AlignMinds Technologies logo

SINCE 2009

Founded over 15 years ago, we’ve grown from a small team in Kochi, India, to a leading global technology consulting company that transformed businesses by our design led product engineering.

info@alignminds.com
+1 850 999 7458 | +91 484 485 4333

Tag: Outsourcing

Posted on

All You Need to Know When Hiring Full Stack Developers

The demand for hiring full stack developers is rising every day.

In LinkedIn top emerging jobs of 2020, full stack developer is featured in the 4th position. The role of full stack developers has grown 35 percent every year, compared to 2015.

Many companies are now viewing full stack developers as a critical asset for the company’s core operations. Such companies include software developers, IT and related services, and financial services.

Full stack developers can write both front and back-end code. They know how to create a minimal viable product with little to no support from others. Hiring Full Stack developers can provide a high-level specialty in a variety of technologies. Hiring a full stack developer instead of hiring a team of developers helps you save investment, managerial cost and other indirect costs like benefits and taxes.

What is a full stack software developer?

There is a general disagreement over the definition of full stack. It is somewhat a controversial subject in the technological field. Various organizations have different definition for who is a full stack developer and what kind of skills they should possess.

But all the definitions have something in common.

As per general sentiment, a full stack software developer is someone who knows how to create a fully functioning web application, and their knowledge of both the back end and front end is valuable to the organization. One of the best qualities of full stack developers is the amount of help they need from outside, which is very little.

This is because generally applications would have two major components; back end and front end (also called server side and client side).

While it is the backend that “powers” the applications, it is the front end that helps users to interact with an application. Since the approach, methodologies and technologies varies from front end to back end, their developments parts are assigned to different teams who are experts in their own fields (front end or back end). As a result, a single application would need at least two developers hypothetically.

But, if the same company hires a full stack developer, it can save up cost on human resources since a full stack developer would be an expert in both front end and back-end development.

MEAN stack developer vs. Full stack developer

A MEAN stack developer is someone who has knowledge in a specific technology. The term MEAN in MEAN stack developers refers to MongoDB, Expressjs, AngularJs, NodeJS.

Since these technologies are based on JavaScript a good MEAN stack developer should have extensive JS knowledge. Using these technologies together, a MEAN stack developer can develop a full stack application just like full stack developers. However, the knowledge and exposure of a MEAN stack developer will be limited to these four technologies unlike a full stack developer.

Similarities between MEAN stack and full stack developers

Both MEAN stack developers and full stack developers can create full stack applications. Both will be able to tackle client side and server-side development using their own knowledge and expertise.

Differences between MEAN stack and full stack developers

Area of expertise

A MEAN stack developer and full stack developer will have different set of expertise.

A MEAN stack developer will have knowledge on MongoDB, Expressjs, AngularJS, and Node.js.

Whereas a full stack developer will be an expert on technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Angular JS, PHP, ASP, Python, Node.js, and databases such as MySQL, SQLite or MongoDB, etc.

Framework

A MEAN stack developer uses AngularJS to accept requests and display results to end-user. They use NodeJS to handle client and server requests.

On the other hand, a full stack developer may be using HTML and CSS to power the front end and PHP to power the backend.

Database

Mean stack developers use MongoDB to store data. A full stack developer may use SQL MySQL, or Oracle, etc. to store data.

Scalability and flexibility

MEAN stack development is limited in a sense that it leverages only JavaScript based technologies. So, scalability becomes an issue since to upgrade an application, we must totally depend on JavaScript based frameworks.

On the other hand, full stack development offers better scalability and more flexibility as the developers will have the options to choose from several frameworks.

Popularity

MEAN stack development is less popular compared to full stack development. It is mainly due to the limited flexibility and scalability offered by MEAN stack.

Pros and cons of hiring full stack developers

At first, we will go through all the pros of hiring a full stack engineer.

Pros of hiring full stack developers

Scope of development

A full stack developer can take care of client side and server-side development. Since he has knowledge of both the front end and back end, the application will be simple, less buggy and offer better experience.

Range of skills

A full stack developer will have a variety of skills under his belt. It is mainly due to what the position demands in terms of technology expertise and product planning. Since the same person will be responsible for both front end and back end, he must have variety of skills to complete the application and have a better understanding of the user case and development roadmap to avoid development conflict.

Experience

Full stack software engineers are well versed in multiple phases of software development, covering fields such as front end, back end, testing, QA, and coding. The knowledge in all the areas comes over time, and full stack developers have the experience under their belt, making them more appealing to the companies. They can use the occasion to face challenges quicker without any hesitation.

Framework

Since full stack web developers know multiple technological stacks, they can be put to work on several frameworks instead of hiring different developers for different frameworks.

Cost

Since a good full stack developer can take care of front end and back-end development and even unit testing, hiring them over technology experts are more economical for companies. Hiring full stack developers helps companies to save up cost on infrastructure investment, office space, taxes and benefits and on managerial tasks since the size of the companies can be kept small.

Performance

Hiring Full stack engineers ensures better performance since the responsibilities are well defined. There is less dependability between team members and the complexities due to misunderstanding and lack of teamwork is also less. The project progress can be easily monitored and the performance to progress ratio can be calculated more easily.

Trouble solver

Experienced full stack engineers will adapt to the changes at any stages of the project development. They can easily identify problems and easily overcome them due to their familiarity with different development stacks and programming methodologies. So, by hiring full stack developers, companies can mitigate uncertainty and incorporate more flexibility to their development process.

Cons of hiring Full stack developers

Keeping up with technologies

Full stack engineers have expertise in multiple technologies. However, it become a hassle to be kept updated on all these technologies due to the rapid advancement happening in the software development industry.

Less performance

Being a jack of all trades comes with its disadvantages. A developer who works or specializes in a single technology or platform will perform better than a developer who doesn’t spend too much time on a single stack. Full stack developers have a large area of expertise to justify their profile. Still, a developer who has experience in only one specific field will have better output than a full stack developer.

Switching languages

Suppose a project demands the developer to work with multiple languages. It can be cumbersome for the full stack engineer, as they will constantly have to change the programming language on the fly. They can change the field, but they will need some time to brush up on the small things to get a grip on the language.

Transitioning between programming languages can slow down the process; hiring a specific individual who knows their way around one language will help smooth the transition from one language to another faster, requiring hiring another developer to fasten the process.

Types of Full stack developers

Having expertise in various programming languages makes full stack engineers heavy-on-demand in the market. But the demand and supply vary depending on what type of full stack developer you are looking for. Depending on the use case, we can categories full stack developers into different groups.

Full stack web developer

A full stack web developer is someone who can develop the front end and back end for a web application. The person will be an expert in web related stacks such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, Angular, Vue, PHP, ASP, Python, Node, SQL, SQLite, or MongoDB.

Full stack Android developer

If you’re planning to develop a mobile app for the Android platform, a full stack android developer will help you complete the project. Android development focuses on Java, React, Python, HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

Full stack Python developer

A full stack python developer has the expertise in the python suite of language to develop various applications. Python is become popular day by day and a lot of AI and data science related applications are made using Pythons.

Full stack Java developer

Most mobile apps and computer software heavily depend on the Java programming language. Java is a popular server-side programming language for AI development. It is also the native programming language for the Android platform. A full stack Java developer will be able to write codes in Java and help you with developing applications for different use cases. 

Full stack JavaScript developer

A full stack JavaScript developer can use programming languages such as JavaScript, jQuery, Angular, or Vue to program the front end and then use languages such as Node.js to create the server side.

When it comes to JavaScript full stack development, you have several options such as you can hire a MEAN stack developer (MongoDB, Express, Angular and Node.js), MERN stack developer (MongoDB, Express, React, and Node.js) or MEVN stack developer (MongoDB, Express, VueJS and Node.js).

