Global Outsourcing of Software Development: How to Stay Ahead of the Curve

How to Prepare for the Future of Global Outsourcing of Software Development

If you've chosen to outsource IT services, you likely have questions about how to get ready for working with a company that outsources software development. Investing in outsourcing is a business decision, thus having a solid plan and strategy is essential. You must establish the precise business goals attained through outsourcing at the commencement of a project for it to be profitable. Working together is crucial immediately so that you can communicate your requirements and ensure the company fully comprehends them.

When you outsource software development to an established organization, you may learn from them instantaneously, which occasionally gives you an entirely new perspective on the project and potential solutions. When doing this, be diligent and establish a list of the tasks you wish to assign.

Provide practical tips and best practices for businesses that want to leverage global software development outsourcing in the next decade. Some possible subheadings are:

Define clear goals and expectations

• Specify your goals clearly and set acceptable timeframes and spending limits
• Create a plan for documentation.
• Use agile software development techniques
• Create a software upkeep schedule.
• Put quality control mechanisms in place.
• Utilise automation in developing software.
• Establish a schedule, a financial plan, and the terms of the contract.
• One important fundamental is effective project management.
• Develop a communication strategy right away.
• Initial planning should focus on the final handoff to internal teams.

Choose the right outsourcing model and partner

Prior to signing on the contractual path, perform your research and evaluate software outsourcing firms. Check the company's history, experience, clientele, developer pool, and software development procedures to make ensure they have the technical know-how to manage your project.

• Do an in-depth study on software outsourcing companies.
• Use near-shoring as a potential strategy.
• Employing team augmentation, maintain your teams minimal.

Manage communication and culture

The work cultures of you and your outsourced staff could stand in substantial opposition to one another, based on the place in which you both live. There could also be other factors involved, such as working hours and procedures, cultural holidays, and workplace customs. When face-to-face encounters are absent from procedures, the trust might easily fall by the wayside. As a result, Relationship Management should be given priority over all other considerations when choosing a vendor for your business. This can be accomplished by using greater engagement and informal communication techniques while also fostering a pleasant, positive, and professional environment.

Monitor quality and performance

When software development is outsourced, quality control and management take lead roles. This often entails including the testing team in the delivery of each project goal and assessing the results in comparison to the established standards. If objectives are not reached, any deviations from the specified standards and vendor capacity need to be examined. To put it simply, "Strategic Flexibility" is the best course of action. You can accomplish this by using one of the fundamental management techniques known as key performance indicators (KPIs). Perhaps more than conceptualizing and perception, experts place it as an organization's most fundamental requirement.

Consider the software development process

A software development approach is essential to the project's performance. Agile software development, for instance, uses an incremental approach with ongoing feedback inclusion. The waterfall development approach, on the contrary, employs a progression of stages, with each new stage starting only after the conclusion of the one before it. The objectives, scope, complexity, and timing of the project must all be carefully considered before selecting between waterfall and agile development. Therefore, agile is the greatest strategy if you desire quick expansion because there are no delays and the level of quality is high due to ongoing testing. In simple terms, your outsourcing plan for software development should cover the software development strategy. The software development approach used by your outsourcing provider must align with your own.

Software development procedure

Regardless of how straightforward or complicated the software is, it's important for it to be adaptable and simple to keep up. Knowing the software development process thoroughly and knowing the best practices to use at each stage are the only ways to guarantee that.

The stages of a typical software development process are as follows:

Ideation

Every attempt at the development of software starts with a notion. You must understand the business requirements and the customer's main pain points in order to decide how you can reduce these issues with your software.

The following actions make up the ideation phase:

• Considering the project's scope
• Including information about project ownership, aims, objectives, and outcomes
• Identifying different stakeholders
• Constructing a business case that aids in turning a concept into a product

Collecting requirements

To choose the best solution, it is important to analyze and record the exact scope of the business requirement after a gap or opportunity in the organization's application environment has been found. In this stage, it's crucial to overcome the urge to move straight to a solution, and stakeholders might want training and help to keep an open mind regarding any solution choices they might already have.

