Outsourcing IT projects to developing nations like India has always proved to be advantageous for businesses. Research suggests that the global IT outsourcing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% per annum till 2024. Although there are many benefits of outsourcing mobile app development, some businesses are still wary about the idea of outsourcing. A few businesses think that hiring in-house developers is still the better option. Such a decision adversely impacts the business as they do not get the benefits of outsourcing mobile app development. This article will look at why hiring remote mobile app developers can prove beneficial for a mobile app development project.
Advantages of outsourcing mobile app development
Access to talent from all over the world
The first and foremost benefit associated with mobile app development outsourcing is access to a global talent pool. With in-house developers, the company’s choices regarding talent get limited as they have to select the developers within a certain distance from their office. The world is open to companies who want to outsource their mobile app project. The business gets access to developers from all over the world, and they can choose the best developers according to their specific requirements. Access to a global talent pool becomes especially important for start-ups. This is because every new employee will certainly affect the success of the business.
Saves time and improves efficiency
In-house developers are selected through vigorous processes that consume a lot of time to the hiring department. Also, it is difficult to remove or add a resource of they are not performing up to the mark. The business can cut out this hiring time by hiring outsourced developers as it is easy to switch developers if the work is not satisfactory. The time saved in hiring developers translates into reduced time-to-market for the app.
While all mobile app developers know the basics of their work, some excel in certain aspects. These developers are termed specialists.
Developing a mobile app is a complex task, and it can take months to finish a mobile app development project. While developing a mobile application, one might require the help of specialists to perform different tasks. Therefore, hiring specialists is important as they significantly affect the pace of work.
To recruit specialists, one needs to deal with the hassle of recruitment and on boarding procedures. Moreover, these specialists charge more than regular developers, and it can prove a costly affair to hire them for the long term. Another deterrent is that sometimes it is not viable to employ a specialist for something that won’t be required throughout the project.
It takes experience to select the right specialist, and this experience is not there with every business owner who wants to build a mobile app. The solution? Go for an outsourced mobile app development team as such specialists come bundled with the team.
Even if the business has a team of in-house developers, it makes sense to outsource mobile app development services. By outsourcing the mobile app development to a team of professional mobile app developers, the business can save considerable time planning and developing a mobile app.
When one outsources mobile app development, the business might need to contact the service provider to check the project’s progress, but that time will be much less than the time required to develop the project in-house. If a business chooses to develop a mobile app in-house instead of outsourcing it, then it would need to divert its resources from other tasks to build the app.
There is a chance that the diverted attention of the developers would affect the quality of work negatively. Instead, if the business outsources its work to top mobile app developers, it can free up its own resources and ensure that the work’s quality does not degrade due to lack of attention. When one outsources a developer team, they can expect that the team would provide their undivided attention to the project.
When a business outsources its mobile app development work, the developers make sure that they are available for meetings and conferences according to the client’s schedule.
For many businesses, mobile app development is not their core competency. Therefore, such businesses should outsource mobile app development to professional app developers. This is because the business may lose focus on its core competencies if they get too involved in the mobile app development process and try to do everything themselves. Instead, a business should focus on doing what it is good at and let expert mobile app developers do their job.
Reduced business risk
There are many risks associated with developing a mobile app. The app might not get ready within the deadline, or due to some bugs, the app might crash, or the costs might spiral out of hand. When a business decides to outsource its mobile app development, it passes on a significant chunk of these risks to the hired app developers.
It will be the outsourcing partner’s responsibility to finish the project on time and on budget. This way, the business can pass on the risk of completing the project within the deadline and budget to the hired development team. If the outsourcing partner cannot finish the project within the required time or budget, then the business can levy penalties on the outsourcing company. The client can also terminate the contract with the outsourcing partner if anything goes wrong.