Full stack cloud developer

Full stack cloud developers uses HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Node.js, React, Python etc. to developer cloud applications. He is most likely to be familiar with DevOps practices, containerization, microservices etc. A good full stack cloud developer uses various Cloud Native tools and technologies to develop, deploy, run, and update applications on cloud platforms.

Full stack PHP developer

PHP alone can’t be used to develop full stack application. It must be used with front end languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, Angular, or Vue etc. to create a complete application. A full stack developer can also use Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP) to accomplish this task.

Full stack mobile developer

A full stack mobile developer uses several programming languages such as Swift, ObjectiveC, Java, Kotlin, Node, JavaScript, TypeScript etc. They also use software like Android Studio, XCode, Ionic and APIs to complete the development.

Full stack AI developer

A full stack AI developer has extensive knowledge of various technologies related to artificial intelligence and machine learning. Programming languages such as Python, Java, Nodejs, etc., will come in very handy, connecting the machine learning model.

How to hire a full stack software developer?

It has more to do with the qualities than anything else. A full stack software engineer must have an interest or passion for new things, and they should understand different technologies and their best-case scenarios. Their decision-making abilities will also come into play as they must develop complete applications for different use cases and industries.

Depending on nature of employment, we can divide full stack developers to below categories.

Freelance full stack developer

A freelance full stack developer is someone who is self-employed. She creates applications for different clients and get paid based on hours worked, tasks completed, or projects finished. The scope of work, estimate, roadmap, and delivery terms are usually finalized before starting the project.

Pros of hiring freelance full stack developer

  • Low investment: You don’t have to invest on infrastructure, tools, and training
  • Fixed pay: Pay only the negotiated amount
  • Flexibility: You can hire multiple developers to shorten the development time. You can also terminate the agreement once the tasks are completed.
  • Large pool: Freelance full stack developers are available globally making it easier to hire them.

Cons hiring freelance full stack developer

  • Limited scope: The resource may not be available once the project is completed.
  • Compatibility: Not the right choice for huge projects.
  • Hard to find a quality developer
  • They will not share the same enthusiasm for the project as the organization.

Hiring in house/full-time developer

A full-time developer is someone who works at a specific role permanently for the company. Along with salary, she also gets other benefits and allowances that is borne by the employer.

Pros of hiring in house full stack developer

  • They are more likely tool invest time and effort in your idea and work for a better product to ensure a permanent role and better appraisal.
  • Less likely to bail out
  • Act as a long-term player
  • Availability

Cons of hiring in house full stack developer

  • Tiresome hiring process
  • Limited pool of talent if you are hiring locally
  • The time it will take to find the right developers
  • A lot of indirect cost related to hiring and maintaining talent
  • Difficult to upsize and downsize the team
  • You must invest on infrastructure and tools

Outsourcing full stack development

Outsourcing full stack development is the act of hiring an outside party, preferability an agency, to perform the development of an application.

Pros of outsourcing full stack development

  • Saving money. Outsourcing always leads to a cheaper method to get the work done for a quarter of the cost or less compared to hiring a permanent team.
  • Short-term commitment.
  • Away from office noise can help them to work better.
  • Access to expert talent pool
  • No need to invest on infrastructure
  • No indirect cost involved

Cons of outsourcing full stack development

  • Quality may dwindle
  • Trouble in communication can hinder the performance
  • Sometimes it is harder to monitor the progress of the project
  • The outsourcing agency may be working on other projects at the same time

Outstaffing full stack development

Outstaffing full stack development is the act of hiring remote developers to take up the development. Usually, organizations approach outstaffing agencies to outstaff the work. Such agencies will already have a pool of pre-vetted developers with them. The salary and benefits are paid by the agency to the developers and the organization must make a one time or task-based payment to the agency.

Pros of outstaffing full stack development

  • Work can get done at a faster rate
  • The outstaffing agency will be responsible for the quality of the final product
  • Training is provided by the agency
  • Pre vetted developers means you are getting the right person for the role
  • No indirect costs
  • Affordable
  • Easy to monitor the progress of the progress
  • You get dedicated resources

Cons of outstaffing full stack development

  • Miscommunication
  • Adding remote employees may slow down your team
  • It will take time for the developer to fully understand the project

Conclusion

The demand for full stack developers is on rise due to companies seeking an all-in-one solution for their software development requirement. Instead of hiring individual developers for different roles, companies are hiring people with variety of skills and knowledge to take up multiple roles.

AlignMinds has a wide pool of expert full stack developers. We make sure that all our developers have the right expertise, have high exposure to industry standards and ensure best outcomes for simple to complex projects.  If you are looking for pre-vetted full stack developers for your next project, contact us now.

Posted on

Building and Scaling Productive Remote Engineering Teams: Top Tips

The number of people working from home has been rising since 2009.

Over the past decade and so, most industries have realized the benefits of allowing their employees to work remotely. In fact, hiring remote teams to build and scale businesses has become a norm in recent years.

According to Owl Labs, 16% of companies around the globe are fully remote. It may seem like a small percentage. Nevertheless, the trend shows a groundbreaking change happening in the industry. Because at the beginning of this century, terms like “remote teams” and “virtual businesses” were not so popular.  Such approaches were often termed as “non-workable models” by most companies.

But at the beginning of the past decade, things began to change.  More people choose to work remotely for better work-life balance and better opportunities.  Companies also started granting remote work to increase employee retention rate, flexibility and to attract a high talent pool. Today, 85% of managers think that remote teams will become a common practice in their industries.

The trend is more apparent in the IT, financial services, and healthcare (surprise!) industries. In the IT industry, the hiring of remote engineers happens mainly due to three reasons.

  • It is difficult to find the right talent locally.
  • It is expensive to hire locally.
  • More people are preferring to work remotely. Unless companies choose to hire remotely, this talent pool, which mostly consists of experienced professionals, is out of reach for them.

We have seen a 44% growth in remote working over the last 5 years. The rate of growth becomes 159% if we consider a longer duration of 12 years. If these numbers have proven one thing, it is that remote working is becoming the new norm in the industry.

So, as a business, how can you cope with this latest trend and leverage it to your benefit?

If you are looking for an answer to the above question, don’t worry, we have the answer ready for you.

In this article, we are trying to answer three commonly asked questions related to hiring remote engineers. They are

  • How to build a remote engineering team that fits your business?
  • How to manage and scale a remote team of developers?
  • Why should you hire remote engineers?

So, let’s dive into them.

How to build remote engineering teams?

Understand the actual role

When hiring for a position, the hiring team should first understand the position in depth.  They should understand what the position demands and how critical the position is for the business. They should also comprehend the existing chemistry between the teams and what work style will suit the environment perfectly. This will also help you as a hiring manager to evaluate whether the position is suitable to hire remotely.

Industry expertise

Along with technical and soft skills, the team should also evaluate the industry expertise of the candidates. A candidate who has enough expertise in the industry is less likely to make mistakes and she will need less supervision throughout a project. Hiring people with expertise will help you to avoid one of the biggest drawbacks of hiring remotely, communication issues.

Industry experience

Experience should be a primary parameter when evaluating candidates for a remote engineering role.

Just like candidates with industry expertise, an experienced candidate will be more familiar with the role and responsibilities. Such candidates can contribute to your business independently and also as a part of a team. The experience they have gained in their career will also help your existing team positively.

Also, keep in mind that remote working does not suit everyone. Hiring candidates who have already worked in a remote position will help you to mitigate the risk.

Availability and communication

Hiring a remote engineering team has its own challenges. When the teams are available on-site, communication is a breeze and availability is not an issue.

However, when hiring a remote engineering team, these two factors can become challenging. When you are hiring from a different time zone, the resource may not be available during a time that is convenient to you and the team. This will negatively impact the quality of the work and the timeline of the project. As a result, the cost of the project will also shoot up.

