Outsourced software development becomes more and more popular with time, but many people still don’t know what lies beneath this concept. As a matter of fact, outsourcing is a whole mechanism with optimized working processes and people that make the gears rotating. Different outsource companies put different sense in that activity depending on their specialty. No wonder why there are some misconceptions of outsourcing. But what can you actually “outsource” and why should you?
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1. Software Development
An offshore development team can form your idea into a working piece of software. It involves all stages from the concept to settling with the technologies for the project, to implementation, to release, and even to maintenance and support. When a dedicated team is working on your project, you don’t need to dive deep into any technical matters.
Each developer has a somewhat unique set of skills, and an offshore team combines everyone’s experience into a rigid tech stack. And as a result, it gets much easier to come up with the best solution for your project.
2. Legacy Support & Upgrade
Every couple of years some groundbreaking technology appears on the market and everyone starts setting it as a standard. Older technologies lose support and even become irrelevant. It’s part of the progress, and the smartest thing to do would be to follow it because it’s not going to stop. So, what can you do if you have a product created with an old technology? You either support it so it can run smoother till the moment that a tech is no longer supported, or you can fully upgrade it using the newest technologies. Some offshore teams can do both these things, so you don’t have to worry about getting outdated.
3. Platform Migration
If you created your application with only Android in mind, for example, and then think of covering a whole new market on iOS with all the potential clients, you can outsource this task too. Software development teams often have developers of web, desktop, Android, and iOS applications, so it’s not a problem for them to move your app to a different platform.
4. Software Testing / Bug Fixing
There are no flawless applications. Every new feature adds to the complexity of the software making it even more vulnerable. And people don’t really like bugged apps. So it’s up to the product owner to make the overall user experience better by getting rid of as many weaknesses of their software as they can. But even not every development team has quality assurance specialists, so it’s lucky when you can order testing services from the same company that developed your product. But it’s still possible and is totally worth it since a departed QA team is more likely to find the bugs while having an unbiased view.
5. Code Review
There are millions of ways to create one exact application but they all would behave differently. Every single fraction of the code affects performance in some way. Some even create horrible bottlenecks that limit your app’s efficiency to pretty low, frustrating levels. That’s why it’s a common practice for most developers to get their code reviewed by one or a couple of seniors. If an outsourced team has programmers superior to yours, sending them your software for a review would be beneficial for the performance and user experience in general. But don’t forget about NDA before sending your work to someone!
6. Development Process Audit
Established working processes are a core part of a healthy software development company. It takes a lot of time for a team to become a fully optimized mechanism. But an experienced offshore development team can help you skip a “trial and error” part and become a more efficient team.
7. UI/UX Design
If you have a talented and strong team of in-house developers, another link between a concept and a complete application is needed. By outsourcing UI/UX design, you greatly decrease the time required for shaping an idea into a palpable project that every developer can see before the implementation. Your app is going to be designed anyway. But who takes care of it - developers or UI/UX designers - makes a huge difference. So if you don’t have a designer, a smart thing would be to outsource.
Hope we have cleared some of the misunderstandings regarding this area. Outsourcing software development services are certainly not a thing to be feared of. They help non-technical companies have themselves hi-tech custom-made software that gives them an advantage over other businesses. And now when you know a little better how it works you can use it to your favor.
