How to Choose Offshore Software Development Partner The Right Way

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How to Choose Offshore Software Development Partner how to choose offshore software development partner

There are thousands of outsourcing vendors present in the current industry. While they are great for fulfilling different specifications and requirements, you need to find the one that suits your organization’s infrastructure the most.

The process can be daunting, and we’re here to ease your burden with a detailed discussion on choosing the right offshore software development partner. But before we begin with the steps, let’s look at the most common services you might want to outsource.

Services An Offshore Software Development Company Offers

1. Development

Depending on your chosen vendor, they can offer one or more of the following development services:

  • Back-end development
  • Blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) projects
  • Cloud-based SaaS development
  • Custom application development
  • E-commerce development
  • Enterprise application development
  • Front-end development.
  • Mobile app development
  • Web application development

2. Design

Most offshore vendors specialize in UI/UX design to enhance customer experience by offering user-friendly graphical interfaces and making apps look more intuitive.

3. System Upgrades

Many offshore organizations offer the following services for upgrading the entire internal system of an organization:

  • Data Migration: Moving data from an old system to a new one
  • Enterprise Application Integration: Unifying databases and workflows into a single data source
  • Process Redefinition: Changing system processes to increase efficiency.
  • Re-Platforming: Upgrading old applications to become cloud-compatible before moving to the cloud.

4. QA Testing

Any software product requires extensive testing before final release. Offshore clients often hire QA engineers to conduct tests to find and fix potential issues.

5. Support & Maintenance

All software products require constant maintenance once it goes live, and offshore developers offer constant update, support, and maintenance for applications they develop for their clients.

Steps To Choose Your Offshore Development Partner

1. Define The Needs of Your Organization

Start with documentation that outlines your current requirements. These requirements include:

  • Your current business goals
  • All possible metrics for measuring success in the future
  • Potential setbacks that may arise during development
  • All relevant yet optional information regarding the project

2. Pick A Suitable Location

While you can outsource from any location since good talents can be found worldwide, choosing the right location for outsourcing is a strategic move for any company to ensure better product quality.

When deciding on your outsourcing location, consider the following key factors before making the final choice:

  • Average Level of Expertise
  • Company Infrastructure
  • Cost of Living
  • Cultural Compatibility
  • Data Security
  • Ease of Business Operations
  • Labor Availability

3. Determine Your Budget

While the budget mostly depends on your chosen location, you’ll find varying prices in different parts of the world. While saving money for future operations is a big concern for any business, remember to never sacrifice work quality just to take the cheap route.

Many vendors cut down on training, tech stack, and overall quality of their deliverables to achieve a lower rate to secure more contracts. While the initial offer is highly appealing, it can result in a total loss in the long run.

4. Choose The Right Partner

Choosing the right software development partner requires extensive research and comparison before making the final decision. The vendor should also be able to demonstrate that they understand your current business requirements.

As for you, here are a few things you can do in terms of researching any potential offshore agencies that you want to work with:

  • 1. Well-reputed outsourcing agencies often have profiles on websites like Clutch. Check said profiles for client reviews.
  • 2. Check if the vendor’s official website contains client testimonials. And, of course, check if they have a website in the first place.
  • 3. Every great agency takes great pride in showcasing its achievements. Check their portfolios to see if their expertise matches your project requirements.
  • 4. Explore the expertise of individual team members.

5. Choose The Best Work Model

You have three different models to choose from:

  • Fixed Cost Model
  • Dedicated Team Model
  • Time & Materials Contract Model

While all three models have pros and cons, the dedicated team model is the most stable model, with better control over the project, and is highly suitable for long-term projects.

6. Choose The Right Communication Tool

Right collaboration and communication tools can ensure seamless collaboration of all team members. While there are many tools to choose from, pick the ones that are easy to operate and aren’t overcomplicated with many features.

7. Sign Your Contract And Get Working

Now that you’ve made all the possible selections and created your contracts stating all your requirements and data privacy concerns, it’s time to sign the contract, onboard your members, and start working.

Qualities To Look For In An Offshore Development Company

1. Communication Efficiency

Good communication is the key to a higher success rate, and the rule applies to both sides. Before advancing the agreement further, check their ability to communicate with their potential clients.

A great way to do this is to contact them regularly through all their available social platforms and check the average response time for each.

2. Relevant Experience

Every well-reputed agency houses a portfolio of their past experiences on their website. When you can’t decide between multiple vendors, it’s a good idea to read through all their portfolios to decide who has the most relevant experience to benefit your project.

3. Security Protocols & Policies

Data privacy is one of the biggest concerns in the case of offshore outsourcing. Pick a vendor with strong data and security policies to ensure the utmost secrecy of customer data. You should also discuss the terms and parameters of these policies before signing the final contract.

4. Top-of-The-Line Talents At Disposal

Offshore outsourcing vendors are always ready with a team of professionals with much potential to offer in terms of individual team members. Pick a vendor partnered with experienced developers and business professionals who can bring additional value to your project with their pre-existing expertise.

5. Heavy Portfolio

The size of the portfolio of an organization resembles its expertise. While you check for relevant expertise through a vendor’s portfolio, it’s also important to look at how heavy their portfolio is.

It’s not always about working on a lot of projects. It’s about past experiences of working with high-end organizations on relatively sophisticated projects.

6. Diversity In Services

Some vendors specialize in providing a single category of service, while others can offer a multitude of services. Pick an agency that offers more services so that you don’t have to go looking for a vendor when a different need arises.