Thankfully the recent technological advancements have made a positive impact on the communication landscape.

The various communication and team collaborations tools available today can mitigate most of the communication issues arising from remote hiring. However, the hiring team should make sure that the candidates are comfortable working in a different time zone and the tools you are going to use are convenient for them too.

Hire remote teams from existing markets

Outsourcing talent is one of the most revenue-generating industries for many countries.

Countries like India, Vietnam and Ukraine already have a well-established outsourcing industry. This means that the talent in these countries is already accustomed to remote working, its culture and challenges. Moreover, they are more likely to be fluent in one of the international languages, making the language barrier irrelevant. 

Since a major chunk of revenue is coming from the outsourcing industries, such countries are also focusing on improving the infrastructure in this field. There are more IT parks emerging day by day and the people in these countries have access to electricity, better internet and higher education already. The lower living cost around this part of the globe warrants that the cost of hiring a remote team of developers is also affordable.

Hire pre-vetted remote engineering teams

The hiring process can be hectic. Especially when you are hiring remotely.  You have to make sure that the candidate is right for the role, right for the team, the “cultures match”, and successful hiring will contribute positively to the overall business. As a result, the hiring process can become complex, lengthy, repetitive, and tiresome for every party involved.

Thankfully, hiring pre-vetted remote teams helps you avoid this. A pre-vetted engineer is someone who has already gone through screening, interviews, and tests to prove that he or she is the right fit for a specific role.  So, by approaching such pre-vetted developers, you are most likely to find the right candidate.

How to manage remote engineering teams?

Managing and scaling a team of remote developers is different from hiring a remote team. To make it easier for you, here are a few tips on how to manage a remote engineering team, once hired.

Communicate clearly

When working with remote engineering teams, it is better to define a formal communication channel and set clear expectations. Unlike in an on-site work environment where communication is faster and informal, a remote work environment demands a different approach. Since availability, cultural background and language barriers can cause gaps in communication and lead to misunderstandings, it is better to plan and schedule face to face virtual meetings or define a formal channel to communicate. In a remote working environment, formal communication supported with documentation is the right approach.

Build rapport

A remote team should not be unorganized and unengaging. There should be a good connection and better understanding between team members and friendly engagements should be encouraged. When there is a good rapport between the team members, it is easier to come up with innovative ideas and the team will move in the same direction. A supportive environment will transform any challenging task into an opportunity to learn.

Encourage transparency

The number of software that can help you with team collaboration, documentation, project management, task management, incident response, bug tracking, design thinking, review and quality check etc. is higher than ever before. The use of such software not only brings transparency to the team but also helps you with managing the resource most effectively.

Here is a list of the most common software used in the industry.

  • Communication and collaboration: Slack, Google Hangout, Twist, Zoom
  • Task management: Todoist, Tick Tick, Microsoft ToDo
  • Project management: Jira, Asana, Trello, Basecamp
  • Incident response: Freshservice, PagerDuty, Dynatrace
  • Bug tracking: Asana, Jira, Sentry
  • Design thinking: InVision, Sketch, Figma, Abstract

Plan ahead

Planning and scheduling are most important when managing a team of remote engineers.  Every member of the team should have a clear understanding of the project roadmap and the role he is going to play. The task list and schedules should be communicated at the beginning of the project itself and they should be documented. With the right planning, the team will have a way to avoid uncertainty and can work in a stress-free environment.

Convenience and automation

One of the common mistakes everyone makes when dealing with a remote development team is excessive micromanagement. This can be in the form of an excessive number of daily meetings, morning, and evening status reports, using tools that question privacy, or excessive amounts of documentation. As a result, the remote team finds the working environment stressful and there is not enough time to complete the actual work.

So, it is better to schedule meetings only when necessary. The participation should be limited to people who would really benefit from the meeting. Most of the meetings can be replaced by a morning or evening email or with good project management software. Instead of using traditional documentation methods, we can use readily available tools, like the ones mentioned before, to improve team collaboration and track progress.

Why hire remote engineering teams?

Access to the right talent

Hiring the right talent locally can be difficult for so many businesses. There can be various reasons including affordability, lack of local talent, the nature of the business, indirect hiring cost, lack of flexibility or even the nature of the project.

For example, even though it’s rare in occurrence, companies may be forced to work on projects that are outside of their expertise. To fill the gap, they would need a person or a team of professionals who are an expert in a particular niche. If the demand for such expertise was always low in their country, the number of people with the right talent would also be less. It is because people are more likely to choose a career in fields with high demand so that they will never run out of opportunities.

So, if the talent is not available locally, what can the business do?

Of Course, dropping the project will have a negative impact on the business; especially when its growth is dependent on the completion of the project. In such cases, hiring remotely will be the right choice for them.

Affordability

The cost of hiring and maintaining a permanent team is the highest in countries like the USA. However, there are other countries like India and Ukraine where the salary for the same role is only a quarter of what it is in the US. So naturally, if a US-based company hires remotely from India or Ukraine they can save up on costs as they have to pay only an amount equal to the local pay band. This way companies can cut costs and improve their profit margin significantly.

According to Standford, employees that work remotely are more productive than on-site workers. The study also showed that remote staff have a lower attrition rate, and they work more hours per year than their onsite counterpart. This is mainly attributed to the better work-life balance and flexible working hours available to remote workers.

Flexibility

One of the benefits of hiring a remote engineering team is, you can hire them for the short term or long-term depending on the duration of the project. Since remote roles are not treated equally to permanent roles, cutting down or scaling the size of the remote team is easier and less complex.

If you are outstaffing the role, things become a lot easier since the salary, allowances and benefits are handled by the outstaffing agency.

Final thoughts

Hiring remote engineering teams has already become a norm in the industry. It helps businesses to save up costs, add flexibility to the business, find the right talents, and improve productivity. Even though building and scaling a remote engineering team has its own challenges, they can be easily mitigated by using the right methods and tools that are readily available.

AlignMinds has more than 12 years of experience in working on web, mobility, cloud, and AI technologies. We are offering a wide set of services including outstaffing and remote development. If you are looking for a pre-vetted team of remote developers, contact us now!

Posted on

IT Outstaffing: Should You Pull the Trigger?

Striving to get your IT projects done effectively and efficiently?

Well, most of the IT projects get stuck because of numerous difficulties and complexities resulting due to a lack of development capacity. 

IT companies require their staff to be updated, vigil, fast, and super talented. An IT company that faces the issue of lack of development capacity might face hefty losses in business and profit.

However, to avoid these issues, big corporations prefer to work with outstaffing their IT projects and strive to upgrade the effectiveness and efficiency of their core operations.

With Outstaffing their work, organisations are reducing their expenses up to a substantial amount along with improving their scalability and flexibility.

The majority of the organisations require IT specialists, temporarily or based on project requirements. In such a scenario, employing IT professionals for a permanent role can be a costly affair for the company.

Therefore, assigning the projects to an outstaffing company and entrusting them with management and developments of the same can be a smart decision for them.

To understand the concept of IT outstaffing services, let’s discuss its various aspects in brief.

Trends and statistics of outstaffing in the industry

Since the year 2020, there has been an unprecedented level of increase in the sector of remote working.

Remote working is also commonly known as hybrid working. Due to the devastating spread of Covid-19 majority of the organisations have adapted the culture of remote working to continue the core operations of the company smoothly.

