Software development outsourcing: pros and cons

Outsourcing is giving away a part of the tasks to maximize the team efficiency and deliver the project on time.  Companies often choose to outsource when they way to cut down the operations costs, or simply lower the spendings. Usually, foreign companies are chosen to outsource a part of work to them. But is it safe for the businesses to do it this way? What are the bottom rocks of giving a part of the project for third-party vendors? What should be considered before signing the contract? What are advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing your software development project?

What are the advantages of outsourcing?

– Lower operational costs and rates

It would be much more pricey to hire someone to work in-house than it is to hire a foreign remote development company. The rates for outsource services vary but are lower in general than doing it with the help of the in-house team. And you don’t need to keep a huge in-house team to be capable of doing certain projects.

– No need to set up new processes from scratch

Everything is ready to go: the employees do already know how to work with the similar company, what results to deliver and require no babysitting (which is extremely important for business owners who have no time to manage one more team). As usual, remote teams who do the outsourcing part are skilled professionals who know how to work with Agile or Scrum and how to save their time by using various time management tools.

– Cost and time saving

It is much cheaper if you outsource a part of your project development to the development company in the other country. Remote independent employees give you more time to concentrate on strategic goals and needs.

– Expertise

You hire the best talents with no need to headhunt, teach, motivate, educate and control them. The expertise you might not have in-house is available on the market, and you can get it anytime you want with no need to keep them as a part of an in-house team.

Disadvantages:

– Different time zones

You will have to adjust your schedule to keep up with the remote team’s progress. If the time zones are too far away, your remote team will have to work at nights and that can influence the productivity and general performance.

– The confidential information can be revealed

When outsourcing your project, there is always a risk of the information leaks, losing some sensitive data or even copying and reusing the code. To avoid that, make sure you do sign NDA before starting to work with a company.

– Hidden costs

Some companies had a negative experience while outsourcing – the estimated pricing changed as the project went through. The unexpected price change is a serious threat to your budget.

– Poor quality of the delivered services

You don’t get to test every employee on the team, so you never know how the work will be done. To avoid this inconvenience, always carefully review the team’s CVs and ask previous clients for their feedback about the quality of delivered results.

To sum it up, there are a lot of companies (maybe, even your competitors) who already successfully use software outsourcing. Saving time, costs, getting the best experts for a fair enough price, and not having to babysit your team is definitely worth the risk. Just make sure you sign NDA and agree upon everything that might cause issues in the future collaboration.