Today, outsourcing has become much more than just a buzzword. More entrepreneurs are looking outward when it comes to getting their business tasks in order, and are forgoing the option to hire additional staff.
Technology companies are not immune to this trend, and more than ever they’ve been prone to outsourcing their software development. Considering that there’s an immense talent for software development around the world, this is an ingenious solution that will both ensure proper growth for your business and keep your staff minimal.
This guide will explain some of the most significant benefits that outsourcing can provide for you, as well as how you can get started if you’re interested in joining the trend.
1. Save Money
The primary point of running a business is to make money. At the end of the day, you need profits to keep the lights on and ensure that your operations continue to move ahead as planned. With outsourcing, you can actually save a great deal of money from the very beginning.
One of the main reasons that technology companies outsource is to ensure that they can save enough money to focus on other aspects of their business and growth. Without further ado, here are some of the ways that outsourcing software development will help you to save money:
Reduced Training Expenses
When you decide to handle software development full-time, you’ll need to do a lot of hiring. Hiring, however, isn’t the only part of staffing. You also need to train your employees to ensure that they’re cut out for the job and can handle it.
Most companies spend hundreds of dollars to onboard new staff members. So, take that cost and multiply it by the number of people you’re planning to hire, and you’ll find that this is a pretty significant consideration. Instead of spending so much, you could simply outsource the entire software development task and save your business a fortune.
When you outsource, you can save time and money by hiring people who already know what you need and can meet these requirements. You don’t need to worry about having to train these workers either – their training is generally not your responsibility, and it won’t need to affect your business growth.
No Employee Benefits
When you hire staff, you have to provide paid leave, disability insurance, health insurance, and even unemployment benefits in some cases. These are all required by law. Your inability to provide these benefits will affect your ability to hire the best talent in your industry.
However, if you outsource the software development work instead, you ensure that people from outside firms will help you, and you don’t have to be on the hook for these expenses.
Employee Opportunity Costs
They say a company’s employees are its greatest asset. Your method of using these employees usually determines their ability to serve you – and, in turn, your competitive advantage over the other companies in your field.
Outsourcing software development essentially ensures that you use the employees you already have to do what they do best. There are several other aspects of a functioning technology firm, and you’ll need your workers to focus on these to ensure your company’s continued growth. If you don’t have the workforce that can handle software development, don’t bother trying to force your workers to learn the skill. Just outsource it and move on.
Telecommuting
The conventional office structure is fast becoming a thing of the past. Recent events and global trends have pointed to a rise in telecommuting instead of having people in the office who are working tirelessly.
Office spaces themselves have become rather expensive these days. So, when you can outsource some of your software development tasks to outside workers, you don’t necessarily have to pay as much for office space. They can get the work done and send it to your team when it’s all said and done. Your only responsibility will be to follow up on their project and be there for consultations, and you can easily achieve that through telecommuting.
2. Save Time
Another significant benefit of outsourcing is that it can help you save a great deal of time. The technology space is largely dominated by companies with the foresight to get something done first. Everyone who comes after tends to fall to the power of incumbency. So, your ability to launch a product before anyone else will most likely get you pole position in that space.
To that end, you could save a great deal of time when you outsource your software development tasks. Here are some of the ways this can be done:
Control All Capital Costs
We already pointed out that outsourcing will save you money on costs. It also helps you release capital for other things that need to be taken care of, thus ensuring that your business can quickly grow. Instead of spending all of your money on software development and waiting to move forward, outsourcing ensures that you can grow your business while also continuing to build the killer product you have in mind.
Boost Efficiency
When you take care of everything in-house, you can easily rack up additional costs. From product distribution and development to marketing and sales, you have a lot to cover. So, you could use outsourcing to help your business scale down operations.
They say the best thing for a business is to learn how to be lean. Well, the same thing applies to technology companies. You’ll need to keep your operations nimble and straightforward, and if that means cutting out some of the heavy tasks from your in-house workers, then this is just what you have to do.
Let The Experts Work
Companies tend to take their workers and force them into learning new skills on the fly, just to get the most out of them. However, without the proper time and financial commitment, this method will only draw you and your workers back.
