Software development is a heady field and tasks are often multidimensional. As a result, choosing the right software development company can be challenging – especially when you don’t know anything about them. Even more challenging is taking the first step toward choosing the right software development company. However, most people who find themselves in this situation fail to consider the advantages of outsourcing and in-house development, respectively. In this article, we explore these advantages and explore which option is better for you.
Cost & Money Savings:
Developers are generally hired as consultants rather than on a full-time basis. This is because if your business requires fast and reliable software development, it’s best to outsource. This way, you can get developers as needed rather than having them stay in your office 10 hours a day, just to finish off their assigned tasks. In-house software development is probably what most small businesses desire since it’s more reliable and efficient.
Country | In-House Hourly Rate: | Out-sourced Service Rate (One-Time) : |
United States | $250 to $850 per hour | $89 -$240 per hour |
Canada | $37 to $90 per hour | $60-$150 per hour |
Pakistan | $7 to $10 per hour | $10-$18 per hour |
India | $2 – $4 per hour | $5-$15 per hour |
Speed of Delivery:
Outsourced software development enables you to reduce costs and save time without sacrificing the quality of your application or development process. It allows you to develop the application (or software) as a service, thus eliminating the need to hire one person full-time to maintain the application and service. The key benefit of outsourced software development is the speed of delivery. By using an outsourcing company, you can bypass the traditional development process and begin developing your application(s) weeks before the application(s) need to be deployed to users. This allows your business to begin using the application ahead of schedule.
Consistent Adaptation:
This industry is the changing of the guard, and it is a brave new world out there. Not just for small businesses, but large organizations as well. As employees become more highly involved in software development, companies need to look at ways to create better value for their employees (and themselves) outside the office. This is especially true since software development requires constant change and transitioning as business needs change. Organizations should explore ways to outsource application development and IT services for these such activities.
Flexibility
Software development is a costly endeavor. Most start-ups require a significant investment of time and resources, which usually result in large software purchases. Purchasing start-up software can also be a risky proposition and they typically require substantial testing, which means a high risk that some features may not work as expected. As a result, many business owners face the dilemma of deciding whether to purchase pre-release software or to develop their own product from scratch. Outsourcing allows you to control the entirety of a project, from ideation until implementation. In-house development requires time-consuming estimates, lost productivity for assumptions that aren’t fully checked out, and can result in feature issues that exceed your team’s capacity.
Nearshore vs Offshore
Nearshore
The name “nearshore” is not as clearly defined as it was a few years ago, but it usually refers to countries that are easy for your team to visit. The idea behind nearshoring is to reduce the costs of hiring software developer companies while keeping the quality of work at a high level. What are the advantages of nearshore development? For one, you have better control over the release schedule since close communication with in-house developers ensures any releases are done correctly. Additionally, when your systems are developed locally you have more control over data security since the developers are located in the same place as your clients. For some companies that do not rely heavily on software and are looking to make a significant investment, this is a more cost-effective option.
Offshore
When it comes to “offshore” development it means that your team is outsourcing to companies that are nearby. For example, if a Canadian company wanted to outsource from a company in India. Some companies may argue that hiring offshore is better because of the pricing but there are detrimental drawbacks that can slow the overall productivity of the company such as timezones. For collaboration, there would be a need for long hours for either the business or the software developing company. Another drawback may be the culture and context of a country affecting application evolution. Therefore it is important that you select a provider that has an understanding of your business requirements and knows how to translate them into a concrete solution for you. Such providers have a cost advantage over local providers, but more importantly, their software is tailored to your needs and will be better suited to solve your business problems than other solutions.
Developing new software takes time and resources. The first option is outsourcing, where you buy a product (or service) developed by someone else and then pass it along. This option can save you money because you don’t have to pay for development, shipping, support, and parts when they are needed. When developing new software for your company, it is important to consider outsourcing as one of your options and pass along the savings gained.