  • Major organisations are concentrating more on their core business and prefer to assign complex tasks to professionals who are specialised in the respective fields. They are also boosting their work processby inducing their operations with RPA (Robotic process automation) to eliminate the repetitive tasks processes.
  • Most organisations are moving to cloud-based technologies for better scalability and security. The majority of companies prefer to outsource or outstaff all their infrastructure-related work.
  • Companies are looking for IT professionals that are specialists in building complex and advanced products. If the right talent is not available locally, they are open to hiring globally.
  • The substantial growth of Artificial Intelligence in the industry makes major organisations infuse themselves with this advanced technology. Therefore, such companies are looking to outstaff AI-centric projects to IT professionals who are specialised in automation and AI.
  • After the pandemic, more people are preferring to work remotely. Organizations are finding headhunting more tiresome, less fruitful, and most of the time the right talent is out of reach for an onsite job.
  • Several organizations are finding it difficult to maintain their talent pool and it is affecting their productivity. Since human resource plays a vital role in business growth, they are looking for innovative ways to attract and maintain talent. 

Definition: What is outstaffing?

For a better understanding of the concept of Outstaffing, let’s discuss it in brief.

IT outstaffing is a concept where big corporations, companies, or organisations collaborate with IT professionals and hire them to work for them as independent developers. Hiring an IT developer or a team of developers to do remote work on the IT projects of the companies is known as IT outstaffing.

These IT developers are directly employed by an IT outstaffing agency, but they ensure to perform all tasks for your organisation and submit it on time. The IT outstaffing company also has the entire responsibility of paying wages, bonuses, and other employment benefits to the employees.

To be clear about this concept, you must know that outstaffing and outsourcing are two entirely distinctive concepts.

Outstaffing is a concept that allows you to gain access to hiring an independent development team. Moreover, in Outstaffing, the chain of communication is not complex and is simple because you can directly contact them for the status of the projects. It also eliminates the complex process of communication in the form of hierarchy.

Furthermore, in IT outstaffing services, you can also instruct the development team to work on multiple projects at the same time according to the work agreement conditions.

Outsourcing Vs. Outstaffing

The concept of outsourcing and outstaffing is commonly confused with one another.

Indeed, both the concepts are a bit similar in some aspects; but if you will try to understand it in brief they are entirely different.

Let’s clear your confusion regarding both the concepts and help you gain a clear understanding of the same.

Advantages of outstaffing

Outstaffing is a popular concept of getting work done by independent IT specialists without enrolling them as an employee in your company.

Besides the easy culture of getting work done, there are numerous other benefits of outstaffingas well. The various advantages of IT outstaffing services are as follows:

Smooth model of hiring

Outstaffing is one of the best forms of getting your IT projects done by IT specialists and professionals.

With the benefits of IT outstaffing services, the company can have their own permanent staff and also can hire independent professionals who are specialised in certain fields and technologies from other companies temporarily.

The features that makehiring outstaffing services beneficial for your company as well as for your hiring model is that this way, you can maintain a flexible team and can have full control over cost and resource management.  You can make a onetime payment to the outstaffing service provider and the wages or salary of the IT specialist along with bonus and benefits would be handled by them.

Full control over the development project

Another benefit ofIT outstaffing servicesis that your projects and work is handed over to the hired development team, which means that the work will be done by the partner company employees. However, the control over the development projects remains with you.

While deciding whether to outsource or outsaff software development, you must keep in mind that with outstaffing, you will have a dedicated team of IT staff to work on your project.

By choosing IT outstaffing services, the companies will get a chance to vet the professionals before hiring and since she will act as a dedicated staff to your company the project will be delivered on time with the expected quality.

Full access to the resource

The prime reason why most organisations are choosing outstaffing is that this way, they will have full access to the day-to-day management decisions as well as resource management. If you have a project manager, she can assign the day-to-day task to the hired professional or you can also a hire team of IT professionals that include designers, developers, project managers, testers etc.

Substantially low costs

The cost of outstaffing is substantially low compared to hiring permanent employees. You do not have to pay any bonuses, benefits to the IT specialist you hire through outstaffing and you also get a dedicated employee to the team. Also, there is no labour penalties for downsizing your outstaffed team.

Moreover, if you are on a “pay per hour” contract, you will get a precise report on how much time each task is taking, and you can also request the staff to work on more specialised tasks.

Overall, the expenses spent on a permanent employee are substantially higher than making a single time payment to an outstaffing company. Furthermore, if the company is more careful and attentive in working effectively and efficiently, outstaffing will be the right option.

Cons of outstaffing

Outstaffing models are beneficial for companies in general, but every hiring model does have its loopholes as well. The outstaffing model has a few shortcomings or challenges that are as follows:

Communication gap

Since the hired professional will be working remotely or independently and separate from the entire development team, this might result in some communication gaps between the team of IT staff. Such communication gaps between the team might result in misunderstanding, complexities, and non-quality work.  

However, today, due to the advancement in technology and communication, this can be mitigated by using the right communication tools.

As the project management team of the company, you must ensure a smooth communication channel with all the developers of the development team that are part of the outstaffing company. Moreover, you must also make sure that the entire team of the project is connected and updated with the required details of the projects.

The reporting and work status must be transparent and should be shared with the corporate team managing the IT project.

Responsibility of the project

Hiring anIT outstaffing company to provide the IT projects to them can raise a question relating to the responsibility of the projects. Indeed, the final responsibility of the project is within the hands of the outstaffing company only; however, it is fair enough to say that the responsibility must be shared.

It is always recommended to curate the contract based on all the aspects of the projects including responsibility and resolution.

What types of business will benefit the most from outstaffing?

Outstaffing is a common work model that is incredibly famous in the entire corporate industry.

It has various benefits such as cost-effectiveness, saving time and effort to find the right talent, quality of work, flexibility and more.

The concept of outstaffing is a common concept that is not linked with any particular industry or business. However, as per the popular trends of the market and survey reports of various experts, we can say that the concept of outstaffing is highly beneficial to small businesses who like to manage their resources more efficiently.

IT outstaffing is also beneficial to the companies who want IT projects to be done by professional developers without going through the pain of hiring them as direct employees.

This hiring model is also suitable for businesses that need people who are specialised in certain fields or technologies only for a particular project or temporarily.

Where to outstaff?

There are numerous outstaffing companies available across the globe. However, the cost associated with outstaffing varies depending on the living standard in these countries. If you are looking to outstaff software development with a minimum cost without compromising on quality it will be better to hire from developing countries like India, Eastern Europe, Vietnam, the Philippines etc.

But always vet the professionals before making a hiring decision. Also, it is recommended to check the history, vision, experience, expertise, and reviews of the IT outstaffing company before making a partnership with them.

Final thoughts

The outstaffing model is incredibly famous, beneficial as well as productive for organisations that want to implement IT projects. If you are aiming to develop complex or high-quality IT products without increasing your employment budget, then IT outstaffing is the best option for you.

AlignMinds has more than 12 years of experience in the field of web, mobility, DevOps and AI. We have a pool of specialised talent with the experience of working on small to complex projects for several verticals from media to government.  If you are looking for an IT outstaffing company for your next project, contact us now.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is IT outstaffing?

Outstaffing is a form of indirect employment of a developer, development team, or professional. In this hiring model, a company hires a dedicated and specialised professional temporarily through an outstaffing service provider to ensure better resource management, flexibility, and quality of work.

What are the advantages of it outstaffing?

There are numerous advantages of IT outstaffing. Some of the most beneficial pros are as follows:

  • IT outstaffing is more affordable.
  • Full control of the management aspect of the IT projects.
  • Full control over the resources hired.
  • Access to the vetting process.
  • Decrease of a burden on the corporate team in regard to talent hunting and management.  
  • Saves time and promotes flexibility.
  • Access to the best talent and specialised professionals.
  • Promotes working on complex or multiple projects simultaneously.

Should I outsource or outstaff software development?

Outstaffing the development project can help the company to have access to the right talent with minimum cost and effort. It provides you with dedicated resources without the need to go through the complexities of hiring and maintaining talent.

