The number of companies that decide outsourcing their IT projects to nearshore vendors is quickly surging. It is not a big surprise though, as they are tempted by a wide range of benefits offered by the IT outsourcing: high-quality services, relatively low-cost labour and the ability to access expertise and talent that are sometimes difficult to find inside the country. Just outsource it! This is a common motto for lots of US and European companies. Yes, lots of CEOs and investors still fear entrust their companies into hands of people they don’t really know well. Yet, these fears are groundless provided that the right company has been chosen.
There are a number of things to pay attention to when making the ultimate decision to outsource software development. Let’s name a few.
EXPERIENCE
Yes, you don’t need a bunch of students who can configure WordPress and fix a simple JavaScript code snippet. Experience is crucial and if a company does not appear to be an experienced player in the market, it’s better to keep looking for better options. Experience means both technical and outsourcing experience. If a company has never collaborated with the US or European partners, there will be communication and organizational issues which are rather difficult to resolve.
EXPERTISE & TECHNICAL ABILITY
Experience is good, but the nature of such experience matter the most. Before investing money in the IT outsourcing services, you need to make sure that the company's expertise spans various technologies, development approaches and platforms. If possible, visit your service provider and get acquainted with the technologies they use. If your project relies on AngularJS or Spring MVC and the company does PHP only, never hope for a smooth start. A company should have a solid portfolio of projects that show their competence in a particular set of technologies, preferably those that are in demand these days.
It is always a good idea to bear in mind that some countries have an excellent reputation in certain technologies. For instance, Mexico is known for PHP devs, India has a lot of HTML5/CSS/JavaScript geniuses while Ukraine can boast of top rated Java engineers.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
A company may employ brilliant engineers, but you are doomed to fail without a seasoned project/product manager who will communicate requirements, specs and general comments from the CEO, COO and the Board to the engineering team. It is quite clear that communication is a key to a successful project development. Only tight collaboration between the development team and the ordering party allows achieving the targeted goal. Efficient collaboration is virtually impossible without the use of a well-defined project management policy, so be sure to check this aspect. Make sure there are no communication gaps, as they are extremely difficult to bridge. Just setting up a Hangout meeting does not solve issues. Efficient communication does. Every team member should know what to do in a set of pre-defined use cases, while a project manager or a SCRUM master should make sure these policies are followed.
REFERENCES FROM FORMER & CURRENT CUSTOMERS
The best way to learn more about the vendor’s services and reputation is by getting references from its former and current customers. These references will help you learn how reliable the company is, as well as decide whether or not their services are worth your money.
Recommendations from enterprise accounts are the most valuable. If a chosen company stands behind a long term project, say, a platform, rather than a standalone application, there are no reasons for distrust here.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
This is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects to consider, as it is highly crucial to get prompt and professional answers to your questions. Since IT outsourcing excludes face-to-face interaction, you must be provided with a timely online support.
It is important to support customers even if your product is nearly ideal. If you decide to outsource support, make sure you establish communication across various teams: engineering, product management, sales and support itself.
PRICING POLICY
Make sure your potential vendor charges reasonable rates for its services. The easiest way to do that is to compare rates charged by several companies. Also make sure, the pricing policy is clear and you will be not charged any additional costs during or at the end of the project's development. Do not be mislead by low rates. Good work can’t be cheap. Just ensure you understand what you are paying for. These can be hourly rates, or some kind of a monthly budget. It’s up to you.
CULTURE
It is sometimes very difficult to bridge gaps in communication, especially when there are cultural differences. Make sure there are no communication obstacles and the corporate culture of a chosen company meets your high standards. Even a team of brilliant engineers can be ineffective in case of cultural and communication gaps.
When outsourcing your IT project to FreezePro Software, you can be sure in getting the best services and the best software solutions delivered to you in an efficient and timely manner.