If you are an organization in a situation where you have to get a software developed, you will be in for many tough decisions that you will have to make during the course of the project. The very first decision that one has to make is whether to develop the software in house or to outsource it. Developing a software house comes with its own share of problems that can cause immense problems for the organizations. This is because most organizations are not specialized enough to handle the complicated operations pertaining to a software development project. For this reason, a large number of firms opt for outsourcing their software development projects to professional developers.
Interestingly, many managers believe that once they have decided to go for outsourcing the software development, they do not have much to ponder on. Contrary to this opinion, there are still quite a lot of things that an organization has to take care of, even if they decide to go for outsourcing. The process of hiring another firm requires another level of decision making and analysis and that too at multiple levels.
Ending up with the wrong software development agency can mean a huge loss of time, capital and even customers and revenues for your business. A lot of newbies who are going through the process of hiring third party software developers struggle with choosing the right agency. Here are a few tips that will guide you to make some of the key decisions that are involved in the process of outsourcing a development project.
Who Should You Hire?
It is obvious that you are out to hire a software development professional, but the first question that you need to crack is who exactly would be the right choice. Outsourcing software development itself has a fairly broad scope and you need to choose between a lot of options such as a developer or an agency, an on shore or an off shore vendor, a local or a non local vendor etc. Each one of them has their own merits and demerits so there is not a blanket answer to these questions that can be applied to every situation.
Individual Developer versus Agency
When it comes to deciding between a freelance individual developer or a software development agency, a lot of small scale and at times even larger scale firms get tempted by the idea of working with software development professionals working in individual capacity because they tend to cost much less than the agencies. However, you need to consider whether the developer that you are hiring has access to all the necessary infrastructure and resources that a company might have. If your software is something that would not need a dedicated person for each of the development area and a single professional developer can handle the job well, then an individual developer might work well for you. However, if you need a comprehensive software that requires specialist UI designers, programmers, quality managers and developers, then a better decision would be to go for an established software development agency.
On Shore versus Off-Shore
Another decision that you will have to make is whether you would want to go for an on shore or an off-shore developer or a company. Each of two options have their own merits. The first thing that you should consider in this case is whether your software users will be looking for some sort of regional or cultural affiliations. If your software is heavily targeted towards regional customers that will be looking for such affiliations, then it would be a better idea to go for an on shore option.
This is because a regional agency will be in a better position to understand the local ecosystem and design something that is aligned with those dynamics. On the down side, on shore options are more expensive relative to the off shore ones which is why many customers prefer opting for off shore options. That being said, if you feel that your software development project is generic in terms of cultural appeal and will have a universal audience, then it will be a better idea to go for cheaper off shore alternatives.
You might also want to consider hybrid options that will let you have the benefit of both the on-shore company in terms of local understanding and off Shore Company in terms of cost.
Offshore software development company – Rademade.com
Local versus Non-Local
If you have narrowed down your options to choosing from the on-shore alternatives, then you still have to decide between a local and a non alternative. The only edge that a local vendor can get you over a non local one is face to face meeting. This type of setups are generally required in cases where you need to be personally involved in the design process and will require personal meetings. However, if your development project is something that can be done remotely, then you should consider better and more competitive non local alternatives.