On the other hand, outsourcing helps with getting the work done by an outsourcing company without any worries or additional effort from you.

How much does outstaffing software development cost?

As compared to the outsourcing model, the outstaffing model is comparatively cheaper and more cost-effective. However, the exact cost will depend on the speciation and experience of the resource. For an estimation, please contact us.

What is the best country to outstaff software development?

If you are cost-conscious, outstaffing IT projects to any developing country that has the right talent pool will be the right option for you. Since the cost of living is less in such countries, the project cost will also be less. However, male sure that the country and the organization has the right infrastructure, suitable working culture, experience in working on similar projects before outstaffing.

Posted on

Finding the Right Mobile App Development Services: Checklist

In 2020, global revenue from mobile apps crossed 318 billion U.S. dollars. This was a big jump from 60 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.

The mobile games segment topped the chart with a revenue of over 200 billion U.S. dollars. Social networking mobile apps created revenue of around 31 billion dollars and came second on the list.

Due to high earning potential and the chance to capture a huge market share, mobile apps are becoming popular in all segments. Statista reports that as of the first quarter of 2021, over 3.48 million mobile apps were available on the Google play store.

As mobile apps became popular, the demand for mobile app development services also saw a huge rise. Businesses and entrepreneurs recognized the importance of finding the right mobile app development services, so they can maximize the potential for growth and revenue.

However, as the demand for mobile application development services increased, the industry also saw significant growth. Countless mobile app development companies came into existence across the globe to tap on the opportunity.

As a result, finding the right app development companies from the plethora of options become a difficult task for most businesses.

The number of available apps in the Google Play Store from 2nd quarter 2015 to 1st quarter 2021. Courtesy: Statista.

Resources required for mobile app development

You may think the new-age businesses like mobile games and social media etc. are different from traditional businesses. Their business strategy and resource allocation are something new that traditional businesses can never relate to.

However, this is a false notion.

Just like a traditional business, any technology-oriented business also has the strategies set out almost similarly. The resources are invested in market research, competitors’ analysis, consumer behaviour study, planning of solutions, implementation of the solution, marketing, and post-purchase services. The major segments where a new-age business invests its resources are listed below.

Market Research

Before you start building your app, there are a few steps you must complete. The first one on the list is “market research”.

Try to find answers to questions like

  • Who is your target audience?
  • What are the problems they are facing?
  • How the solution you are going to develop will help them?
  • What are the current options in front of your target audience?
  • How can your solution help the audience better?

Business strategy

You have to strategize how the mobile app you are going to develop will help you as a business. For every business, profit and growth are the ultimate goals. So, any investment they make should bring them returns in terms of profit or growth.

At this step, a business should strategize whether the mobile app is part of their growth plan or a source of revenue. For example, a construction business can create a mobile app as a media consumption platform where they share the latest designs, DIY tutorials or general tips and guides on construction and design. Here the strategy is to help their brand name reach a larger audience, so it will be easier to sell to the same audience later.

On the other hand, a revenue-oriented solution will be a platform where a business connects with their customers and sell products and services directly to them. eCommerce websites are a suitable example of this.

The other things a business should decide include how are they planning to implement this strategy. Are they planning to generate revenue via ads, subscription offers, in-app purchases, one-time payments, upgrade plans or any other modes? If the strategy is to increase their brand reach, what types of content they can utilize? How frequently the content should be updated? Should the content be available in multiple languages?

Consumer study

To be honest, this one should be a part of all the stages of app development. The targeted audience will come into contact with a business in several instances. Each time, the interaction will provide more data about the targeted audience. As a business, you should leverage this information to improve your products and find better and efficient ways to reach the target audience.

In the preliminary stages, you can make use of direct surveys and market research to build a customer profile. Once the app is live, you can leverage the data from the inbuilt analytics or third-party tools. More information can be collected from customers directly once they have directly engaged with your business either during a business transaction or post-purchase.

The collected data can be used to improve existing products, introduce new products, improve your marketing efforts etc.

Building the app

The app can be built in house or by hiring external agencies who are experts in mobile app development.

While building an app in-house will offer you more control over the whole process, it may increase the cost of the process and may delay the launch of the app. You have to invest in technology, infrastructure, human resources and set methodologies and quality standards all by yourself. You also must take care of app deployment and post-deployment strategies. All these will build up cost and hiring the right resources and setting up infrastructure etc. will take time.

If you are hiring a mobile app development company, they already have the right resources and methodologies with them. So, the development cost and time may be less compared to developing an app in house.

If you have no prior experience in this field, has budget constraints or need to launch the app as early as possible, hiring an app development agency will be the right option.

App launch and post-deployment

Whether it is an iOS app or an Android app, your app should follow certain guidelines and quality standards to become eligible to be featured on respective app markets. For example, this is a guideline offered by Apple. And, this is one of the guidelines offered by Google. There are several such guidelines and tips available for both App Store and Play store.

However, submitting your app to the app store or play store won’t be enough. Even if the app store optimization is done right, the success of your app can’t be guaranteed at this stage.  You have to promote your newly launched app to your target audience and for that implementation of a well-planned marketing strategy is necessary.

You should also update your app periodically to meet new technology standards and keep it secure and bug-free.

Should you hire mobile app development services?

As you just read, mobile app development is a complex process of combining business strategies and technological innovation. It demands market and technology expertise. The resources needed for developing a mobile app is demanding and you should plan it carefully to not waste your investment.

Thus, unless you have prior experience in developing a mobile app, it is always better to hire mobile app development services so the result can be somewhat guaranteed. The good thing about hiring a mobile app development company is that the right one will have enough experience and expertise in the industry to help you out with the whole process starting from market research and product conceptualization to app launch and app marketing.

But the question is how do you find the right mobile app development services?

Finding the right mobile app development services

Definition of “right mobile app development services” may vary from one business to another. There are different factors that decide whether a mobile app development service is suitable or non-suitable for a business.

Price

First and foremost, the cost of hiring an app development service should be affordable. Unless the services are available at a price range you are able to meet, hiring becomes futile since the project will never be completed or you may lose ownership of the final product.

The best way to find affordable app development services is to hire globally. For example, the cost of developing mobile apps is comparatively less in south-east Asian countries like India or Eastern European countries. If you think hiring from these countries won’t handicap you in terms of communication and quality, this will be a wise decision to make in terms of investment.

Pricing model

Often app development agencies will have different pricing models. For example, some agencies charge you per project, some charge you based on services offered and some others may charge you based on resources. There are also app development agencies that offer you a flexible pricing model.

Experience

Hiring an experienced app development agency will be the right decision for most businesses as it will reduce risk.

When hiring a mobile app development company check whether they have any previous experience in developing similar mobile apps or a mobile app for the same market or industry. Check how the apps are performing in the market. If they have prior experience in developing a similar app, they might be familiar with the industry, business model and target market. So, they can leverage their experience in each stage of development such as user experience, choosing the technology platforms, payment integration, data security and legal compliance etc.

You must also check the performance and quality of the mobile apps they have developed by downloading a few of them and using them on a device. You can also check the ratings and feedbacks their previous customers have given them.

Expertise

Mobile app development is a complex process. It involves different stages and each stage demand expertise in certain disciplines.

For example, the first stage of app development can be identified as product conceptualization. This stage involves planning the product you are going to develop, what are its strength and how it will help you as a business and how it will help the targeted audience with their problems. Here, the expertise should be related to market research and business planning.

The next stage of app development deals with product design. It involves the process of transforming the product concept into design in terms of wireframes, icons, typography, and images. Here, creativity and design capabilities are the expertise called for.

