Guide to Programming Outsourcing: Everything You Should Know

Updated – June 23, 2023

Nowadays, outsourcing programming has become immensely popular among companies that operate worldwide. It is not just a way to build top-quality software solutions but also save business resources, including budget costs.

IT outsourcing brings significant benefits to your business, but there are some challenges and issues in managing outsourcing partnerships. This article will help you evaluate whether software development outsourcing is right for your company. 

What is Programming Outsourcing?

Programming outsourcing is a process of delegating programming activities to independent software or app development vendors such as IT outsourcing companies or offshore development companies. The whole idea of programming outsourcing always means a third-party entity.

Companies trust a service to a third-party to save time and budget costs and dedicate more resources to development of their product. 

Programming Outsourcing Types

• Onshore Type of Outsourcing 

Onshore outsourcing involves hiring the service provider located in the same country as the client company. This facilitates interactions between teams and coordination of workload. However, these are available at higher costs!

Onshore outsourcing addresses the following issues:

1. Protection of intellectual property;
2. Avoiding communication problems;
3. Easier search for labor;
4. A wider network to choose the right provider.
   

• Nearshore Programming Outsourcing

Nearshore programming outsourcing consists of renting the nearshore service provider situated in a neighboring or border country. The service delivers in the same time zone and in similar cultural, historical and linguistic features.

This form of outsourcing is aimed at companies looking for a solution for fast productivity, but above all closer in terms of geography and meeting the following criteria:

1. Reduced costs, but similar quality;
2. Project management conditions similar to that of the company ;
3. Same time zone;
4. A perfect cultural understanding.
   

• Offshore Type of Outsourcing

Offshore form of outsourcing consists in hiring the services of a provider that is geographically distant but with offshoring, the distance isn’t considered a factor. You don’t care if your specialist lives on the other side of the globe and you might not be able to ever communicate in a synchronous manner —  a person’s expertise is all that matters. This approach can increase the execution speed and productivity for all your projects. In a competitive industry where every minute counts and/or the loss of time is a failure, offshore outsourcing offers services that are according to your expectations:

1. A time difference of + 2 hours in summer/ + 3 hours in winter;
2. Outsourcing Services: prospecting, back office, customer relations, etc.;
3. Digital Services: web and digital outsourcing ;
4. Business Solutions: seat leasing;
5. Professional Services: business incorporation, accounting etc.

Models of Programming Outsourcing

When it comes to cooperation models they are quite flexible and fit most of the projects. There are 2 main models which you should research before hiring a team: 

• Building Digital Solution From Scratch

This is a typical model of IT outsourcing services. First, the client comes with an idea and requirements, and an outsourcing company offers a solution. Then, the client’s request goes through certain stages, which helps determine the project scoop and when they need to deliver it.

First, It starts with a discovery phase. This phase is essential to clear unknowns in the project. During this phase, the project requirements are collected, including platforms, business goals, main features, and much more. 

The specification is a document with product features and a tech description of how they should work. It greatly simplifies the communication between team members and helps them deliver the customer’s product vision.

Next,  a schematic representation of each screen with UI elements and user flow between all screens. Finally, user flow shows the navigation between screens. Then, wireframes and specifications are checked by QA engineers for logical errors. 

Finally, a detailed estimate of the development time and cost is constituted. By the end of this phase, customers get specifications, wireframes, and an exact estimate. 

Now the company can calculate the complexity and development time to move to the next stage.  When all app mockups are ready, the project’s development begins. Finally, when all is set and done, a finished product goes through the release stage and is finally handed over to the customer. 

• Hiring a Dedicated Team

A dedicated team will be a great decision when a client  already has a product but needs more hands to continue its development. Members of a dedicated team model are selected according to customer wishes and requirements, as they will be engaged only in this project. 

You get cooperation with highly skilled professionals, you relatively save your time on training. In addition, developers quickly adjust to your projects and work full-time, this will work the best for long-term projects. 

• Price Per Unit 

The service  specifies the cost of the service and the customer pays to use it. For example, if you require support and maintenance for a web-based or mobile application, code review or server management, you either pay for a fixed number of hours on demand or a set sum each month.

Famous Companies that Outsource Programming

What percent of us companies outsource programming? According to the 2020 study by Deloitte, 70% of US companies who choose outsourcing programming services  to their software development projects, do so to save money. For the past few years, the same research has shown that cost reduction has been viewed as an important but not the main reason why tech companies would choose to outsource.
These renowned brands are outsourcing programming and other IT-related services to 3rd-party vendors:

• Google

Does Google outsource programming work? The answer is YES. While Google has always given a priority to its in-house California staff, it has also strategically deployed programming outsourcing, more on projects that require continuous, cost-effective deployment. This allows Google staff to do a better job developing and managing their many following projects.

• Whatsapp

During the early years, Whatsapp outsource programming to create most of its apps so that the startup could focus on core business activities.

