Today, businesses and organizations are facing more intense competition. To stay relevant, a lot of companies are relocating their software development requirements to offshore service providers. Thus, offshore development centers are established to cater to development requirements and domain-centric IT solutions.
What is an offshore software development center? It’s an advanced facility center with modern infrastructure that offers end-to-end software and IT development services. Choosing an offshore development center is an ideal choice not just to save on costs, but also to gain access to extremely skilled software professionals that serve as an extension of an organization.
With so many offshore companies offering services, choosing the right one could sometimes be overwhelming. Let’s find out what steps to take in order to choose the right offshore service provider.
Choosing an Offshore Development Center—a Checklist
1. Experience in the Industry
Before choosing a development center, there are several questions that you should ask. For instance, have they developed industry-leading software? Does the company pay special attention to details? Are there quality solutions? These are just some of the important questions to ask your prospective service provider.
Start vetting service providers that tick the right boxes. It’s important to keep a spreadsheet to keep track of the development centers you are trying to evaluate. Give each a scale of 1-10 in terms of expertise and add the score to be able to choose the right one.
2. Methods used in the Project Execution
While most consider cultural differences to be all about custom and language, paying attention to professional differences is also very important. Pay attention to professional differences, such as the preferred methodology used by the company in executing a project. People, in some parts of the world, work better when they’re given well-defined instructions as well as a stringent workflow to adhere to.
The Agile methodology has become the top choice when working with an offshore development service provider. To save both time and money, it’s a good idea to look for a company that makes use of the development methodology that you prefer.
3. Transparency
Offshore development centers link clients to top talent within the budget. When partnering with an offshore service provider, you not only get access to top talent but also look forward to timely delivery, the best quality, and the best collaboration. Thus, transparency is paramount in the undertaking. To ensure that you achieve this at all times, don’t forget the following:
- Defining goals in a clear manner
- Choose the expertise required for the project
- Schedule a team meeting regularly
4. Technical Expertise
When it comes to core technologies, every offshore development project varies. Make sure to find out if the team could manage complex technologies that would have to be used and adopted in your project. If you’re into a long-term partnership, choose an offshore development company that could manage various software development methodologies easily.
An ideal service provider should have a thorough understanding of the software development lifecycle, from the conception of the idea to design and documentation.
5. Cost-Effectiveness
One way or the other, the main reason for offshoring software development is to save on the cost. So, when choosing an offshore development team, you need to determine if they are cost-effective. Nevertheless, even with cost-effectiveness, the team should be able to deliver the best value. Don’t ever compromise quality for lower costs.
To get a good estimate of the software development cost, ask for timelines, quotes, and how well they handle last-minute technological changes and disruptions. The right service provider could answer these questions straight away.
6. Size of the Development Center
The size of the offshore development center matters. If working with a small company, there’s a possibility that at one point, you would have to deal with the lack of resources and unable to move fast enough when needed. Moreover, small companies could also have stability issues.
On the other hand, a big organization may find your company to be too small for them to put their best resources. Thus, it’s always a good idea to check the company size to ensure that the project is in proportion to the size of your prospective service provider.
7. Communication Channels
Communication is without a doubt the key to any software development project. And, it’s all the more important when the project is outsourced to an offshore service provider. Wrong communication could lead to poor work quality, create distrust, and create difficulties as well. Communication is the responsibility of both the offshore development center and the companies hiring them.
When partnering with an offshore service provider, make sure that there will be weekly meetings. Furthermore, it’s important to be in contact with the project manager on a regular basis, and establish a tried and trusted method of knowledge transfer.
8. International Presence
Often, offshore development centers operating in markets with a global reach help brands establish a global presence. Furthermore, these service providers help companies curate a niche locally by providing market insights.
A trusted offshore development company has offices in several parts of the globe. Thus, before choosing an offshore development partner, make sure to check if it has a global presence.
9. Delivery and Guarantee
When partnering with an offshore development center, check out the track record of the company when it comes to completing projects on schedule. Furthermore, how good is the company when it comes to providing additional support such as bug resolution assistance? When working with an offshore team, you get to save time and effort because the development team is ready to help you with whatever needs you may have in the future.
10. Non-Disclosure Agreement
To avoid the risks of your data being disclosed to external parties, it’s important to have a non-disclosure agreement with the offshore development center of your choice. An NDA is a mutual contract between your company and the offshore development service provider. It guarantees data protection.
The main benefit of a Non-Disclosure Agreement is that it’s legally binding. This means that if the offshore team discloses any data to external parties, they could be held legally liable.
Conclusion
Partnering with an offshore development center is a viable alternative to doing software development in-house. Choosing the right service provider depends largely on the exact requirements of your software development project, your goals, and objectives.