The term outsourcing was first heard in the 1970s and later hiring remote software developers was welcomed by numerous businesses due to its large benefits.
With the multiple dependencies in the project, it would become tough for IT organizations to complete their tasks. Businesses and corporations since then have been highly dependent on outsourcing.
‘Outsourcing’ is known as a practice of hiring technical experts who can finish specific tasks within deadlines. However, total dependency on the outside may cause you trouble. So a wise decision is important to take.
In this blog, we will discuss why businesses need to outsource remote software developers and factors that risk outsourcing. Later, we will discuss the solutions.
Let’s begin!
Why Outsource Your Project to Remote Software Developers?
Today, many companies prefer an external hand that can work smartly on their internal projects. To resolve their extra burden, they search for assistance who could be outsourced to manage the streamlined process.
In a survey, it is found that 24% of small companies prefer to hire remote workers. Alone in the US, 3 lakh people work remotely and the percentage increased after the pandemic. 58% of employees like to work in their comfort.
The global marketplace has changed the scenario and working lifestyles.
So let’s discuss one by one, what benefits outsourcing gives to the IT organization.
- Cost-Efficiency: budget is one of the key factors in hiring outsourcing remote software developers. Outsourcing helps you to find a technical expert at an optimum cost. You have multiple choices with outsourcing resources. You can hire them on the basis of hourly rates and save your money. It helps you to cut down your cost on infrastructure, insurance, health policies, management software, hardware, bills, leaves, and much more.
- Multiple Business Models: by outsourcing development business models, you can delegate the part of the workplace. The business model reduces the cost of development. It gives access to a larger pool of resources, reduces cost, increases productivity and quality, and saves time. There are generally three IT business models; offshore model, nearshore model, and hybrid model. Since every model has different advantages, adopting anyone can leverage businesses to concentrate on their internal workflow more efficiently.
- Expertise: outsourcing your IT business with remote software developers can give you access to a large pool of experts. More experience scales up a large scope for your IT business aspects. This helps you to fill any remaining gaps fast. Since the remote software developers have vast years of experience, deep understanding, and successful years of craft in the past, etc. hence outsourcing would be a significant factor for SMEs and enterprises.
- Faster Delivery: an expert remote developer upgrades your product’s success and speed. In outsourcing, the team has a better source of productive tools. They are fast and upgraded as per the marketplace. One important fact is that outsourcing developers are for a limited time to put quality inside your project. The time when your in-house team can’t figure out things due to a shortage of skills, the outsourced developer would assist you in dealing with the internal things. So it is a great option for your IT business without a big cost.
- Up-to-Date Technology: outsourcing helps you to brush up on your brand value. The infusion of the latest technologies extends the performance of products, which allows the remote software developers to focus only on the important areas. It provides you with quick aid support, the latest software updates, and significant skills that would upgrade the quality of the project and help in business growth.
- Team Augmentation: in team augmentation, you can actually control everyone functioning under outsourcing. Staff augmentation is perceived once evaluating the capacity of existing resources, and then adding additional resources if needed as per the requirement. This process is known as external hiring.
These advantages of outsourcing can play a vital role in the impact of the company’s growth. But outsourcing causes some risk factors too and we will try to find solutions that can eliminate them.
Now let’s discuss the top risk factors of outsourcing and how to overcome them.
Top 9 Risks Of Outsourcing & How To Overcome Them
When you decide to outsource, that’s a great decision. Outsourcing distributes your workload to other people who are experts in the niche industry. But there is always a risk factor when you hire people who are not present at your front. It would arise miscommunication, unfit vendors, lack of experience, gaps in trust, and security breaches. Languages would be a big barrier, especially when clients and developers reside in different countries. To ease the communication flow; only proper understanding and syncing are necessary.
When you rely on someone else, there are a lot of possibilities that could make your entire workflow in trouble. Hence, proper planning is a must for your business. Let’s herein discuss some of the risk factors that could cause outsourcing and also solutions to overcome it.
1. Lack of Domain Knowledge
Hiring a cost-efficient developer helps you to save money. Although sometimes you opt for the wrong person and lose your credibility. If the hired developer or team is unfit with the domain knowledge, it would harm your project value and business identity in the long run.
Solution:
- Recheck the candidate’s profile on authentic resources. There are multiple resources available on the internet and you can hire the perfect developer from them. It would be a waste if you lose your money and time on misdirection of your project.
- Place all the specific details regarding business specifications, wireframe, MVP, workflow, prototype, and technical specification, or you can say a blueprint must be displayed on the platform. To get a clear understanding of the internal requirements of the technical project.
