When you think of developing a software or application, there is a common dilemma prevailing about the mode of organizing the development process. The common question that looms before every company is – whether it should build an in-house team or one should outsource it. The first point of the dilemma is whether you should hire a dedicated developer through outsourcing or create your own in-house team of IT experts.
In case you are budget and time constrained, it is a little challenging to find the tech specialists in that case. It’s in such a scenario where companies think of outsourcing the work so that administrative expenditure could be contained. Things like infrastructure cost, equipment, manpower, software licences come as extra burden in case of in-house set up.
You maybe even hire some programmers locally to meet your long term goals for building the application or software.
Pros and Cons of taking in-house development team
The saddest part is- there is no sure shot measure to tell if a path of outsourcing should be implied or it should be in-house. What would be the best option actually depends upon your objectives and primarily the project requirements you have. Whether you wish to hire a dedicated software developer or outsource the entire work totally depends on the requirements you have.
Benefits of choosing In-house development
Cultural alignment – If you hire dedicated developers working in permanent position within an in-house team, they will tend to pay much higher attention to company’s specific needs. There’s a much higher level of motivation towards achieving best results to bring as much value to the table as possible. In-house developers easily integrate into your company culture.
Transparent Communication – Having same timings of work, meeting colleagues at work enables a much clearer and comfortable communication process. This clears out misunderstandings much faster and increases effectiveness.
Faster process – When you are a team of in-house software developers, process executions are always much faster with clearer discussion of technical background. Moreover, with direct face-to-face communication, bugs processing is also much faster.
Pitfalls of In-house development
High Expenses – The price is quite an issue that changes everything. If you outsource your function, lot of your cost jitters get resolved. In-house development was always more expensive than outsourcing. The price of your establishment, maintenance, salary, software, hardware, etc is always way more when you do it in-house. In fact, there are additional expenditures like employee training, hiring, leaves, etc.
Attrition – When you hire a software developer, there will evolve this curious pattern of shifting jobs frequently. This is primarily because there is a huge demand of talented developers who keep switching jobs and the companies providing fat pay packages are the reasons behind them switching fast. The process of hiring is already a time-consuming process. If there is employee attrition in addition to this, it digs on the finances of a company real hard.
Dearth of tech experts – With the rising growth in IT sector, there is an overwhelming need of tech specialists. However, quality resources are a scarcity and hence it gets really tough to hire in some places. Also, if resources are found, a right fit with soft skills and hard skills plus budget is a big challenge.
Having cited the pros and cons of in-house development, one must remember that there are still quite a number of companies that work with their in-house team. For instance, Amazon, Accenture, Dell, and many other companies have their in-house team that takes care of building software or application. Whether you create a team by hiring software developers or give it to an established IT resource, you need to check your feasibility with the pros and cons of taking it.
Trying the option of Outsourcing – pros and cons
A popular study reveals that the annual 2021 turnover within IT outsourcing scenario is approximated at $96.7 billion. There are several companies rather big that use outsourced services of software experts so that they could cut down on cost, save time, and also work with highly competitive people. Hiring a software developer from IT company can be boon if you understand clearly what you need and what they could provide.
Benefits from outsourcing
Flexible cost – The best part about software development done through outsourcing is the affordability. Several highly competent companies are ready to take up challenges in developing an application or software at really competitive costs. The popular areas where outsourcing is a major business are Western and Central part of Europe, the Baltics, the Balkans, and many more regions in Europe. Due to huge levy on taxes by the government plus huge support given, Europe has turned into a hot bed for IT outsourcing.
Huge numbers of talented resources – There are a huge number of young people who join several courses in IT from world-class universities, etc. This huge pool of talents makes the process of outsourcing really easy and smooth. Hence, all you need to do would be explaining your project and how you want it developed. Rest will be taken care of by the team.
Scalable – You can always scale down and up if you outsource to a reliable vendor. This means you can create a bigger team in case you feel scaling up is needed and development at a faster speed is needed and also reduce team count in case work is going a slower space.
Faster delivery of project – Your time that would otherwise be spent on recruiting more developers, which are both an unnecessary time and cost incurring activity.
More technologies you could choose – When you offer hiring a software developer having required skills from an outsourced company, not only are you saving your time and money from doing in-house, you can also get a rare skilled personality.
Disadvantages of outsourcing
There are some disadvantages that come with outsourcing. Many a times you are left with no other option but to go with what you have chosen for your development.
Security risks – With outsourcing you lack transparency, where face to face communication is lacking. Your control over the entire process of development may be with someone else. You need to take care of the NDA agreements so that all your products and project ideas are safe and secure.
Gap in communication – Locating in several companies, there could be language barriers. However, IT staffs today are quite skilled at English and their subject, so hopefully that wouldn’t be a hindrance any more. Time zone difference can however be a serious problem that arises out of outsourcing software development to others.
Conclusion
There are several companies that have taken to outsourcing because of the numerous benefits it brings. However, it is always better to carefully study the pros and cons of outsourcing, especially to who you are outsourcing to. In case you are looking for sturdy work with long-term benefits, you need to look for outsourcing partners who are relatively big and come with years of good reputation. Startups too could be good but you need to make sure they have a good team and check some samples before you sign the deal with them. Just a little cautiousness, a little research, and a little budgeting of your priorities and you can get the best work done, saving a lot of your resources and making a cost-effective business for yourself.