• Alibaba

China’s e-commerce giant’s fast growth is caused primarily by the skills of its outsourced developers from a different country. The company outsourced its development to a firm in the USA.

• Slack

Slack was in its early stages when the company hired a programming outsourcing company to develop its product. MetaLab worked on the company’s website and app, as well as designing its logo, creating most of what consumers see when they work with the messaging service today. While MetaLab has designed a big amo of successful products over the years, businesses across all industries contact the design firm, hoping to duplicate Slack’s success. 

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Benefits of Outsourcing Programming

What are the benefits of outsourcing programming? Programming outsourcing saves your time and budget, you get access to the unlimited talent pool, this model is very flexible also.

• Cost-efficient

Cost is one of the main benefits of programming outsourcing that are taken into account during the decision-making process. As compared to creating software in-house, software programming outsourcing can cut development costs by nearly 50% percent. In addition, salary taxes, work equipment, office spaces, and other expenses are fully covered by the outsourcing partner. 

• Saving your Time

Programming outsourcing not only saves your budget, but also the essential  time of your in-house team, or building one from scratch and leading the project yourself. You don’t need to put any effort at training sessions, interviewing, recruiting etc., which give you more time to focus on your projects.

• Flexibility

When you outsource programming projects , you do not have to spend time and resources on managing the team. Most outsourcing companies like Qubit Labs offer high flexibility, allowing you to scale your team up and down as the project requires. This also allows you to save budget costs.

• Get Access to the Unlimited Talent Pool

Global talents have never been in bigger demand than now. Business owners don’t hesitate to outsource programming on purpose to improve their business and get closer to their goals with hiring and retaining solid talent. Rather than relying on limited inner resources and familiar technologies an outsourcing programming services with corresponding talents for particular tasks can inbreathe new perspectives into current projects, as well as provide important benefits for development and business improvements.

Tech Task to Outsource

Don’t think that the term ‘programming outsourcing’ requires only hiring remote coders, there are different tasks involved in building an app or software that you can outsource. The list includes, but not limited to:

• User research;
• Feasibility study;
• UI/UX design;
• Backend development;
• Agile DevOps services;
• Software QA & Testing;
• Post-deployment support.

As you can see, you can hire not only coders but the whole team of professionals that are responsible for different tasks and will focus on your product in all stages of its development. 

How to Outsource Programming? Step By Step Guide

• Make you requirements clear

First you start with discussing your in-depth plan before using outsourcing programming services. Along with your  business standards, make sure to tell the whole details and the skills required, how you would prefer to pay, whether it is one project or a longer-term partnership, the desired developer experience level, skills, project visibility and any other relevant details.

• Decide Where to Outsource Programming

The next step is to research specific countries that have good outsourcing developers. The top destination where outsourcing programming are in Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Moldova) and Caucasus region countries like Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.  Pay particular note to how much do software developers charge in those countries per hour and the time difference between where your company is and where the agency or developer is located to ensure smooth communication.

• Research about Best Programming Outsourcing Companies

Make a list of several agencies that you think meet your requirements on a quick site. Then, do even more research of each of the ones you select and see their portfolios, past experience, reviews, feedbacks and referrals. It’s also a good idea to contact any of their past clients and inquire about their relationship with the outsourcing programming development company you are vetting. Ask them about their experience with that company, were they satisfied with the work provided and if they would work with them in the future. 

• Verify The Expertise

You need more than just based facts and information to outsource programming projects. The only way to do that is, to go to the source itself. Contact the development agencies you’ve chosen in the previous step. At this stage, it is essential to explain your goals and requirements for the project clearly in order to ensure that you are on the same boat with the outsourcing programming development agency.

Ask them about their work process, conditions, the technology they are using, IT solutions they are employing, management experience and, most importantly, if they have any projects similar to yours, if yes, that will be a plus.

• Don’t Forget to Test

In this stage , test analysts will provide a number of validation checks on the software such as performance testing,  and exploratory manual testing. The main objective is to make sure that the quality of the work in the build phase is sufficiently robust to meet the demands that will be placed on the system during normal operating conditions and determine.

• Hire Company 

As soon as you make a choice with outsourcing programming services, you’re ready to officiate the hire. Work out the terms of collaboration on a contract and make sure both parties are satisfied and agree with it. Make sure that items like deadlines, working models, requirements, and payment terms are clearly specified. And finally, make a hire! 

Qubit Labs – Your Provider of Outsourcing Programming Services

Qubit Labs has a long-standing reputation of empowering startups with programming outsourcing solutions. Our company is powered by a team of highly skilled, driven and well-educated IT experts from different countries that gives you access to a huge talent pool. Based on your requirements and budget we find the best developers that fits individually to your project. 

Throughout the years, we are the preferred IT outsourcing programming solution for startups. We are guiding projects and businesses in various industries in building their apps through proven strategies, processes, and skilled programming workforce. We are proud when we build long-term cooperation with companies and brands. 

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