The outsourcing services market is growing every year and already amounts to $413 billion.
However, some people believe that outsourced development is associated with great risks, so that, at times, even investors oppose the decision to choose an outsourcing company. Let’s consider all the pros and cons and put an end to this dispute once and for all.
One of the problems is that many companies do not want to associate themselves with remote work. Evidently, Covid has made them change their mind. Check out this excellent survey from Gallup about employees’ attitudes to working remotely. After lockdown has been imposed in almost all civilized countries, remote work is no longer an issue, but it is just the tip of the iceberg.
Some people believe that there must be few experienced specialists in outsourcing, that surely the experienced ones have been working in product companies already. The choice of the company is usually determined by the environment. Product companies can be made by people who have money to support a team. The venture capital market in emerging economies is going through hard times now. Many countries do not even have a good legislative framework for investment, although at the same time these countries have a huge IT potential. Competition in the outsourcing market is growing every year, which leads to an improvement in services and a decrease in prices. By the way, many of the outsourcing companies turn into product ones.
It is also worth taking into consideration the developing culture and business attitude in the country. Some programmers, having worked in outsourcing companies for a long time, start running their own ones. They adopt the experience of project management and development so that the quality improves every year. IT hubs, as well as special economic IT zones, are being created. The concentration of a large number of bright minds in such places leads to a high cultural and professional growth of the entire industry of the country.
Intellectual property theft or personal data leakage. Just do a little research before choosing a partner. You can view the intellectual property regulations by country. In addition, nowadays, many companies operate in the American legal field, their head offices are located in the United States, and contracts are signed in several languages with the advantage of the English version.
Communication problem. Indeed, some companies that worked with outsourcing had difficulties in communication, a lack of understanding of the entire scope of the project led to cost increases and missed release dates. There are cultural and linguistic barriers, but each case must be discussed separately. Often, during a full development cycle, these kinds of problems may arise, however, you should read our last article on the Discovery Phase.
Since the beginning of the IT industry boom, English has been compulsory, so year by year there are fewer communication issues.
As you can imagine, managing outsourcing development is as much a skill as many others. And if you spend a little time on it, then you can get huge benefits:
- Development costs reducing
- Technical expertise and IT-consulting that your company does not have
- Fast scalability
Create a small founding team on your side so as not to lose control over the development, and ask to use a VPN if security is your top priority.
Due to the dynamic nature of the outsourced development environment, teams are made up of groups of people who offer different skills and are disbanded as the project is completed, so they are ready for teamwork.
Look for people who are sociable, open-minded, with good soft skills. Insist on knowing English. Communicating with your entire team, not just managers, will lead to better teamwork.
Do not hesitate to discuss your business problems and look for solutions together, because, as Socrates said, truth is born in dialogue.
Nikita Tretyakov, Co-Founder at Kernelics.
