You are a startup owner. You are trying to figure out how to get your product onto the market, and you need product development help. Where do you turn? Choose an in-house development team, or get the job done by outsourcing software development company? This can be a difficult decision for startuper.
People decide to delegate their project to a software product development service for many purposes (IT consultancy, business analytics, UI/UX design, minimum viable product (MVP) development, marketing, custom software development, and many other purposes). Even such tech giants as WhatsApp, Skype, Opera (and other large players) are among those companies that use outsourcing services to reduce risks, save money, access new specialists, etc.
In this article, we will share some reasons to choose product development outsourcing. So keep on reading the following paragraphs!
Top reasons to outsource product development
Why has outsourced product development become so widespread in today’s business world? In the next paragraphs, we will cover some of the key reasons.
Reason #1. Control costs
Outsourced software product development can help you establish control over your budget. You can select the number of specialists (several developers or the whole development team) who will work on your product and for how long they will work (just for MVP or for further support as well), and fully control the scale of your project.
There are no additional, hidden costs. The fixed price you should pay for the provided outsourced services will be specified in the contract. It can increase only if you decide to add new functions into your software product, for example.
Reason #2. Reduce development time
When you are about to enter the market with a new, fresh startup, the more you wait, the more market your competitors occupy. If you contract out with an outsourced product frontend development company, this company will be able to get your product to market faster for a bunch of reasons:
- You will get an opportunity to hire an experienced development team instead of having to waste your time hiring a specialist for every position internally.
- Hiring an experienced team will save you time and money by eliminating the need for training new employees in-house before they contribute towards delivering excellent results for your business. Your vendor will form a technical team of professionals, suitable for your project in terms of both skills and experience.
- The time frames during which your outsourced team will be working on your project will be specified in the contract. Thus, the risk of violated deadlines will be minimal. And even if something like this happens, you will inevitably get some sort of compensation.
- With outsourcing, you avoid the risk of losing specialists that may quit during your project development process which will result in a significant loss of time as you will have to waste it while looking for a new specialist.
- When it comes to in-house development, there are usually no strict time frames, and even small issues in the design process, for example, may lead to noticeable delay in the development process.
Reason #3. Access broader talent pool
Thanks to outsourcing, companies who lack specific skills or expertise within their organization can access a wider array of specialists from around the world. There are more candidates than if you were to hire locally, and you will have more options when it comes to finding the perfect candidate.
You will also be able to boost your chances of hiring someone who has knowledge or experience in areas of expertise that may not be available locally. For example, if you need a developer who specializes in the development of SaaS applications, you may not find the right candidate for this vacancy locally, but, with outsourcing, you can hire a remote specialist from any country that will be perfect for you in terms of both price and skills.
Advantageous conditions isn’t the only reason why many companies use outsourcing services as they also open new opportunities for both newbies and experienced founders. An experienced IT outsourcing company can help you build a software product that will outperform all of your competitors with ease. That is why many owners of both small and big software product startups resort to IT consulting services on outsource when they want to get deeper expertise and get consultations towards their idea, business plan, future of the company or startup, etc.
Reason #4. Scale up and down with ease
Outsourcing gives you flexibility when scaling your software product up or down in accordance with the needs of the users. With outsourcing, you don’t have to spend money on resources that aren’t necessary at the moment. You can outsource your project at any stage of the development process, be it a product idea or the ready product that needs upgrading.
Reason #5. Focus on your business
It can be very distracting when you have to manage your development team on your own instead of focusing on business-related aspects, fixing problems, and developing a strategy. With outsourcing, you can focus on your core business while retaining control over the development process. Just make sure to regularly communicate with a person who manages your project on outsource (project manager) to monitor the process and track the progress.
Reason #6. Minimize risks
Software product outsourcing allows you to minimize risks by working with experts who have broad experience with projects for different industries, and have built, launched and supported numerous products of their previous clients. Such outsourcing service provider can share valuable insights with you and help you succeed with your project.
By relying on solid experience of an outsourced software development company, you have more chances to create a successful product than when trying to launch a project on your own.
Reason #7. Save money
When you are a startup owner, you don’t have excessive resources that can be used on experiments, rework, bug fixing on the final steps of the development process, etc. You have to carefully allocate financial resources on each aspect of the development process avoiding extra costs and costly technologies/services. One of the main benefits of outsourcing is the opportunity to save money in many ways.
- First of all, you gain access to a wider pool of specialists, so you have more chances to hire the ones that suit your budget perfectly.
- As per Silicon Valley Bank’s U.S. Startups Outlook, more than 30% of companies that use outsourcing services are from the USA. The reason for that is simple: the development costs in countries of Eastern Europe, India, Vietnam are much lower than those in the USA and countries of Western Europe. So, when outsourcing your project to a remote development team from another country, you can save a lot of money.
- Building an in-house team requires a lot of time, energy, dedication, and, clearly, money. The outsourcing services can free you from the necessity to spend your money on forming an onboard team for your project. Besides, you won’t have to pay salary to the members of your outsourced team: you pay only for the job done. Besides, the majority of internal workers usually get a fixed salary that doesn’t depend on how much and how good they work which often results in additional expenses.
- You don’t need to extend an office space and buy new hardware and software when you cooperate with an outsource software development company. Your remote development team is already provided with everything necessary for their job.
- It will cost you an arm and a leg to hire experienced specialists with outstanding skills to work for you as in-house employees. But, with outsourcing, you can access the expertise of top professionals in your sphere for an affordable price as you don’t have to pay them their salary; you just buy their expertise as a service.
Reason #8. You get a high-quality product
Your outsourced software development partner is a party, interested in your success. No company can be successful if it develops low-quality products. Besides, as you sign a contract, the vendor undertakes to satisfy your needs. Thus, as you see an intermediate result that you won’t like, your team will make changes to improve the product until you like it.
The majority of outsourced software development companies use an Agile methodology nowadays which allows them to make incremental improvements during the software product development lifecycle. Thanks to this, there will be no need to rework the end product if something goes wrong during the development process.
Reason #9. Perfect choice for small businesses
If you are a small business owner, you probably have limited resources, practical knowledge, and expertise. In this case, outsourcing is a perfect option for you for several reasons. First of all, outsourcing allows you to save money (as we have already mentioned earlier). Secondly, you don’t need to be a tech-savvy person to outsource your software development project. Your outsourced team will help you conduct the discovery phase, validate your idea, understand how everything works, and take care about the technical side of your project.
Conclusion
The reasons to outsource product development are clear. You will be able to meet market demands more easily and access a broader talent pool. But the decision to outsource is ultimately up to you. This cooperation model has a lot of benefits, but it should also fit into your overall strategy. There are also many other factors that may influence your decision (like whether or not you have enough capital).
