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By outsourcing mobile app development, you can shorten the time to market, reduce project costs, and enhance product quality. Sometimes to expand a business, there is a need to get expert insight into modern technologies or qualified assistance.
A successful outsourcing strategy provides benefits and cost-effectiveness for process improvements and enhanced focus on your core business.
In this article, we will cover the most relevant questions regarding outsourcing mobile app development:
Furthermore, outsourcing companies with extensive experience could have a broader view of industry trends and act like business consultants to guide your project growth. It’s possible to come across new approaches and novel practices for task completion that will facilitate change and innovation in your business.
Finally, an outsourcing team member can be easily fired from the project or replaced. Usually, this means just staff rotation for outsourcing companies between different projects and not actually firing.
According to the Coding Sans survey, almost 63% of the companies polled have outsourced software development fully or partly at least once, and about 60% were satisfied with the outcome.
For example, large companies like Microsoft, IBM, Google, Apple outsource and have been outsourcing non-core functions like admin and software development for years.
A great partner can bring years of experience in business and expertise in delivering holistic outsourcing projects. This enhances productivity and efficiency, thereby making contributions to the clients’ bottom line.
Freelance developers usually offer attractive hourly rates and have relevant experience, but there is a lack of guarantees and client protection measures that can jeopardize the whole development process.
When you hire a freelancer you hire a hand or head which may be a skilled developer, but the management issue that the company needs to implement or hire as a freelancer is not closed.
When you need a simple app, freelance developers can come in handy having narrow specializations in platforms and technologies they are good at. If the features you need match the developer’s area and level of expertise, there is a chance to score big in terms of app development cost savings.
These are usually the cheapest option and quickest to launch but such solutions are difficult to customize and transition from if there will be a need to move to another system. Moreover, off-the-shelf solutions don’t imply swift updates and changes in response to the market needs, which is not flexible within business necessities.
If your task is to make an app for an existing business and there is no need for anything unique and customized, an off-the-shelf solution might be for you.
A team assembled based on the client’s precise needs and organizational model can be an end-to-end development to build an app from scratch or an in-house team extension.
Building an app with a software development company provides you with more flexibility than off-the-shelf solutions, better time to market, better quality, and fewer risks in comparison to freelancers. If you need to create a custom solution or complex app, outsourcing software development with a reliable company is the right choice.
It’s usually more expensive than freelance developers and off-the-shelf solutions. Still, a development company will charge only for the amount of work done.
Regardless of whether you are considering onshore, nearshore, or offshore outsourcing app development, you need to go through several stages before starting and be sure of what app you want to develop before you reach out to software companies.
Here are the stages to start outsourcing Android or iOS app development:
If you want to turn your business idea into a working solution, you need to clarify the following:
Business requirements. Define the objective and business concept of your mobile app, what goals you are pursuing, and what are the needs of end-users.
User requirements. Describe all interactions between the user and the mobile app and hence give the user’s point of view – priority app features, user roles, etc. This will help app developers quickly identify what functions are essential and which of them can be in a later version of the release.
App requirements. Outline the product characteristics that will meet your business needs and expectations. These include:
As the mobile development sphere is growing every day, there are many ways to find outsourcing companies. It’s better to start by asking your network about successful outsourcing experiences, then inquire to your shortlisted software providers about recommendations from clients of your region or country.
There are two main places to look for outsourcing companies:
Nowadays, businesses consider outsourcing as a strategic step to obtain a competitive advantage. But to make sure that cooperation will be fruitful, you need to trust your provider, and the main question here is how to gain this trust. There are three steps to gain a whole perception of your future vendor:
Finding answers to these 4 crucial points helps you shortlist the number of potential outsourcing partners and get rid of the least trusted and unreliable ones.
There are various engagement and payment approaches, and you need to choose the one that suits you precisely. An experienced software provider can help to define which type is the most beneficial for you considering the required specifications and capabilities. These are three of the most used engagement models: project-based, team extension and service-based.
Project-based, also known as the end-to-end development model, suggests building an app from scratch by a dedicated team which includes a business analyst, project manager, designer, developer and QA engineer. End-to-end development provides full-fledged support, flexibility, and ongoing support after product release.
The End-to-End development model is the right choice for you if:
At NIX, the engagement process for the project-based model includes 3 steps:
Team extension, also known as Team-as-a-service (TaaS) model, allows you to get the skill set you need if you don’t have enough professionals on your team, without the costs associated with hiring new permanent employees or extending your in-house capabilities. With the TaaS model, you hire a remote expert team to work with you explicitly. The vendor can deal with the recruitment side, negotiations, and employees, but you still will be the one to decide who gets hired and what the primary requirements are, or the vendor can set up a new unit for your business needs and enhance the local team.
TaaS model can be the right choice for you if:
At NIX, the engagement process for the TaaS model includes 3 steps:
The service-based model entails that if you clearly understand what work should be done. We can jump in to accompany you, no matter where you are in the product life cycle.
For example, if you have a ready-to-go product or app and want to test it before launching. In this case, you need to hire a quality assurance team to detect and fix bugs.
At NIX, the engagement process for the service-based model includes 3 steps:
From one side, when hiring, the client receives high-level, narrow-focused expertise that achieves a precise result. On the other side, the provider is responsible only for the discussed scope of work, not for the whole end product.
Once you choose the most suited type of engagement, it’s time to make up your mind about the payment part.
This is the most flexible and popular approach to IT outsourcing, as the customer will pay biweekly or monthly fees based on time spent on the work. The provider evaluates the next iteration forecasting the budget – so the client will know the amount that should be paid and for what. At the end of each iteration, the team performs the re-estimation of development priorities.
Advantages:
As for disadvantages, the final cost may vary and there is less control over the budget.
Fixed scope price model goes only in the combination of the following criteria:
Advantages – the client realizes how much it will cost and when he will get a market-ready product/app.
The disadvantages of this model are that requirement analysis and writing a detailed specification takes significant time, and only when it’s done can the development process begin. What’s most important is, in case you want to change the scope or add new features, you’re going to need a re-estimation, which is time-consuming.
Outsourcing has a lot of advantages since it is cost-effective and gives on-the-spot access to specific expertise. Nevertheless, these benefits go hand in hand with hazards that should be considered. Here are some of them:
App development cost depends on many factors, including the app’s complexity, features, platform, tools used, and more. Even the location of the outsourcing company influences the total cost of the app.
A comprehensive project requires a holistic business approach to ensure a high-quality app delivered on time. A fundamental team for building an app from scratch includes up to 10 people with the following roles: product owner, project manager, business analyst, 2–3 app developers per platform (Android and iOS), back-end developer, UI/UX designer, and 1-2 QA engineers.
Based on the features or type of mobile application, the cost can vary:
Now companies consider outsourcing as a strategic step to gaining a competitive advantage and advancing the business itself. This type of cooperation can be a solution for different kinds of companies like start-ups and mid and large-sized companies.
Still, to receive all the benefits of outsourcing app development, you need to choose the team you are going to work with thoughtfully. Hence, you should start by checking their portfolio to be sure that they have the precise expertise you need and testimonials from previous clients. Then it’s time to select the engagement and payment models which are most suited for you, and sign the contract.
The most successful cooperation starts with trust and commitment, so it’s vital to find the right vendor who will be not only your partner but also a friend. NIX is here if you have any questions or doubts about outsourcing your mobile app development. Moreover, you can get a free estimation for your mobile application development, so don’t hesitate to contact us and start fulfilling your dream project!
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