In the next stages, experts are needed for

  • Finding the right technology platforms,
  • Maintaining coding standards,
  • Understanding quality parameters,
  • Following legal and security guidelines,
  • Meeting app store eligibility
  • Promote the mobile app
  • User analytics etc.

If your plan is to hire an agency to take care of the whole mobile app development process, you should check whether they have the expertise to manage each stage of the development cycle. Lack of expertise in even a single stage may negatively impact the success of your mobile app.

Location

If you are hiring from outside the country, you should be careful about communication and cultural differences.

If there is a big difference in time zone, it may negatively impact the communication since the team you hired may not be available at a time that is convenient for you. So before hiring, you must check whether support is available around the clock or during the time that is convenient to you and your team.

You should also check whether the team can communicate in a language you are comfortable with. Miscommunication will lead to misunderstandings. It will cause unnecessary delays in the development and may impact the functions of the final product negatively.

Quality standards

The quality of a mobile app is necessary due to several factors. First and foremost, the app should provide a good experience for the end-user. It should meet security standards to avoid any legal proceedings from authorities or the users who think the app has violated their basic rights. The quality should be kept in check to become eligible to be submitted to App Store and Play Store, the most popular app markets currently in the market.

So, while looking for mobile application development services, you should check whether the service provider has any understanding of these quality standards. Normally any professional app development agency will have a document that states the quality standards they follow, what are the measurements they take to ensure the mobile app quality and how they mitigate any issues that arise related to this matter and details of contact points who are responsible for monitoring and maintaining the quality of the product they develop.

Before hiring, you should check whether the agency can share any such documents. If no such documents are available, you should check what options are available to check what quality standards the agency follows.

Property rights and Disclosure

Have no doubts. If you are the one paying for the services, you should be the owner of the product idea and final product. A proper non-disclosure agreement should be signed between you and the app development agency in the preliminary stages of communication itself and the agency should respect the product as intellectual property of your business.

Security

Security standards are compulsory for any app product. The app should be safe and secure to use, it should be protected from unauthorized access and the data should be stored securely following all data policy and data security standards set up by security experts and legal authorities.

Any failure in this department will not only impact the business negatively but also cause additional costs in terms of fines and compensation and tarnish the image of the business in front of the public. It may even force the business to shut down its operation and the parties involved may have to undergo legal scrutiny.

Delivery management

Hiring mobile application development services doesn’t mean that you are handing over the whole process to the agency and left waiting until the final product is ready.

The agency should keep you updated periodically as the development progress and seek frequent feedback from you. You should not be left out as an external party but should be respected as part of the team. Regular meetings should be scheduled, and you should have ways and means to raise your concerns and share your feedback.

The delivery management standards and guidelines should be documented and shared with you in the preliminary stages of communication itself. As a client, you should also have the details of contact points at different levels so that if an issue arises, you can seek for remedy immediately.

Deployment

Deployment is the process of launching the final version of a mobile app and offering a way for the actual users to access it.

Generally, apps are deployed on app markets like App Store or Play Store depending on the technology and platforms. To be eligible for deployment, each app market has its own guidelines and quality standards. The app will be approved only after the review of the same. The agency should be familiar with all these guidelines and ensure that the app is deployed as preplanned. They should also take care of all the App Store Optimization(ASO) techniques that will help the app to reach more users.

Post-deployment services

Post-deployment services are mainly app maintenance services. It includes bug fixes, releases of the new versions, adding new functionalities and features, user analytics, data on acquisition etc.

Most companies charge based on hours or a monthly retainer fee for post-deployment services. But this will wholly depend on their business and pricing model. As a business, you should try to hire the best post-deployment services as they will have a direct impact on uptime and the user experience.

Conclusion

Finding mobile app development services is not difficult in this day and age. However, finding the “right” application development services may be difficult for most businesses as the definition of “best app development services” vary from one to another. As each business is unique, you should find an app development agency that understands your industry and business goal and share the same business values as yours.

AlignMinds has more than 12 years of experience in developing mobile apps for startups and enterprises alike. We have developed several trendsetting yet cost-effective solutions for multiple verticals throughout the years of our existence. If you are looking for an experienced mobile app development agency who is also an expert in this field, contact us now!

Posted on

Why Hire Offshore Software Development Company and Outsource App Development?

The software development industry has seen a lot of changes in the last decade. It is predicted to continue changing at an exponential rate, with technologies like AI and IoT becoming more prevalent. As software becomes more complex, the need for highly skilled developers will grow exponentially. Even though there are many skilled developers out there today, it’s still difficult to find qualified candidates that have all the skills needed to fill these positions.

Software development in 2021

The markets for IoT, data, telecom services and system integration grow to $520 billion in 2021, almost double the spent in 2017. The IT sector is recovering in the post-pandemic period and will return to the growth trend line soon with an estimated 5% CAGR. The employment of software developers is expected to improve 21% between 2018 and 2028.

(Information Technology (IT) services spending forecast worldwide from 2008 to 2022. Source: Statista)

Software development continues to be a critical component of any company’s ability to compete on a global scale, as new technologies continue to transform the way we work and live. The advancement and innovation of technologies such as cloud computing, mobile applications, and artificial intelligence have contributed greatly to the growth of these industries over time.

Software development outsourcing trends

Software outsourcing services help organizations to get software developers they can afford and depend on for high-quality results. It also helps them to be more competitive in the marketplace by leveraging expertise from other parts of the world where labor costs are cheaper than they would be at home.

(Recent IT outsourcing trends. Source: Statista)

Almost 60% of companies believe software outsourcing services allow them to completely focus on their core business programs. Outsource app development is the popular IT function in 2021. One among two technology companies is doing application development outsourcing because of its immense benefits.

What are outsourcing and offshore software development company?

Outsourcing and offshore software development are terms that have been popular in the business world for years. An offshore software development company provides outsourced services to businesses. Outsourcing is when a company hires outside talent or programmers located overseas (typically in countries like India and China) to complete their projects or tasks rather than hiring employees internally. This may not only save money on salaries but it also provides access to specialists that might not otherwise be available locally or even regionally.

Software outsourcing services and offshore software development companies are excellent choices when you need help developing an app or website that is too complex for your current staff or budget. You can also use them if you’re running short on time and need a project done quickly without compromising quality.

Benefits of hiring an offshore software development company

Small businesses are always looking for ways to save money without sacrificing quality, and hiring offshore software developers is an effective way to do just that. Outsource app development can help companies cut costs in excess of 50% when compared with on-premise development teams.

The best part about it is there’s no need for your company to relocate overseas or send employees abroad – you’ll have the same access to the team as if they were an in-house group! Software outsourcing services provide a number of benefits including cost savings, high productivity rates, 24/7 customer service availability, reduced risk due to geographical distance from key business operations, increased innovation potential due to cultural diversity within the project team.

Cost savings

In the modern business world, companies are looking for ways to cut expenses and increase productivity. In fact, a recent survey states that 62% of CFOs plan to outsource IT services in order to save on costs. An outsource mobile app development company is a cost-effective way to hire the best talent without breaking the bank.

Hiring offshore software development companies can help you save up to 50% or more on labor costs, as compared with hiring in-house teams. As the offshore software development industry continues to grow, it will become more important for companies to cultivate their offshore relationships as they look for ways to reduce IT costs, improve quality of service, and increase agility in decision-making.

High productivity

The offshore organizations hire expert developers who are great at work. They have experience working on small to large-scale projects, so they are able to provide their best work; no matter the size of the project you assign to them. Outsource mobile app development companies improve productivity by utilizing the latest technologies to create software applications that are innovative and user-friendly.

Round-the-clock business operation

With the current state of business and society, it’s important to have a 24/7 support system with people who can cover your needs at any time. Since there are more developers from different geographical areas, the business will remain operational all the time. This enables the timely completion of the app development process.

