Pitfalls To Avoid When Outsourcing Software Development

The IT outsourcing industry is a global business, and It’s not just helpful for startups and non-tech firms. Major companies like Slack, GitHub, or WhatsApp, have leveraged the benefits of outsourcing development in their initial days to reach their current heights of success.

Outsourcing custom software development to the right vendor can significantly reduce development costs and decrease the workload on your employees. But despite the advantages, there could be some pitfalls, which can result in failures, additional costs, and time loss.

Unsuccessful partnerships with outsourcing companies do happen due to a few very common mistakes.

Today, we’ll talk about the common pitfalls that may happen when choosing a third-party company for your software development needs.

Begin with an effective strategy

Before digging into the pitfalls, here’s a little advice first. While outsourcing development has its set of benefits, it can also be detrimental to the business goals if it isn’t set up and managed in an organized manner. So first and foremost, you need to measurably define what you want to achieve, what are your resources to doing so, and most importantly, what you lack. It could be manhours, expertise, or even budget.

Take time to analyze and find out what value you need from outsourcing to bring to your project or your business as a whole.

Pitfalls To Avoid When Outsourcing Software Development

1. Thinking short term production instead of a long term partnership

You should see the project on a long-term basis rather than a short-term set-up. If you enter into a collaboration with the mindset that it is going to be a temporary arrangement or a one-time project, then you’re setting your partnership up for failure.

A great relationship with your new partner will do far more to ensure the success of an outsourcing arrangement than the most scrupulously written contract.

2 Communication Barriers

Establishing regular channels of communication with the outsourced team becomes of crucial importance for ensuring project success.

Effective communication is a skill, while English is merely a language. When communicating with outsourced developers, comprehension of the project requirements and clarity on the deliverables are the most important factors.

For instance, here at SOPHiLABS, we use collaboration tools, like Slack and Google Meet for regular engagement via video or audio communication, and stand-up meetings are set at regular intervals as a best practice for establishing communication channels with our clients.

3. Lack of Project Ownership

When outsourcing a software development project, make sure you understand who will be working on it and try to ensure that at least the project manager stays consistent throughout the entire process.

The project manager should be present on email threads, video calls, and other regular check-ins. If the outsourcing company provides the project management service, that’s a considerable advantage, but regardless, they will need your guidance and instructions.

Be prepared to take part in the management process and make sure you set up reporting schedule to check the progress of your remote team, and provide your feedback.

4. Focusing on price rather than value

It should come as no surprise that many organizations choose the less expensive option when given a choice, but you should never approach outsourcing as a cheap and easy way to offload the work.

So while a certain provider may not offer the lowest rates, you should consider their portfolio and the level of expertise they could bring in, because that is what at the end of the day translates to higher chances of getting your projects to completion in a successful manner.

5. Unclear Roadmap

Before outsourcing development to a remote team, clarity on the requirements and deliverables that you expect, expected timeline to deliver, and overall scope of the project, is essential for successful outsourcing.

For a successful outsourcing strategy, it is critical to identify both long-term and short-term requirements, to make sure you have a clear vision of the software development project that you’re outsourcing.

At SOPHiLABS, we use Agile development practices so we are flexible, use a creative approach, and provide incremental results every two weeks.

Conclusion

Skilled dedicated software developers can ensure faster, cheaper, and easier development of your project. Understanding the risks and having a clear strategy provides the roadmap to the success of your business.