Important factors to be considered before Outsourcing Software Development

In Today’s digital world, more businesses are becoming technology-driven. Most organizations have legacy systems and they want to upgrade with new technology. Most organizations have an internal IT team. Due to the change in technology and skills, it has become very difficult to handle technology and IT skills gaps.

Onboarding new staff for an internal team with the best talent moving forward will become more difficult and costly.

So in this situation, business owners are constantly faced with deciding whether to hire in-house IT Staff or outsource services to IT providers. Both options have pros and cons. Of course, the cost is the driving factor. The

The business owner has to decide the cost and timeline impact on the business and make the right decision/risk for their business.

Businesses that outsource software development are found to better adapt to the digital advancements. Their primary focus is to run a flourishing business and meet customers’ needs effectively and for this, they are ready to partner with a reliable external agency.

From my perspective, below are the important factors that every business owner should consider before outsourcing.

1. Communication:- Communication is vital for any outsourcing business. Most businesses prefer English as the main language for communication. To bind together all team members on the same page, the business owner has to decide the communication channel. There are many good communication tools available, like Skype, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc.
2. Project documentation:- Before outsourcing any piece of software, business owners should have complete project documentation so that it helps to explain exact project details to the vendor.
3. Consideration of  Intellectual property:- Before outsourcing your processes, ideas, it is important to understand the process of software development companies. How they secure your process? What are the standard ways for documentation like Non-disclosure agreements, service agreements? This will ensure that you have protected your secret sauce. However, the protection of secret sauce depends on technology matters.  
4. Compliance of the software:- Business owners should discuss all software compliance as per their countries. Most countries have compliances on the software, which has a heavy impact on business, so this should be considered while outsourcing.
5. Technology Stack:- The standards of technology matter a lot. Before outsourcing any software project, the business owner should know the current advancement in technology. Technology is continually changing in different countries. Therefore, before outsourcing software development, it is good to look for an enterprise that is highly competitive in the market.
6. Budget:-  Business owners should have fair ideas about commercials for software development. In most cases, cost becomes the driving factor. Outsourcing companies can provide the proposals with a timeline and cost and business owners can select reasonable companies based on the proposal.
7. Estimation accuracy:- Timeline is one of the most important factors of the business. Each business wants to build the software with a minimal timeline. The business owner should know the time it takes to build any software.
8. Timezone and Collaboration:- In every project outsourcing team and business owners need to have meetings every day or twice a week to understand the project’s status. So it is always recommended to overlap some hours during the business day of business owners. So while outsourcing, timezone may count as a deciding factor.
9. Plan to Monitoring the work:- Businesses should monitor outsourced teams at any software development stage. They should use advanced tools to track the work so that they can get a clear idea.
10. Internal Team:- Business owners should have a team member who knows the business process clearly and has good technical knowledge. Such team members can communicate daily with outsourcing teams and get quality services. 
11. Trustworthiness:- Business owners should trust outsourcing teams and give appreciation whenever needed, leading to high quality and productivity. 

So,, in my opinion, business owners should partner with a trusted and professional outsourcing company and outsource services that will help them to simplify business processes and become more efficient. With more time in their hands, they can innovate and improve customer appreciation and satisfaction.

For any questions and inquires, visit us on https://thinkitive.com/