An Offshore Software Development: Benefits and Challenges, Advice Guide

Comstock

Starting a new project, you should bear in mind innumerable quantities of things, such as deadlines, team leadership, or technical aspects. It’s just a small amount of issues you have to solve during the project implementation. However, if you hand over certain activities to offshore teams, the situation becomes much more manageable.

The article will disclose the full process of choosing a software development vendor and beginning the partnership with it, decreasing challenges that may arise during the workflow. You’ll also understand if the offshore cooperation model is relevant for your case.

The Meaning of Offshore Cooperation

Simply defined, offshore development services imply that you delegate a part of your tasks to specialists abroad. For instance, the stakeholder sets partnership with a foreign vendor (or the entire team) to create a project, completing each phase of it or only certain activities.

Offshore outsourcing pattern

Where to find an offshore software development vendor? The main office of your chosen company can be located far away from you, and it won’t stop the workflow. This way, Eastern Europe and Asia are one of the most popular offshore destinations now because of the best quality-price ratio.

However, if you’ve got no interest or time to deal with a company located so far, you can try an alternative of nearshore and onshore outsourcing. First, let’s discuss what it means.

Offshore cooperation implies partnering with a company that is located far away from your own location. For instance, if you are based in the USA and outsource to Ukraine, you are adopting an offshore model as there is a significant difference in time zones. On the other hand, nearshore and onshore cooperation patterns involve obtaining services from companies situated in nearby regions or within your own country, respectively.

Advantages of the Offshore Software Development

If you’ve got an intention to cooperate with offshore companies, you should consider all the pros and cons of your decision. Primarily, let’s discuss the first ones.

Easily scaled workflow. It’s impossible to predict how many specialists will be necessary at a particular development stage. Butwithin offshore relationship model, you are able to overcome this issue and ensure essential competence for each step.

Skillset. Offshore software development services encompass a wide range of companies that specialize in specific tech areas or industries, offering a diverse pool of specialists to meet your project requirements. If you are in need of experts with particular skillsets, offshore software development services can be a valuable option to consider.

Development charges reduction. Offshore teams aim to provide highly efficient services and offer flexible collaboration systems. As a result, the pricing in such companies is generally lower compared to other countries. For example, in Ukraine, the average offshore software development rates range from $25 to $50, whereas in the UK, development services may cost around $50 to $100 per hour, and in the USA, the rates can reach $150 to $250 per hour, and so forth.

Hourly rates for offshore software development services

Experienced specialists. Your chosen offshore company should be located in the country with a wide pool of proficient specialists. Thus, any critical distinctions won’t be found when comparing the quality of the services provided in the USA or other European regions. However, if you look at Ukraine, you’ll find a variety of talented professionals. That’s why businesses worldwide open their main offices there.

Staff training. If you start a new project and need competent specialists in a certain domain, your partner company will adequately deal with it. This way, they’ll care for your staff training or gather up an expert team from the very beginning, and you’ll save time and effort.

Offshore Software Development Challenges

There’s no garden without its weeds. So, the offshore software development pattern also has its imperfections:

You’ll notice the culture gap if you begin cooperating with the IT service team from a region with a different mentality. Yet, companies from Eastern Europe have almost no chasms with the USA or Australia because their cultural realities are pretty similar. On top of that, a great number of technical experts speak English fluently, so you’ll quickly understand each other.

You can also face a slower communication issue while ordering the offshore service. With the different time zones, the project development may be occasionally interrupted if your partner company has some essential points to approve or reply to. But this issue can be solved through the use of video calling apps and instant messengers. You need only to track the development process, scheduling meetings, and choose the vendors from the region with the appropriate hour zone difference.

Steps to Getting Ready For Offshore Cooperation

Now it’s time to think about what should be done before starting the development process and finding a trustworthy partner.

Prepare Everything From Your Side

Note: if you’ve decided to transfer development competencies to foreign partners, it doesn’t completely let you off. So, we’ve made up a list of essential steps you need to do before starting offshore cooperation.

Analyze your competitors’ solutions thoroughly and define additional functions you can implement to help the audience solve their problems.
Obey the regulations if it’s essential. It should be guaranteed that your upcoming product meets the rules.
Identify your aims. It will help you sort out priorities during the project.
Define your needs. Make a list of tech stack and the specialists necessary for the project before applying to an offshore software development company.

Wrapping Up

Sometimes the development is quite tricky, and you cannot bear in mind all the details you need. Then, an offshore IT team, qualified and reliable, can help you out. You can receive their expert opinion as to the issues you’re worried about. Furthermore, you can get a time and money estimation of your concept for further project’s success.