Someone who specializes in frontend development might not be so comfortable when they’re thrown into work on the backend, just like that. There needs to be a reliable onboarding process that will help them to operate seamlessly. If there isn’t, you run the risk of causing the worker to waste time. Whatever product they develop will have problems and errors, and you will spend more time fixing those.
When you outsource, you’re essentially taking a task and letting the experts do their work. You can trust that you’ll be ready to move to the next level of development immediately when they give you the finished product.
3. Time To Focus on Your Idea
Growth in your business will always depend on your ability to ideate and execute. However, things can get counterproductive when you lose focus of your idea and can’t concentrate on what you need to get done. This aspect is where many company leaders go wrong. They divert their limited resources to developing products and the technology involved, and they can’t focus on other parts required to grow their businesses.
When you outsource software development, you can essentially free up your mental and creative energy to focus more on providing value-driven services that will keep your customers for far longer. As for the technology part, you can leave things to the outsourcing company and relax knowing that everything is being handled. They can provide counsel and a roadmap for you to apply cutting-edge technology to your business and get the best of both worlds.
4. Access To the Experts
To be quite honest, the effectiveness of this step will depend on the country you outsource to. Some countries have better IT talent than others. You can easily do your research, find a team that works well for you, and engage with their workers to build your product.
This step is critical if you live in a country where there isn’t much IT talent. Instead of letting the lack of available talent kill your idea and business, you can move this critical process to another country and get in touch with people who will be able to help you out.
Thanks to internet technology‘s growth, you can easily find the right talent outside of your country and connect with them. Within a couple of days, everyone is up to speed with the project and what it’s about. Soon enough, you’re working, and you can start reaping the results.
5. Improved Flexibility
Here’s the thing about software development; for many companies, it’s actually a short-term thing. Once you’re done with a specific project, you don’t exactly need to have many workers around anymore. This is especially true if you run a company that works for others on a gig or a contract basis. Sometimes, you just won’t have many projects to work on.
In periods where the skills of software engineers aren’t required, it doesn’t make much sense to have them around. Keeping them on will only increase your commitment, as you’ll need to keep paying them salaries and other benefits. If you’re looking to maintain a positive cash flow, there’s hardly a way that this can work. So, instead of paying your workers’ huge sums, you can essentially keep outsourcing whenever you have a project available.
Of course, this will depend on your business model. However, outsourcing is generally more flexible for technology companies. It allows you to work with people from different parts of the world, and you can all easily telecommute. Whenever there’s a project at hand, simply contact your outsourcing partners and figure out a way to handle it.
6. Reach a Broader Market
As a business, you want to grow and expand your horizons. That’s one of the only reasons you’re even operating at the scale you are right now. It, however, might be difficult for you to get your product out of your borders if you don’t have partners outside.
This is especially true for tech companies that are just starting out. When you find that you have a market beyond your borders, you’ll need sufficient talent to help you with distribution. So, why not just go with the people who helped you build the product in the first place? Distribution and sales might not be their strong suit, but they at the very least know what they made, as well as its strengths and selling points. If the time comes for you to expand that product and move it to their country, they can be your first point of call.
In the same way that you outsource your software development tasks, you could also outsource the sales and distribution to that country. Contact the developers to talk to the sales team and figure out the best way to reach the market. From the comfort of your home, you could essentially get a product out into a new market and begin reaping its benefits as well.
7. Get a Fresh Perspective
Lastly, outsourcing allows you to get a fresh perspective in terms of product development. When you have in-house software engineers who work round the clock, you tend not to have enough time to sit and think about how to handle software development projects creatively.
With a fresh pair of eyes looking at the project, you can harness brilliant minds and find innovative ways to go about the task at hand. Technology and software development are as creative as they are about skills. So, consider top talent when it comes to outsourcing and harness their creative powers as you look to bring that new product into the market.
Get a Free Consultation
If you believe that outsourcing is the best fit for your company, it’s a simple process to begin finding the right talent. However, there are a wide array of factors to consider simultaneously. For a nudge in the right direction, you’ll benefit from a free consultation with us. We’ll be able to provide the right insights and information for you and your company as far as outsourcing goes. With our counsel, you can rest assured that your product launch will be seamless and as easy as possible.