- Find the developer who is experienced in the specific domain, and mention it in the requirements. Ask the developer about his previous projects to get a clear knowledge of his experience.
2. Improper connection with Remote Developer
Instant connection and touch with the remote hiring has been missed and could leverage a severe downfall in performance. It becomes a tedious task to manage the developer remotely. Constant communication, feedback, and applause are generous ways to effectively build relationships with the remote developer. If you lose coordination with him, you will end up in a tangled situation.
Solution:
- Try to do constant check-ins and updates with the developer. This would help them to understand your mindset and work in the same way. Sometimes, a regular connection makes everything in sync with the business needs and delivers the right result.
- Offer opportunities to remote software developers so they are free to provide their services. The experienced developer would have years of domain experience and hence, he is a great option for you to train your internal team.
- You can choose the remote developer from the offshore networks. The experienced offshore developers know well to work in unusual times in different work environments.
- With the constant cabin working, remote software developers suffer from human interference. So it is worthwhile for you to have informal talks, make them feel affectionate and happy, and meet them with locals.
3. Less Understanding of the Project
Many of the outsourcing professionals promised you at first about their vast experiences and skills. But you can’t trust them blindly. Sometimes, a hidden risk is there if the developer is not matched with the expectation. A little understanding of the project will make the project in vain. Look into the cause before hiring the remote developer.
Solution:
- It is important for you to have a vision, goal, and objective. This evaluates your idea to meet your project goals.
- Proper implementation of productive tools will help your team to improve their efficiency and drive successful outcomes.
- A proper write-up will help your developer to manage projects from beginning to end. You can choose the options like Scrum, Prince2, and the project path method.
- Clear your remote developer about questions that arise in project plans; whom, why, when, and how they deliver the project. This helps them in the inherent proper planning of projects.
- Plan intuitively, crisp planning, manage documents, task scheduling, resource planning, and define an exact visualization tool using Gantt charts.
- Next, you can do a live meeting, and give space to your developer to let him connect with other professionals freely.
- Prepare a vendor-specific plan or chart to mention in detail free plans, skills, tech stack, and MVP required. Spend some time understanding the needs of vendors. Mention everything in the document to ease the remote developer in an understanding of the project.
- Frequent meetings, report submissions, KPI tracking, quick email scheduling, and relevant information everything must be looped to assure the project’s streamlined process run.
4. Time Zone Challenge in Remote Teams
IT organization prevails the developers to work under a strict time frame of 10 to 7. While in outsourcing, there is no time-bound. It would be an evitable challenge for companies to work with outside developers. The time-zone issues should be cleared in the beginning to avoid any conflict.
Solution:
The time zone problem will overburden your task. To overcome these, let’s follow the below things;
- Effective monitoring of employees is important for companies to leverage productivity outside the offices. Using the time tracking software, it would be easier for IT companies to track their employees.
- Use a time zone application to get the proper way to handle the tasks in time. You get timely updates on when to schedule the meeting, presentations, discussions, etc. the application eases your time for any task. You can adjust your meetings according to the country’s timeline.
- CMS tool management helps businesses effectively manage employees’ work. Toggl and Harvest are the most important time tracking tools to articulate the exact time for different zones of employees.
5. Loss of Control Over the Project
The major risk in outsourcing your project is loss of control and comfort when a developer is in a remote place. The professionals inside the organization are agile and instant to work on the project, compared to the remotely situated developers. The mismanagement causes your work and quality in the end.
Solution:
- Remote locations lose control over the project. Geographic distances are a big factor in getting reliable results. To overcome this situation, make sure to avail sound interaction with the developer. Proper monitoring and evaluation of performance should be mandated.
- Choose effective coordination tools like slack, zoom meetings, conferences, on-site meetings, and other software; it makes it functional for both your team and the developer.
- In the development process, check whether everything is carried out in the flow. A streamlined workflow would ensure the reliability of the outcomes.
- Prepare a guideline, and plans; places everything, including the stakeholder’s list, roles, and responsibilities, and management software list. This helps the developer to understand how and who manages the list of tasks.
6. Confidentiality Infringement
Confidentiality is a big issue. When you share your sensitive information with an outsourced person, you need to care about confidentiality. If you share with a person who is unethical then it may baffle your identity.
Solution:
Take proper measures before sharing your confidential data with someone over remote access.
- Make sure that any information regarding the company, employees, or business workflow should be shared with safety.
- Before passing your technical-specific document, third-party integrations, software, passwords, platform, or any business identity remotely, cross-check everything of the developer. After being fully ensured, deliver the things to him.
- The developer must be well ensured that no leakage of data or cybercrime will be entertained. If in any case, the developer comes under the policies and standards and would be debarred from the working.
