When a business starts expanding, many activities in the organization arise, more departments emerge and no business leaders can manage all activities singlehandedly. This is one of the main reasons why businesses resort to business process outsourcing. Moreover, it provides greater flexibility, lower operating expenses, helps utilize time more effectively and improves productivity. Outsourcing is a business practice in which an organization hires a company to perform processes such as payroll processing, telemarketing, customer support, human resource management, social media marketing and so on. Similarly, to build professional quality software that is high performing to meet all enterprise requirements, businesses outsource software development.
With advanced technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning), enterprises are becoming more productive by automating processes. For some enterprises, software outsourcing is an effective way to source scarce talent as well as stretch engineering budgets. Choosing the right provider is essential and ensures that you are in safe hands. According to a State of DevOps report, low-performing DevOps teams were about four times more likely to outsource a part of their software development and delivery process than the highest performers. Outsourcing being a highly relevant consideration with regard to software development, let us look at certain strategies that can be effectively utilized:
- Consider your business objectives when outsourcing: Consider the type of software to be developed to meet your specific objectives quickly and efficiently. It is important to measure exactly how software can positively affect your objectives.
- Outsource software development to support your core team: Outsource software development as a way of providing assistance to your core team. So firstly, enterprises should have a strong team of developers that have extensive knowledge of the product line and possibilities for future product innovations. Outsourcing software development increases productivity and the work is delegated to experts who have high level of skills. Top companies like Google and Apple, are using this strategies and have gained benefits from it. Many other companies have relied on outsourcing software development but what is more important is the right implementation of outsourcing strategy. Organizations should make good decisions about outsourcing and partnering with the right vendor is essential.
- Outsource to access highly skilled talents: According to Forrester, employers could end up paying 20% above market rates for the talent they need. By outsourcing, companies can find experts at an affordable rate. This makes outsourcing cost-effective. Many countries offer solutions that are not very expensive. In fact, you can partner with a software development firm with the technical or functional expertise in Blockchain, IVR, mobile development and other areas that you may not have in-house. Consider what expertise you want to hire in 2019 and go ahead with your outsourcing plan. In-housing a software development team may not have this advantage. So instead of wasting time and money on hiring an in-house team outsourcing to a software development company could help businesses improve productivity and minimize cost.
- Near-shore outsourcing to facilitate communication: Working closely together and gaining productivity benefits can easily be complicated by employing an outsourcing team. According to a State of DevOps report, the main reason for poor outsourcing is that it tends to result in portions of work being batched together. It means that it takes longer to complete and get the resultant code into production. Earlier, when software development was outsourced to distant countries, communication was a challenge due to time zone differences. So, many companies have started outsourcing to nearby countries, otherwise known as near-shoring. This strategy allows companies to work with others in close geographical proximity, giving them the advantage of being able to minimize barriers in communication.
- Outsourcing to control costs and protect margins: When you leverage a remote development team, you can control margins and get a higher return on your IT investment. You don’t have to deal with vague overhead costs associated with in-house staff and can therefore control your spend. This in turn gives you the capability to control the margins. Consider your company’s planned commitment to invest in software development. Also consider the opportunity available to manage margins if you invest in a software development team offshore.
Strategic outsourcing services helps you gain access to a large pool of talents and also enhance productivity. But one important thing all enterprises have to keep in mind is to choose a reliable business process outsourcing service provider to achieve the desired results.
