Monday, July 20, 2015

Tips While Choosing Offshore Software Development Company


Outsourcing to an offshore software development company definitely has its own set of advantages. However, geographical and linguistic differences may pose certain challenges. The good news is that these challenges can be easily overcome by following these important tips.

Save Money but Wisely: Cost-effectiveness is the primary reasons why the software development outsourcing businesses are in demand. While looking around for an offshore company, you might be inclined towards the least expensive one. However, choosing the cheapest company for your project may lead you into spending more in damage control. The expense of maintenance and bug fixing may cost you way more than what you saved by choosing an incompetent company. The company with the lowest price quotes evidently earns the lowest profit margins too. Thus, you may not get the best development team at your disposal. Evaluate the companies operating model properly and identify its strengths and weaknesses. Once you have done the analysis only then finalize the contract for your project.

Take References; Hear Stories: Invest time in hearing the story of the offshore software development company. It will give you a fair idea about their business conducts and professionalism. You will be in a much better position to understand if you can trust them with your project needs. The company that is organized and ethical will definitely have a nice story to tell. But do not end the quest there. Try and learn about the provider from the other companies who have done (or are already doing) business with the provider. The references from other people will help you make a better choice. 



Communication is the Key: Your business needs are known the best to you. The idea is to have a clearly defined channel of communication so that the offshore software development services company is fully in tune with your project requirement. As the service provider is operational in another part of the world, it would rely completely on the inputs provided by you. If the project demands are big, a dedicated project manager at the provider’s end is an absolute necessity to bridge the communication gap. The project goes through several phases of development and testing. The back and forth exchange of information regarding the progress of each phase is extremely crucial. A proper communication channel aids the streamlining of the process.

Go with the company that follows high standards: Identify the industry standards the tips for offshore development service provider follows. Remember that the success of your project depends a great deal upon the industry standards the vendor is adhering to. In the software development process, there is standardization for everything including documentation, coding, and testing. For that matter, the entire development cycle of the project works on the industry norms. The closer the vendor is to the standards, the better are the chances of getting the desirable results.

Always reference the previous work: The type of projects the offshore development company has delivered in the past speaks volumes about their competencies. It also gives you the insight into the type of domains they have created the projects for. The companies with higher experience also have more exposure to the different types of businesses. Although most of the good companies are able to develop programs for all types of businesses, their core competencies may still lie in only limited domains.

Are they technologically up to the task? While the offshore software development company may have experience in your domain, you may still have bigger project demands for which higher levels of technological competencies may be required. Therefore, evaluating the technological prowess of the company before finalizing the deal would be worthwhile.

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