- The next step to start is to sign an NDA (non-disclosure document) with the remote developer to undersign for the authorities. In case any culprit would arise later, the legal advisor will proceed.
7. Hidden and Uncertain Costs
Often in companies, you may not figure out the hidden expenses in the beginning. At the first glance, they seem like a great resource for your company but that’s the drill. Hiring the wrong team for your project will harm your brand value. Once you accept their deal, you hire them but later they ask you for the extra cost.
Solution:
Talking about the solutions to not reduce your brand performance and quality.
- Define the smooth estimation of the scope of the project, requirements, and testimonials, and organize the cost then. This will clear you which factors need a large cost and which one’s need less price.
- Outlay a proper cost pricing model and engagement model that is suitable for your business. Mention the fixed and dynamic hiring model, and reflect it on your website. Based on that, if any remote developer visits the platform, he can choose the matched model as per his budget.
- Before signing the service level agreement with the remote team, understand the briefs, or any hidden costs, any infringement, or expenses; which is not mentioned in the document at first.
8. Service Quality and Performance
When you hire a remote team of developers for outsourcing your project, make sure that person meets the expectations. Sometimes, businesses hire a developer from an inexperienced person. In that case, you sooner or later compromise the quality of product value. The manager of the team estimates the business cost low and hires the less skilled person remotely for the organization.
Solution:
To deal with the problem, you must focus on some solutions.
- Always keep in mind that quality is a crucial factor for your business branding, so never compromise on it. Hire a person from authorized websites like Freelancing, Upwork, or Toptal. Where you get acknowledgment of individuals, review their portfolios and check their past work experiences.
- Ask them about any live project and keep in touch with the clients for whom they developed the project.
- Check if the remote developer is well skilled with the technicalities and tech stacks required with the niche project. The person must be well equipped with essential development, testing, and database management, and comfortable with AI.
- Validate if the developer is enthusiastic or not to work with the corporates. Ensure about the previous work experience and performance.
9. Language and Barriers in Communication
Outsourcing may create miscommunication between the vendor and the business expert. Proper communication is essential for them to be in contact with each other.
Otherwise, it alters their meaning and gives them mental illness, which results in challenges. The barrier in communication occurs due to; improper communication, lack of insight, beyond project scope, unawareness of workflow, misdirection, and misunderstanding.
Communication causes trouble for you in the case of remote hiring. It is quite difficult to be in touch with the person situated remotely. The next difficulty is communicating without visuals, and altered information may mislead your conclusion. All the indifferences in time zone, language barrier, and miscommunication; rise to misconceptions. So outsourcing virtually does impact your working efficiency and lament you in nowhere.
Solution:
To deal with communication problems, you should follow simple communication guidelines:
- The global language English is used in every organization. Make sure that the remote developer you hired is fluent in English, which is widely used. Misunderstanding can alter the meaning of project discussions. So make sure that the remote developer is well versed in English and local languages.
- The crucial step is to know how comfortable the developer is to understand the project’s needs. Syncing communication with your developer is important. Get the feedback timely with the manager to know the areas needed for improvement.
- The time differences make conflicts in the delivery of the work on time. Keep in touch with the developer to get the handover on time. Regular sync in communication with the developer would be helpful in resolving the issues.
How to Choose the Right Team of Remote Software Developers?
Finding the right team of remote software developers comes with hurdles, not only cupcakes. There always lies a risk factor and you need to choose the one which would mark significant in your business results. Outsourcing the right team could make your nerves a little stretched. Despite the collaboration with remote software developers would be tricky for your small and medium-sized business.
You could face trouble in hiring remote software developers and we have successfully showcased to you every hurdle that trouble your business.
If you hired the right remote developer for your team, then make sure he is equipped with the critical qualities that would ladened your project’s success. Hire the one who has the most suitable technical specifications that matched the requirements of a company. The remote candidate should be proficient with both technical and professional competencies. In the case of a remote person, there is sound telecommunication that persists between both sides.
Before hiring the right team of remote software developers, find a few ways to examine his technical information.
- Find the right place to hire remote developers.
- Start with proper screening, interviews,
- Take programming assessment tests
- After the shortlist, offer them onboarding
Apart from that risk factors are always there and proper scrutiny is the only option we have to deliver.
Conclusion
For any IT company, the foundation of its success highly depends on the competence and flexibility of the development team. The IT companies are significantly growing in this competitive environment so it is of utmost need for them to onboard dedicated remote software developers and have state-of-the-art skills to value the exposure in different projects. So it is essential to hire remote software developers and understand the risk of IT outsourcing.
