the ability to pose challenges to your project, particularly at the front-end when things are just getting started.

Every project may have a different challenge so we don’t want to be specific.

What can be done is to schedule meetings at a regular interval of time. This is one of the simplest ways to bridge the time zone difference between the onshore and offshore development teams.

Additionally, responsiveness to emails first thing in the morning can help, else there might be 24-hour communication gaps.

And when there is something really urgent, make sure your offshore development partner knows in advance. Have an urgent meeting and they will definitely assist you even if it is late night or early morning.

And as far as language is concerned, English is the common language of business that is used internationally.

Every offshore firm will at least have one employee who is above average or fluent in English.

So you don’t have to worry if you don’t have anyone in the team that can speak or read the native language of the offshore firm, an English speaking person is enough.

Finally, when you plan to take advantage of the offshore services, it is important to know what will be the decision criteria while you hire the offshore team of developers.

Decision Making Criteria

The company should be able to balance and resolve the trade-offs associated with an outsourcing engagement. So, the following factors have to be considered:

Nature of Tasks:

There are certain tasks that are best when outsourced. As a thumb rule, support tasks, marketing tasks, development, data entry tasks give bets results when outsourced.

Therefore, it is very important to consider the appropriateness of outsourcing for business tasks at hand.

Duration of Tasks:

Certain companies excel in short-lived tasks accomplishment but are not that efficient in long-term projects.

So when you know which task or project you have, you can hire offshore developers accordingly.

Business Culture:

Some companies have a business culture that is repetitive to outsourcing.

They have in-house staff with knowledge about how to supervise tasks that are implemented by the remote development company.

These types of companies are more efficient in implementing tasks that have been outsourced.

This is not the case with other companies as the team doesn’t have the skills to delegate tasks to outsource firms.

In-house Expertise:

The decision on which type of tasks to outsource and what is the capacity depends completely on the in-house expertise available to a company.

Enterprise is likely to outsource tasks that are unable to carry out efficiently based on the resources.

Budget and impact of outsourcing

The overall decision is also driven by the company’s bottom line. Companies that are starving for improvements, and are most likely to take a cost-driven approach to offshore activities.

Companies that keep setting some strategic priorities are usually reluctant to outsource the same tasks.

The decision criteria can scrutinize and weigh the benefits and challenges of the outsourcing decision.

A 100% offshoring of the key activities may not be always possible, as this is likely to trigger some of the drawbacks of outsourcing.

However, organizations are likely to selectively outsource some of the activities.

In order to take advantage from cost-efficient access to global talent. Managers are expected to weigh the benefits and costs prior to making the decision

Your Team In India

Your Team In India