7. Cost-Effectiveness of The Services

One of the biggest concerns of offshore outsourcing is to save costs. There’s a fine balance you have to maintain between picking cheap services and picking low-quality services. Not all low-cost services offer a high-quality end product.

8. Agile Development Practices

Agile software development practices are the best way to keep up with a competitive marketplace while delivering a polished product. Agile prioritizes customer experience and user feedback, making it a highly efficient software development method.

Check if the vendor of your choosing follows Agile practices so that you can have an Agile extended team for maximum output.

9. Client Reviews And Testimonials

Client reviews are always honest and to the point, and they are a great way to determine the overall quality of your vendor. Honest agencies always showcase reviews from their clients, and you should check every available review on different forums about the vendor to capture the bigger picture.

10. Culture of The Organization

Work ethics and culture can make or break an entire team, and an offshore vendor is no different. While discussing your project requirements, inquire in detail about the work ethics and culture of the vendor to find how compatible they are with your business and all its operations.

Work Models To Choose From

As mentioned earlier, you must choose one of these models based on your company’s and project’s current requirements. Let’s get to know them.

1. Fixed Cost Model

As the name suggests, you get a fixed cost for all the possible deliverables of this project presented to you. The charge is agreed upon based on the project scope, and the charge is completely upfront without any hidden charges.

In the fixed cost model, the offshore development team agrees to deliver a project within the specified project scope, a deadline included in the contract. The client clearly sees the entire project’s scope and the necessary costs.

Though the model can be great for predictions, it can cause issues in the long run. There are always unexpected costs that can arise during any phase of the software development life cycle (SDLC), and these costs cause the pre-specified budget to fluctuate.

2. Dedicated Development Team

In this model, an offshore team of specialists only focuses on a single assignment the client delegates to them. Business owners often rely on the dedicated team model for software development.

The client constantly communicates with the team throughout the development phase, offering them precise instructions and feedback. The client can also create a long-term relationship with the development team to work on future projects.

One of the main disadvantages of the dedicated team model is that it can get pretty expensive in the long run. Since the client is responsible for bringing the team together and providing all the necessary resources, the budget can go up significantly.

3. Time And Materials

The time and materials model is considered to be the most flexible software development method of them all. As the name suggests, the project budget is determined based on the predicted amount of time and materials (resources) required for the project to be complete.

Considering that both time and resource requirements can change at any moment, this model is far more flexible both in terms of budget and development procedures. The time and Materials model is great for maintaining the scalability and maintainability of any project.

Tips To Manage Your Offshore Teams Properly

1. Define Your Expectations Clearly

The best tip anyone can ever provide is to keep your requirements and expectations clear when communicating with your vendor before onboarding the members.

As a product owner, the final product must be as close to your vision as possible. To ensure so, paint a clear picture easily comprehensible to your vendor and all the development team members. Once the vision of both parties has aligned, you can safely move on to the development phase.

2. Communicate Regularly

Communication is the key to a successful project, and regular communication with all your teammates is vital if you want them to create a final product just the way you want them to.

If you’re working with an agile software development team, you should double down on communication to ensure every possible bit of information has been exchanged between you and the team.

3. Make Regular Deliverables A Thing

Delivering in smaller iterations is the new norm of the software development industry. When the team is working on your product, make smaller achievable deadlines to ensure a deliverable within a short period.

When your team constantly offers deliverables at regular intervals, the product development process becomes more efficient and ultimately lowers the time to market.

4. Never Micromanage Your Teams

Micromanagement is the bane of any great development team. Have more faith in your teammates, and don’t try to micromanage every process they go through.

Offshore developers are highly experienced individuals who know exactly what they’re doing, and it’s best not to interfere with their work in every step just because you thought something would be right to do.

Offshore team members come in with a lot of experience in most cases, and leaving them on their own to get the job done is a more efficient method if you want faster deliverables.

5. Put All The Tech To Proper Use

Many remote collaboration tools can help you create a perfect remote work environment, even when all team members reside in different parts of the world.

You can use video conferencing tools for virtual face-to-face meetings to improve the information exchange process. You can use project management tools to keep track of the time of each task and deliverable, as well as all individuals working on the project.

Using the right tool for the right cause can help you create an optimal and supportive environment where all the developers and their skills can thrive.

To Wrap It All Up

Choosing the right offshore development team can come off as a chore. We hope we made it easier for you today.

Want to create your next project with a great offshore development team? Why not partner up with Impala Intech?

Our website contains each team member’s relevant experience, our portfolios are enriched, and our pricing models are fair. Get started with your project today!

FAQs

Is It Important to Consider the Political Stability of the Offshore Team’s Country?

Political stability can impact the project; consider it when selecting an offshore location.

What Should I Do if the Offshore Team Faces Technical Challenges During the Project?

Encourage open communication, provide necessary resources, and work collaboratively to find solutions.

How Can I Build a Long-Term Partnership With My Offshore Development Team?

Invest in relationship-building, provide regular feedback, and consider them a part of your extended team.

Is It Advisable to Have a Contingency Plan in Case the Offshore Team Faces Unforeseen Challenges?

A contingency plan can help mitigate risks and ensure project continuity.

How Can I Measure the Success of My Offshore Software Development Project?

Success can be measured through factors like project completion within budget and timelines, quality of deliverables, and client satisfaction.

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