Planning

The following steps are included in the planning stage:

• Developing a project plan
• assembling a development workforce
• defining each team member's duties and positions
• calculating the project's total cost
• assembling the necessary equipment and resources for software
• assessing all risks associated and developing a risk reduction strategy
• Making documentation for the SRS (Software Requirement Specification)

Design

One of the first things users engage with when using your program is the UI and UX design. The best way to guarantee a positive consumer experience is to have a design that is straightforward, simple to use, and looks good. The design work can start as soon as the requirements for the new program have been suitably documented and approved. Organizations should now choose if their time would be better spent developing a new custom system or buying something off the marketplace.

Coding

The foundation of any software development process is the coding or development stage. In this situation, your team turns strategy and design into an apparent outcome. A single developer or a small team of developers with extensive coding experience can complete a small company project.

Test

During the testing phase, test analysts will carry out a variety of validation procedures on the program, including performance testing, load testing, and exploratory manual testing. The major goal is to make sure that the work done during the development stage is of a high enough caliber to withstand the pressures that will be placed on the system under typical operating circumstances and to discover what happens when those circumstances are surpassed.

Deployment

Following the testing stage, you release the product to a select group of users that represents your target market, and the support team begins collecting feedback from those early adopters. After that, you examine the comments, make the necessary changes to your product, and finally introduce it to the market.

Maintenance

The team is responsible for maintaining the system throughout the remaining period of its useful life at the organization receives it during the period of upkeep. In order for service desk staff to know which team to refer customer support inquiries to, appropriate records and help files must be developed.

How to Pick a Reputable Software Development Firm for Outsourcing

When you've made the decision to use bespoke software development outsourcing, you'll probably question where to begin and what criteria can aid in your selection of a trustworthy partner.

Let's now highlight the key points to pay attention to in order to reduce the number of potential applicants and reap the rewards of outsourcing your software development project. As a result, the businesses you consider should:

• Possess the necessary training and expertise
• Have a strong portfolio and great references
• Satisfy your demands regarding development costs
• Have a set process for communicating with both internal and external parties.
• Use a customized strategy for each client.

Successful businesses that used global outsourcing of software development to achieve their goals

Google.

Google experienced success contracting out a number of its commercial processes. They have been actively using the practice of outsourcing software development within their company. Especially if we discuss Google Adwords at that time when Google officials announced in 2011 that they would be outsourcing one of their divisions to a third-party IT provider that now has many offices and a higher success rate in India. Given that Adwords became their best-selling product across all industrial sectors and verticals, this worked in Google's favor.

Slack.

Slack stands out as one of the best outsourcing examples. In reality, the company outsourced design and app development services from the start in an effort to conserve acquired funds. Slack, a startup unicorn in 2014, gained 15,000 subscribers in the first two weeks after inception by depending on outsourced staff.

Whatsapp

Another company on the list is one of the most well-known and competitive cross-platform messaging programs, with more than 2 billion active users worldwide. In 2010, corporate executives began to think about adopting outsourcing for their organizations. Whatsapp has shown amazing growth in terms of accessibility and the simplicity of the scheme. The company initially had merely 30 to 35 people. Whatsapp uses remote workers to build their company and outpace rivals in the worldwide market.

Skype

Among the several examples of how outsourcing from the beginning can help your business grow is the effective interaction between startup Skype. Instead of developing the software themselves, they hired three experienced engineers from Estonia to build the foundation of their ideal platform. They were able to obtain the most recent technological advancements due to this strategy while also reducing unnecessary spending. Skype was bought by eBay for $2.5 billion in 2005, just two years after its inception, and by Microsoft for $8.5 billion in 2011. By introducing distant communication technology and permitting outsourcing for the entire world, Skype has at this point revolutionized the way businesses conduct their operations.

Final Thoughts

One of the easiest ways to reduce costs and quicken the software development process is to outsource. You won't have any trouble utilizing a competent staff by outsourcing software development if your in-house development team is insufficient, not operating well, or requires you to begin from the start to achieve your aims. Therefore, pick the ideal outsourcing partner and create the commercial product of your dreams.