7 Tips to Meet your Business Goals with an Offshore Development Team

Are you looking for an efficient offshore development partner? According to Statista, Information technology outsourcing contributed $66.5 billion to the outsourcing industry's overall revenue, and this number is only going to grow with time. 

It is common knowledge that an offshore team can lead to a significant reduction in cost. But if your team isn't just right, the end-product might turn out unsatisfactory. It is easy to be duped by an offshore development company that initially offers the world and then cannot live up to your expectations and produces an utterly underwhelming product. 

To steer clear from pitfalls such as the above, I have come up with 7 sure-fire tips to meet and exceed your business goals with offshore development successfully. So without further ado, let's get started. 

1. Collaborate with your offshore developers

It is essential to be thorough and transparent in your communications with the offshore teams you are deciding on hiring. Collaboration is vital to get a fair sense of what the contending teams can bring to the table. Some offshore development teams provide pitches on how exactly they are going to go about your development project. These pitches need to be thoroughly evaluated and compared with your enterprise's development goals.

Enterprises must understand that even after they have chosen a development team, collaboration and transparent two-way communication is necessary to keep the project aligned with your business objectives. No one understands your project better than you, and clear communication and complete transparency every step of the way are essential for the project to meet your requirements. If you feel that the offshore development team you are looking at cannot earn your trust, you should take your search elsewhere.

2. Demand complete control over development

The offshore development team you choose should offer you complete control over the development and all subsequent deployment and maintenance tasks. The ideal offshore development team will not feel like a merchant or a vendor and will instead function and feel like an organic extension of your in-house teams. 

Ensure that the offshore team you plan on hiring is open to constructive feedback and is comfortable with checks regular on project status.

It is advisable to split the project into small timeframe controlled mini-projects to ensure that it meets its final deadline without compromises on quality. As an enterprise, you should keep track of the resources utilized, whether financial, infrastructural, or temporal. 

The other side of the coin demands that even while remaining completely informed and an integral part of the development process, as an enterprise, you should not micromanage and offer your offshore development team breathing room to work on your project while you provide them flexibility in their schedules and instructions.

3. Price Is King

While hiring an offshore development team, it is necessary to ensure that the offshore project should not cost more than what it would cost to deploy your in-house team on the project.

Thorough market research is advised to have a clear picture of the average development cost of your project in the offshore location you are outsourcing your project to. 

The easiest way to calculate whether the contending offshore development company has offered you a sweet deal is by getting to know the cost of an in-house team in that location, assessing the time sink and development expertise offered. Luckily, offshoring has picked up in a big way, and most offshore development organizations happen to be quite capable. A large contingent of companies has saved over 60% in development costs by offshoring. With a little attention to detail and scrutiny, your enterprise could be looking at a similar saving percentage.

4. Fluid Communication 

I have mentioned communication earlier, but I would like to on the subject once more given its importance. The offshore development team you hire should be readily accessible and that too through multiple communication channels to cater to preference and the off chance of one or more communication channels facing downtime. 

Channels like communication apps, video chats, text chats, phone calls, and email should always be open. The offshore team should be consistently available during work hours to facilitate checks and give updates on the project's progress. Avoid offshore teams that are not open to constant, fluid communication 

5. Conduct Background Checks

You should thoroughly check The team you propose to hire for legitimacy. Without wanting to create doubt, for the sake of information, I would like to tell you that there are instances of fraudulent offshore providers who take up projects, receive initial payments, and then shut shop and disappear.

Along with background checks, as an enterprise, you should pay close heed to testimonials and client stories published on impartial forums, rather than just the offshore company's website. Along with gathering information about past projects and clients, you should also double-check your potential offshore development partner's claims.

Most companies should have no issue in furnishing you with actual references unless they are strictly working on private enterprise apps. An advised technique to gauge client satisfaction levels is to ask their previous clients if they would hire the same offshore company for further projects.

6. Assess Market Opportunities

Deploying offshore teams can often help you get a foot in the door to new market opportunities. You can build a brand presence in other countries and even work with your offshore partner to introduce new products and services pertinent to their geo-location. 

Offshore teams make perfect business sense when you do not have a team of competent developers in your target market. Not only do offshore teams help you save a ton in establishment costs, but they also allow you to understand and cater to foreign markets.

7. Offshore developers: Where to look?

The global market sports many countries that are bustling with offshore developers and offshore development service providers. Issues such as time zone and culture used to be roadblocks previously, but these issues have mostly been mitigated over the past two decades. Now it is a question of getting the best deal with optimum quality to price ratio. Here are some geographies with an abundance of offshore development resources.

Asia

Asia boasts of 4 million software developers. India, the Philippines and China have the largest number of developers. India leads the pack with 2.75 million developers, while China has 590k developers and the Philippines has 190k developers.

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is now a reputed and reliable IT outsourcing destination thanks to its cost-effectiveness, rapidly evolving tech industry, and of course, an ever-growing pool of development resources with a little over 1 million software developers. In terms of software development companies, Ukraine has 1600 while Poland, Bulgaria, and Belarus have 500 each.

Latin America

In Latin America, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina are the best countries to hire offshore development professionals.

Conclusion

I trust that this article will help you to map out a strategy for your offshore development project and effectively analyze and decide among potential development partners. I would like to summarize by mentioning how hiring an offshore development partner is a significant risk if not approached methodically. It is also one of the best and most cost-efficient ways of entering new markets. 

With collaboration, proper control, effective price points, smooth communication, vetted resources, and knowledge about where to look for the best developers, you can rest assured that your project will go smoothly.

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