Another major risk that the outsourcing partner offloads from the client’s shoulders is the downtime faced during holidays or due to the absence of staff due to illness or any other issues. When a business outsources a mobile app development project to an outsourcing firm, it pays for the results and not for the working time of the employees in the team. Once the project is allotted, it is outsourcing company’s responsibility to finish it irrespective of these issues.
A good outsourcing company will help the business from the beginning of the project till its end. The business should choose an outsourcing partner that will provide its client in the initial stages of app development, like forming the idea, conceptualizing the app according to the user journey, market research, etc. The outsourcing partner should guide the business through the mobile app’s development, testing, deployment, and marketing stages. A professional outsourcing mobile app development team will help the client during the post-development stage, which includes publishing the app on various platforms, testing and resolving bugs, updates, cloud hosting, analytics and security, to name a few. Sometimes the staffs of the client need special training to manage the app. A good outsourcing company will provide training and support to the client’s team once the deployment is over.
Cost-effective approach
The major reason for outsourcing’s popularity is the cost-effectiveness of the model. The per-hour development cost of building a mobile app is 5-6 times cheaper in developing nations like India than in western nations. This is why many western companies choose to outsource their mobile app development work to countries like India. Moreover, remote work is a common phenomenon nowadays, and project management is much easier than before due to project management systems like Agile. Apart from Agile, many trends promise to broaden the horizons of the outsourcing industry.
By outsourcing their mobile app development, businesses can overcome many challenges associated with mobile app development. For example, the businesses could hire developers for the short term or outsource a particular project module and manage everything else in-house. If the business requires some specialized services for a short time, it can even hire specialists to supplement its internal team with specialized skills. This way, the business can effectively manage the costs without spending big on hiring full-time specialists.
Many times it happens that a business hires in-house developers to finish a particular project. Unfortunately, it takes around 2-3 months for any mobile app development project to get completed. Unless the business has any other projects, it will be challenging to hire in-house developers. This is because most companies hire developers for at least 1 year, and the developers would sit idle if the project gets completed within 2-3 months.
The concept of outsourcing frees up businesses from long-term commitments, and they can hire the team of their choice even for a short duration, like 1-3 months. Moreover, by outsourcing their mobile app development project, the businesses can save the extra expenses like health benefits, casual leaves and maternity leaves that come with hiring full-time employees.
Flexible team capacity and scalability
Every mobile app development project requires a team of front end and back end developers, testers, project managers and designers. However, it is difficult to assemble a team with the right skill set and experience, especially for people who are unaware of the technicalities of mobile app development. Also, it is not viable for many organizations to hire people to develop a mobile app. Hiring an in-house team becomes more difficult for startups, especially when the startup wants to develop an MVP (minimum viable product) before developing a full-fledged app. With outsourcing, the business does not need to worry about assembling an in-house team. The business could just check the credentials of the team and select the best people for the job.
Picking the right team for the project is not the only headache that one needs to face. In mobile app development, there is always a chance that the project’s scope changes as the project progresses. With an in-house team, it can be a challenge to scale the team up or down depending upon the required changes in the project. If the staff needs to be reduced, the company either has to terminate individuals or pay them a salary for nothing. A similar problem arises when one needs to expand the team quickly. It becomes more difficult when one requires to hire resources with specialized skill sets to cater to the project’s specific requirements. Good outsourcing companies have developers in the needed quantity, and hence it is easy for them to scale up or down the team size depending upon the needs of the project.
With improved flexibility and scalability, the quality of work does not degrade.
- Experienced and interchangeable workers
- Established channels of communication
- Proven methods of work
Outsource for profits
Outsourcing can prove to be a boon for the business if done correctly. The most important factor that decides the fate of an outsourcing project is selecting a proper outsourcing partner. Once the business chooses a suitable outsourcing partner, they do not need to worry about anything afterward. Many businesses think that outsourcing mobile app development is risky, which is far from the truth if one employs the services of top mobile app developers. Whether a business is looking for an enterprise mobile app development company or a company that can help the business build an MVP, there are enough quality options available in the market.
