Drive Project Success with Offshore Software Development Team
The exponential growth of technological innovations has substantially reduced the barriers for startups and enterprises to enter the software industry. As the digital transformation trend intensifies, businesses of all sizes and verticals are looking toward the software development market to address various operational demands, further overcrowding the software industry.
Though the software market possesses a low barrier to entry, businesses need skilled professionals to organize and accomplish an array of software development projects. The prevailing talent crunch crisis makes it challenging for tech leaders in enterprises to find and hire in-house software developers. Finding and employing in-house software professionals, who are well-versed in emerging software technologies and trends, requires a huge investment of time and resources.
An effective way to overcome the prolonged in-house hiring process is collaborating with offshore development firms. This collaboration enables tech managers to rapidly hire and build a team of software specialists with the right combination of technical expertise and experience.
Deciphering the Significance of Offshore Software Development Team
A software development team hired from offshore firms includes project managers, software engineers, designers, front-end/backend developers, and quality assurance experts. Together, they implement new ideas and effectively handle various aspects, such as product development, deployment, testing, support, and maintenance. Typically, offshore software development teams function remotely and adopt a continuous (24/7) development cycle, facilitating faster delivery of software solutions. By delegating technical development tasks to offshore teams, internal managers easily focus on other activities, such as strategic software marketing and user assistance.
However, a key question that arises in the minds of leaders is: when to hire and build an offshore software development team? The answer includes:
- Large Scope Projects – Large-scale development projects often involve multiple stages of planning and implementation of different technologies, such as artificial intelligence, Blockchain, cloud, and others. Delegating such projects to an offshore software development team is optimal. By performing a comprehensive analysis, offshore developers seamlessly plan project sprints and execute technological integrations during the development stage.
- Build Security-Sensitive Solutions – Whether it’s a healthcare system, financial portal, or government platform, secure management of data and functions is important. With deep expertise in cybersecurity and data protection regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS, developers efficiently build security-rich software solutions for various industries.
- Tight Deadlines – To obtain a first-mover advantage, several small and mid-sized tech firms are looking to build and launch feature-rich digital products in narrow timelines. Such firms should consider assembling a product development team through offshoring. The dedicated team follows a continuous development cycle and meets deadlines without straining the resources.
Key Aspects to Consider When Hiring Offshore Development Teams
1. Technical Expertise
The effectiveness of a software development project depends on the technical expertise of the team. Tech leaders or hiring managers must evaluate whether the preferred offshore development team’s expertise aligns with their project needs. Without adequate expertise, resolving technical challenges related to coding, architecture implementation, security, and integration becomes highly difficult, resulting in poor-quality outcomes.
That’s why managers should prioritize organizing a pilot development project to determine the team’s technical expertise. During pilot projects, dedicated development teams work in a real-time project scenario. Accordingly, team members are able to monitor and evaluate key parameters, such as:
- Code Quality – Does the team adhere to industry-standard coding standards and practices or not?
- Time Management – Are they able to complete project tasks and sprints in a defined timeline?
- Problem-Solving Ability – How do they manage and resolve technical challenges or hindrances during development?
Assessing these parameters during pilot projects gives tech leaders insights into the offshore team’s technical expertise and experience.
2. Tool and IT Infrastructure Support
When hiring a dedicated team for software development through offshoring, ensuring that they have access to modern development tools and IT infrastructure is essential. Modern tools like integrated development environments (IDEs), continuous integration platforms, and version control systems enable offshore developers to build and test codes faster with greater precision.
Similarly, offshore development teams should have access to a robust IT infrastructure that includes hardware, networking, storage solutions, and communication platforms. Such infrastructure facilitates faster development cycles and aids offshore developers to deliver steadfast attention and value throughout the project lifecycle. Moreover, a robust IT infrastructure enables development teams to secure sensitive intellectual property and project data from cyber threats and breaches.
3. Project Management and Accountability
Another important aspect that tech managers should consider when hiring offshore software development teams is their familiarity with project management frameworks. Offshore teams with in-depth expertise in agile or scrum project management frameworks embrace the iterative development model effectively. This model enables experts to assess software product’s progress consistently and incorporate modifications based on varying end-user preferences and market conditions.
Offshore teams well-versed in agile or scrum project management frameworks function autonomously without necessitating constant supervision from top-level management. This self-organizing approach promotes a sense of accountability among every team member and ensures on-time delivery of software products. Additionally, project management frameworks support tech managers to assess the performance metrics of each project member. These metrics enable them to make data-driven decisions to improve team productivity and drive project success.
4. Non-Disclosure Agreements
In the context of software development, protecting intellectual property (IP) assets and maintaining confidentiality is important. Hence, tech leaders in organizations should consider hiring an offshore development team that adheres to non-disclosure agreement (NDA) conditions. By signing the NDA with the development team, leaders ensure that IP assets of software projects, such as source codes and algorithms remain the exclusive property of their organization. This prevents the offshore team from using the build codes for other clients/projects or claiming ownership of IP assets.
Read: Benefits of Hiring Software Developers for Your Project
Closing Thoughts
To sum up, hiring an offshore software development team enables businesses of all sizes to launch high-quality solutions without overstretching time and resources. However, to make the most of the offshoring model, tech managers should define project scope and objectives clearly with the hired software development team. By understanding the scope and objectives, development teams effectively plan sprints, allocate resources, and address project deliverables on time. This improves the overall productivity of software development projects while eliminating delays and scope creep scenarios.