Stay focused on core business function

Offshore software development is a form of software outsourcing service that enables companies to stay focused on their core business functions. It allows businesses to free up their resources so they can focus on innovating or expanding their current product offerings instead of being stuck by maintenance tasks.

A dedicated outsource app development team is a great way to scale your business as per the requirements. Since these professionals come with experience from different industries such as IT or engineering they know all about making sure their clients’ needs continue being met no matter where they may be located across the globe.

Improved security

Outsource app development and software development improves security by allowing the software development team to work remotely. This allows for a more secure environment, as company secrets and data are not shared with the offshore business partner. Additionally, offshore teams typically have fewer employees than on-site teams which decreases the risk of sabotage.

Access to the newest technologies

The offshore software development companies specialize in creating high-quality, cutting-edge programs that address your needs. They use their time wisely by learning new skills and improving existing ones to create something perfect for you as soon as possible! The small business owner can now finally afford all these technologies at an affordable cost.

Offshore software development service providers of dedicated specialists can help you get better results. A software outsourcing service provider brings new insights to the work, improving your overall product development lifecycle with their knowledge in a range from engineering through design and production.

Reducing liabilities and improving opportunities

Offshore software development services are a reliable way to reduce business liabilities and take on more important projects. The offshore development team has a dedicated team that works on one particular project instead of working with multiple projects. This means they can ensure high-quality service and fewer errors, which is something you want from your business partner!

Cost comparison of hiring offshore development services

Offshore employees are always less expensive than onshore ones if you’re a business based in any of the developed countries. Businesses located in Europe or North America find it lucrative to hire virtual workers for outsource app development projects paying like $30 per hour but those who choose to do their work through an experienced local developer may end up spending upwards of $100K annually!

In 2021, the virtual work ecosystem will be a reality for businesses. It’s important to consider that this decision should not be taken lightly as it can have consequences on your budget and timeline in hiring an offshore employee or onshore recruit – so make sure you’re ready before diving right into these types of recruitment methods!

The best countries to outsource software development

Software development outsourcing is now a major global industry, with countries such as India and China becoming centers for outsourcing app development. Many companies outsource to save money but there are other advantages as well. The best countries to outsource software development will depend on the needs of the company and the budget.

You should also consider whether or not the country is a good fit for your business and if it will be easy to work with their team remotely.

India

India offers affordable talent with a high level of education and English proficiency, making it easy to find employees who are both qualified and capable of communicating effectively with clients from all over the world. India has lower rates than others, ranging from $15 to 30 per hour. This is an attractive option for many businesses who want to outsource their work but are not able or willing enough themselves with the project management aspect of things possible in India which includes quality assurance as well!

China

The number of app development jobs outsourced in China alone has increased by over 50% since 2017. Other reasons include lower rates for labor and better-qualified employees with a stronger work ethic.

Russia

With its abundance of skilled labor and low production costs, Russia is an ideal country for outsourcing software development services.

Ukraine

Ukraine is home to many skilled programmers who enjoy lower living expenses than their Western counterparts and can work more hours per day due to fewer time constraints on weekends and holidays.

Choosing an outsourcing partner for web and mobile app development

Finding the right software outsourcing service partners to outsource app development can be a daunting and often costly process. These tips will help you find the perfect fit for your business.

Do online research

Take your time to evaluate offshore software development companies carefully by checking out their website, reviews, testimonials, and portfolios. Look at their website and see if they have a page dedicated solely to describing this aspect of doing business with them. It is important to make sure they work in a field that matches your industry or the scope of your project.

B2B directories and listings

B2B directories provide an excellent way to find the perfect vendor for your company’s needs. These directories are a valuable resource for finding offshore software development companies that can offer the services you need at an affordable price. They offer detailed information about each vendor, including testimonials and reviews from other companies that have hired them before. You can search by industry or by location, which is great if you need someone close by.

Check out the portfolio

Look at projects that are similar to yours and see if they have experience working with other companies like yours. If their work looks good then it’s worth asking them for more information about what they can offer you.

Get references

References are a great way to get an idea about the organization and culture within any given company. They can provide insights on what services you will be working with, how communication is handled between partners or clients of those companies and all sorts of really valuable points that might otherwise take some time to find. Ask about recent clients who have had similar needs as you so that you can get feedback from people who have actually used this service before.

Review contracts

Never sign anything without reviewing it thoroughly first with an attorney or other trusted advisor. Be wary of any contract that has terms that are not clear or states something you do not agree with. This could lead to problems down the road when things go wrong between the parties involved in the project.

Explore the case studies

Case studies show how the selected outsourcing partners have handled various challenges they met when developing customer products and solutions. They mention which technologies were used, tools that helped them test out their applications for smooth running in order to create outstanding user experiences.

Things to consider when hiring outsourcing software development companies

There are a lot of options when it comes to hiring offshore software development companies. It can be overwhelming and difficult to figure out who is the best fit for your needs. There are some factors that you should consider before making a decision on which company to hire. It includes the type of services they offer, their pricing structure, experience level, and how quickly they can complete the job.

Another thing you need to look at before hiring an outsourcing software development company is their history as well as their customer reviews. These two factors can make or break your decision in terms of how good they might be for your business. Hiring an offshore software development company can make the business process easier.

Final note

Hiring an offshore software development company will save you time and money. Whether your business needs a mobile app or website, it can be costly to hire local developers with the best skills for all of these different tasks. An offshore team is capable of developing any type of application that suits your budget and timeline.

Choosing to work with an offshore company for your app development needs may be the best decision you ever made. With so many benefits, it’s hard to find a downside. You can get more done in less time and at a lower cost than if you did everything yourself or hired someone locally.

Are you looking for an offshore development company for your next project? Contact us now!

Posted on

Offshore Development Teams and Cultural Conflicts: Insights and Remedies

Earlier it was difficult for people to communicate with their family members and friends when they were working in a foreign country. The family members have to wait for days to receive a letter and vice-versa. Now, the situation has drastically changed. The advancement in communication technology has resulted in more communication modes such as video calls, chats, and emails. And, it has made communication easier and efficient.  

The advancements in communication have also transformed how businesses function. Every business tries to adapt and change according to the need of the hour. Startups or established businesses- both try to grow in a short span of time. In order to attain maximum growth, they need to adopt quality and efficiency and the “team” becomes a crucial component to achieve that.

Building the team

Interviews, training, onboarding-everything of the hiring process consumes time and money.

But it is now possible to hire a team who is fully equipped with the required skill set and knowledge. Also advancements in communications and technology have helped businesses to hire an exceptional team from any part of the globe. This type of hiring, known as ‘offshoring’, is considered the best way to develop a quality product at a low cost.

According to Forbes, offshoring “ does not only relate to the production of physical goods, but also services. The Indian IT industry, for instance, has been powered by waves of offshoring by technological companies in the West.”

The following graph shows the total contract value of the information technology outsourcing (ITO) market worldwide from 2000 to 2019. 

Source: Statista.com

From the above graph, we can see that, even though there was a dip in the contract value in the year 2016, it has bounced back in the year 2017 and remained almost consistent in recent years. With a value of around 60 billion US dollar, the outsourcing industry is one of the key industries in the world. It has helped in boosting the employment generation and income level in the east while the west was able to cut down their operating cost. 

The reason for hiring offshore developers may vary according to the businesses goal. It can be done to gain greater global scalability, for cutting the development cost or to develop a quality product.

Source: Outsourcing-outlook.com

What is an offshore development team?

As mentioned earlier, hiring offshore developers is a type of outsourcing where a business hires a development team from another country. Companies hire offshore development teams with different aims such as web development, mobile app development etc. 

