Let’s cut to the chase.
There is a major gap between the demand for new-gen tech professionals and their supply in the world. In 2019, shortage of tech talent was a number laying in thousands, while in 2020 it is a number that has gone in lakhs, according to several reports by agencies like the TeamLease, Randstad, ABC Consultants, and Magna Infotech. But even then, the global talent demand is expected to be 4.4 lakh, while the supply is expected to be 2.4 lakh.
But with modern consumerization making people all the more aggressive in their demand for technical innovations, how can brands in the US or some other western nations keep up? Especially when the tech talent is majorly housed in Asia and Eastern Europe?
The answer to this dilemma is outsourcing development. Historically, outsourcing has proven itself to be very useful even in getting businesses out of recession. Imagine if an approach can get you out of that situation, how profitable it can be under normal circumstances.
But even after proving its worth, there is still a lot of confusion around businesses on whether or not to outsource their software projects. While the majority of this credit goes to the fear that stems from the risks around data breach and loss of investment, there is sometimes a boastfulness in the entrepreneurs around the thinking that they would be able to handle all the IT work, without resorting to any outsource app development investment.
In our 5 plus years of existence and at the back of our 900+ applications career, we have been able to gauge and list down when it makes sense to outsource app development. Here’s what we have gathered:
- When majority of your development task is one-time
- When you are working on a low budget and unclear ROI plan
- When you are looking for quick go-to market time
- When there’s a scope of technical updation within the application.
Many companies that fail to act on the need to outsource mobile app development, irrespective of the pertaining reasons tend to face dire consequences.
What Goes Wrong When You Delay Outsourcing Development Beyond Measures?
1. You spend way more than needed.
One of the biggest cons of assuming that you can do everything in-house is the expenses that you incur in the name of hiring resources and acquiring technical tools and platforms. The more you spend here, the lesser you leave for post-launch activities such as customer acquisition and marketing.
2. The go-to market time keeps on getting postponed.
Until and unless your in-house IT app development team has designed, developed, and deployed mobile applications, they can never give the same output as when you outsource app developers. The thing is that an in-house IT team is used to working around a certain type of software, so it is next to unfair to expect them to have the same prowess in every guideline, standard, and model that you would get when you outsource mobile application development.
3. You are almost never able to keep up with the technological changes
When you invest in application development outsourcing, you get to work with a mobile app development agency that has been doing the deed of getting digital projects off ground since forever and thus, they have a team of tech exports. But expecting the same from your in-house team will not be wise – as it is impossible for them to be updated on every technical route that your application might take down the line.
4. Your competitors outrun you.
While you struggle with issues like budget management, keeping up with technological changes, and the delaying go-to market time, your competitors, likely having performed offshore mobile app development, would have developed their application and reaping the benefits.
Now that we have looked into the different things that can go wrong if you don’t invest in offshore app development well in time, let us look into the reasons why you should – which in many ways are different from the cumulative losses you would incur.
Reasons Why You Should Invest in Offshore Mobile Application Development?
1. Maintain Lowered Cost
One of the main reasons why businesses, since ages, have focused on outsourced app development is the cost saving benefits that it offers. The expenses that brands have to incur in name of operational and team onboarding cost in addition to acquiring new technology stack every time a new tech is introduced in the world (trust us, the frequency is very high) is very huge.
But when you partner with an offshore mobile app development company you do not have to incur any of these costs. All you have to do is pay them the cost that would be needed to set your product off grounds and the expense simply stops at that.
2. Expedited Time to Market
A mobile app outsourcing company works on multiple projects at any given point on time. Meaning, in order for them to survive, they will have to deliver the project within the stipulated time.
So when you outsource your software project, you have the guarantee that the application will be delivered in time, since you have kept them binded under a contract which they are legally bound to follow.
3. Greater Technical Prowess
As mentioned earlier, it is simply far-fetched and in many ways unfair to expect your in-house IT team to have all the technical expertise that your application needs today and would need tomorrow. Even if you plan on hiring technical experts as the world moves, the outsource app development cost would turn out to be way less and hassle-free than the constant hiring and firing decisions. Decisions which will not just hurt your team morale but also the image of your business to the world.
4. Enjoy the Perks of Agile
Most of the mobile development companies work on an iterative and agile methodology. This is the reason why most of the people prefer outsourcing their app ideas as they can have multiple revisions. The agile method helps in saving time and improving till perfection is attained.
So, if you are hiring an agile methodology following agency, don’t think that it’s just a one-time arrangement. As a client, you can always get the changes made and optimize your application as per your idea or imagination.
FAQs Around the Reasons to Outsource Your App Project
Q. How does software outsourcing works?
Software outsourcing almost always starts with a company looking for vendors to partner with for the project and then signing an NDA before sharing the RFP and other project related details. Following this, they set up project management tools and platforms to establish a real-time connection between them and the vendors.
Q. What are the things to be considered when outsourcing?
There are multiple things that must be considered when outsourcing a software project. Here are some of the most prime ones: Communication models, pricing flexibility, deployment time, technologies used, and expertise.
Q. What are the things that IT enthused companies tend to outsource?
An IT enthused company generally tends to outsource following activities – customer care, software development, HR processes, etc.