How to Outsource App Development
The Internet revolutionized the way humans communicate with each other. There are more than 4.5 billion people connected to the global web from all around the world. Making the prospect of owning the application very lucrative.
However, the costs of app development in developed countries, like the US, are much higher. In this article, we dive into mobile app development and hope to help save you a tremendous amount of money during the process.
3 Things to Consider Before Hiring a Development Company
Before looking for an outsourcing development company, you need to prepare several things:
- Have a clear vision of the future application and write your requirements. It is rather apparent, but we want to remind you that a clear picture is essential before app development. You need to take full responsibility for the future product and have a list of features for the application.
- Analyze the market and highlight the ones that will suit you. We can’t stress enough how crucial it is to create a list of potential companies and conduct an interview with each of them. Looking at a portfolio and asking questions is a great way to understand the company’s overall understanding. Yes, this process can take time, but it is the only way to find a competent team.
- Sign legal paperwork. Another obvious but essential item is ensuring you have legal paperwork in place to protect all parties involved, despite the cost of doing so. However, these expenses dwarf the prospect of losing millions due to sabotage. More and more intellectual property is leaking from outsourcing development companies causing considerable losses in profit and court bills.
Pros and Cons of outsourcing app development
Every single thing has its pros and cons. We want to provide several advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing:
Pros of outsourcing
Affordability:
Affordability is the #1 reason why we think you should outsource app development to offshore companies. This process is profitable due to small living expenses in countries with developing economies (Ukraine, India, Vietnam) compared to first-world countries (US, France, UK). For example, the services of junior dev in the United States are equivalent to the cost of a senior developer in Ukraine.
High-end Services:
Thanks to the Internet, everyone can get a software developer education while living in an under-developed country. While programmers’ salaries in developing countries are significantly lower than in the rich ones, it is still way more significant than the average salary in Ukraine or Vietnam. Hence, the people value their position and provide high-end services.
Cons of Outsourcing
Miscommunication:
People from different countries have different upbringings and speak distinct languages. While you can visit the country several times, most communication will be conducted via various tools. We recommend Skype, Zoom, Slack, or Discord apps for remote communication.
It would be a great idea to ask the outsourcing team to send you weekly updates about the development process. These reports will give you an idea about the progress. However, it is also important to establish a clear communication channel where the devs can ask you questions.
Time is Different around the Globe:
Different time zones are one of the most inconvenient factors about outsourcing. It is common for the customer and dev company to be from different parts of the world. Hence, creating time difference problems for managers from both sides.
One way to avoid this issue is to outsource the production based on your region. Consider outsourcing to Eastern Europe if you are Western Europe based and Latin America for customers from Canada or the United States.
Conclusion
The global web has made it easier to provide services and communicate with users from all around the world. This makes the prospect of developing the application for your business more lucrative. However, the increasing demand for software developers has caused a sharp rise in prices, making software development unprofitable in first-world countries.
Nonetheless, you can save a colossal amount of money by outsourcing your application development to developing countries. In this article, we gave you a brief guide to outsourcing. We hope that it was helpful, and we look forward to seeing you in the next round.
This article has been published in accordance with Socialnomics’ disclosure policy.