Hiring offshore developers can be broadly classified into two. You can 

  • Hire offshore development agencies: You outsource a whole project to an agency abroad. They will take care of every aspect of the project and hand you over the final product.
  • Hire dedicated offshore developers: You hire an individual player to an existing team under your wing. They fill specific roles that are crucial for the implementation and completion of a project like design, coding, testing etc.

What are dedicated offshore developers?

Dedicated offshore developers are a team of professionals from another country who you hire to work for your project. A good team of dedicated offshore developers will work solely on your project and will deliver the project on time.

Hiring dedicated offshore developers will help you greatly in cost-cutting strategies. There is no need to spend on office space and other perks such as health insurance and salary hike. You only need to pay for the service they offer. 

Dedicated offshore developers are the apt choice for a project that does not have a fixed framework. Dedicated offshore developers are equipped with the required skill set. So it is easy for them to adapt to the random changes in the parameters of the project.

Pros of hiring offshore development teams

Low development cost

Developing countries have a lower cost of living than a developed country. It reduces the cost of hiring offshore developers from these countries. India is a popular destination for hiring offshore development teams.

No training needed

An offshore development team does not need any training. They are equipped with every skill which enables them to start the work immediately. Or if put it in another way, you can hire a team based on the required skill and expertise. 

Shared responsibility

When you outsource to an offshore development team, both you and the offshoring team have a shared responsibility. If the project does not end up as planned, some offshoring companies also provide a partial refund.

Working infrastructure and latest technologies

Offshore development teams are already equipped with all working infrastructure facilities. They also work with the latest technologies and have a better understanding of the competition in the field. You can use their expertise and technological advancement to the advantage of your business.

Cost-effective business scalability

When you hire an offshore development team, it can help you to scale your business in a cost effective way. It is a low-risk growth approach to expand your business.

Helps to concentrate on core areas of the business

Offshore development team comes with a better manageable workforce.  So, when you hire an offshore development team, you will get more time to focus on other core areas of the business. A good offshore development team will also make sure that your project will be completed within the budget and timeline which was agreed upon.

Easily increase and decrease the size of the team

You can easily remove and add team members when you hire an established offshore development team. You will also save time on interviews and the process of onboarding.

Cons of hiring offshore development teams and remedies

Communication issues

Time zone differences make it difficult to communicate with the offshore software development teams. Monitoring the activities of an offshore software development team is also a problem. You may not be available or there will be some network issues that can happen when the project manager tries to communicate with you on some serious problems.

Remedies

  • Foster a good rapport with the team.  You should communicate with them regularly through video or voice calls. If time permits you can go and meet your offshore development team at their place.
  • Setting up a dedicated chat room for proper communication between your project manager and offshore software development team is a good strategy. When there is a constant transmission of ideas, the scope of flaws in communication can be reduced to a certain extent. There is no need to regularly spend time interacting with the offshore software development team if there is a dedicated chat facility.

Data security issues

While hiring an offshore development team, data security is the most common problem faced by the clients. If you didn’t have a correct background check on the offshore development team, it might lead to information leak.

Remedies

  • Check if the offshore developers are following strong security policies. As most information leak happens through the internet, allow only necessary internet interactions.
  • A best offshore company encrypts and stores the given data. Before hiring an offshore software development team, you should ensure that they follow proper data encryption protocols.
  • A regular risk assessment carried out from your side will minimise the risk of a data breach. You can also ask your offshore development team to conduct random checks.
  • Regular scanning of the network for vulnerabilities and security issues will help in minimising the risk of a data breach. You can also ask the team members to not bring any data storage devices to work.

Management issues

It is easy to manage an in-house team as every one is available in the same workspace. Some may find it difficult to manage a team of offshore developers.

Remedies

  • You can send one of your trusted employees to oversee the work of your dedicated offshore developers. It might incur extra charges for you but, it is a good option if your project takes only a month or two for completion.
  • You can also seek help from a team member and ask him/her to write a detailed daily work report. You can regularly schedule conference calls with the offshore developers and convey your ideas to them.

Issues relating to cultural differences

Cultural differences might reflect on the quality of work. The developers from different countries have the same technical skills but different cultural backgrounds.

Remedies

  • Prior to the start of the work, you can have a conference call with the offshoring team and can discuss working standards that both can agree upon.
  • You can make sure that every member of your dedicated development team understands and speaks English or any other common language.
  • You can invite your offshore developers to your office events. This will help to understand them better.

Geopolitical issues

Since your offshoring development team is from another country, geopolitical situations of the country can affect the work. Geopolitical issues include terrorist attacks, wars between nations etc.

Remedies

  • You should always have a contingency plan when you hire offshore development teams so that you can take necessary steps if something goes wrong. A good awareness about the geopolitical situations in the country where your team is located is an absolute must.

Where to look for an offshore development team?

When you are looking for offshore development teams prefer a location that is having similar cultures as your homeland. The best offshore developers are found in Asia and Eastern Europe due to their affordable rates and good communication skills. In Asia, India and in Eastern Europe, Ukraine is a popular destination for hiring the best offshore developers.

You can search popular directories such as Clutch, ITFirms, GoodFirms etc. to find offshore developers who are having the required skill set according to your needs. When you search on these platforms you will get the reviews of the past clients and choose the best offshore developers among them.

You can also seek help from consultants who can connect you with the best offshore developers out there. They can be a mediator and help you in making negotiations on the rates.

How to hire an offshore development team more effectively?

When you are looking for offshore development teams you should check some factors. You should have a good understanding of your project and its expected outcomes. You need to communicate important details like number of members you need, skill level, and expected date of project delivery etc. to the offshore development team.

  • Hire a team of offshore developers who are committed to delivering quality work. If you are choosing dedicated offshore developers, always double-check for reliability and experience.
  • A complex project may take years to complete depending on the workforce. So it is advisable to hire offshore development teams who not only understand your current requirements but also the future needs as well.
  • Shortlisting countries that have the best price/quality ratio is an important part of hiring. You can get a quality product at a reasonable price when you hire the right offshore developers.
  • The communication process is the most important part of hiring an offshore development team. So hiring a team of offshore developers who can interact with you without any flaws is an essential requirement.
  • Always have a deep-check on the data protection norms of the country before hiring an offshore development team. 
  • You should choose an offshore development team who respects and has clear specifications about intellectual property rights.

The following graph shows the leading countries in offshore business services.

Source: Statista.com

Managing offshore development team

Managing offshore development teams is as easy as handling an in-house team if you know how to handle the communication gap between two time zones. Some of the things that should be kept in mind while managing offshore development team are as follows:

  • Always check that the offshore development team is having the same business mindset as yours. Ensure that the cultural differences do not lead to any challenges in product development.
  • At the start of the project itself, make the offshore development team understand the values put forward by your business. Managing offshore development teams becomes easier when the offshore development team understands the values and objective of your business.
  • If you think that cultural differences will pose some issues in the development, you can hire offshore development teams from a country that possess similar cultural standards as yours. Managing offshore development teams are easy when the cultural standards of both sides are similar.
  • Managing offshore development teams becomes difficult when there is less communication or there is a language barrier. You should hold meetings regularly with your offshoring software development team. It helps to avoid misunderstandings and moreover, it gives good control over the team.
  • Always dedicate some time to listen to the offshore developers. They have years of experience and worked for many clients on a global level. They can help you in brainstorming ideas that may help your business to grow beyond boundaries. 

Hiring an offshore development team is not a simple task. But it offers more advantages than having an in-house team. When the concept of offshoring is fully understood and when the offshoring team works in sync with the ideas put forward by you it helps in the smooth development of a quality product.

AlignMinds Technologies is an award-winning mobile app development company with a decade of success stories. We offer digital product engineering services that include strategy and design, web and mobile app development, DevOps and cybersecurity. We can help your businesses to get an edge in the competition through innovative solutions. Contact us now!