It isn’t always the best choice for a company to complete or solve a secondary business task with their current in-house team or on their own. While big companies with substantial resources bases can sometimes pull it off, using employees for tasks outside of their core job functions costs time, money, and stress levels.
For most businesses, outsourcing is the best choice for accomplishing jobs or tasks outside of the company’s revenue-driving offerings. One of the most common areas for businesses to outsource is software development. Many businesses choose to hire development teams on an as-needed basis to save money in the long run while still getting their applications, websites, and programs built in a timely manner.
What Is Outsourcing and How Is It Beneficial?
Software outsourcing is the practice of hiring team members or entire teams of developers, project managers, designers, engineers, and other IT field experts to take care of software needs. Some companies do have a few in-house team members managing IT or technological needs in the office, so they may choose to outsource just part of their overall software requirements.
There are different ways to outsource: onshoring, nearshoring, and offshoring. Onshoring is typically the most expensive option and involves partnering with a third-party company within the same country as the hiring business. Nearshoring occurs when the third party company is based on a nearby country with the hiring company or is located within the same time zone. Offshoring is when the development team is located in a country across the world or on another continent.
Outsourcing reduces costs for organizations in a major way while still offering high-quality, reliable services. Companies also gain access to niche skills or experienced professionals that they otherwise would not have been able to work with due to the lack of availability within the field. Outsourcing also gives companies the ability to scale their teams up and down as demanded by their workload. This helps save money when business is slow or helps accomplish goals when teams reach maximum capacity.
When Is It Finally Time to Hire Outsourced Developers?
Companies often understand the benefits of outsourcing their software development needs and how it helps their companies grow, but end up unsure of when it’s the right time to partner with an outsourcing provider. Below are just a few examples of when businesses should consider finding an outsourced development team.
There’s no time or budget available for expanding the in-house team with permanent employees. – Many companies simply choose to outsource because their team is at the tipping point where they aren’t capable of doing any more work. However, at the same time, they can’t afford to go through the costly and time-consuming processes required for hiring someone directly.
By using a contracted company’s services, businesses gain much-needed flexibility while keeping costs in check at the same time. They set up as many working hours as required to get the job done and only have to worry about that payment.
The job is a one-time or secondary task. – If a company isn’t in the realm of information technology or software itself, there’s a good chance that they don’t actually need to hire developers or a full-time IT department. Software projects do come up and are a must-have feature in today’s world, but as a one-time job that doesn’t call for the hiring of a development department from scratch.
Outsourced development helps companies quickly involve dedicated and experienced professionals in their projects to get them done while only paying for the hours spent on the job. They don’t need to worry about hiring and firing. When tasks secondary to the main, revenue-driving core functions of the company come up, outsourcing also helps take care of these items.
There’s a limited budget and deadlines are close. – Outsourcing reduces costs as well as the time it takes for development itself. Outsourced dev teams are well-oiled machines dedicated to managing and completing software development tasks at a much faster and successful rate.
These teams already have the necessary structures in place so that hiring teams don’t have to worry about project management, quality assurance, maintenance, and other important aspects of the Software Development Life Cycle. By paying only a flat fee, they gain access to all the talent that they require.
In these situations and many others, outsourcing software development needs to a third-party company helps organizations thrive instead of flounder. Outsourcing saves time, money, and stress for business owners while still getting their in-house team the help they need to accomplish their goals. When timelines and budgets are tight, this practice is an ideal resource for getting one-off projects done within a short time frame thanks to the outsourced team’s skill and experience level.
