5 Pitfalls to Avoid while Outsourcing your Custom Software Development

Custom software development is the key to most businesses’ software operations, as building software solutions tailored to customers’ specific needs is gradually becoming a common take to cover tech-based reach.

Customer confidence is further bolstered by custom software, as they are the ones that test and assess it. But, as the adage goes, “everything that glitters is not gold.”

As essential as the procedure appears to be, it has disadvantages too. Creating a custom software solution tailored to a customer’s requirements is not easy.

The caveat: Custom software development services providers concentrate on acquiring customers and proving their capability to complete projects according to customer specifications. The end outcome falls short of meeting half of the customer’s requirements.

Custom Software Development – The Current Scenario

The IT industry is thriving, rising gradually, and expanding financial opportunities in today’s environment. In this competitive and challenging environment, however, IT sector stakeholders face a slew of issues when it comes to software development.

These issues increase the complexity of processes and add to the unpredictability of global market landscapes, and the industry’s constant up-gradation of tools and procedures.

Custom Software Development: An Overview

Custom software development, sometimes referred to as tailored or bespoke software development, refers to applications and software solutions developed to address unique real-world difficulties that your company is facing or functionality that your business might require.

It’s a multi-step, multi-layered procedure. The custom development comes in when an off-the-shelf solution isn’t going to cut it, and they’re tailored to your company’s specific requirements.

While custom software can help businesses enhance efficiency and cut expenses in the long run, it also has drawbacks. Often, a significant amount of effort, time, and money are necessary. Before you invest in bespoke software development, it’s critical to understand why you’re outsourcing so you can stay determined on what you want to do and avoid common errors.

Quick Plug: Netsmartz offers end-to-end outsourcing development services that can help you build your team by finding the right specialists, augmenting your expertise, mitigating risks, and improving operational efficiency at a reduced cost.

Why Choose Outsourcing?

According to a Deloitte report published in 2020, cost-effectiveness is the primary reason why 70% of businesses choose to outsource rather than develop software in-house.

Outsourcing is the most cost-effective option because organizations may engage offshore developers lower than local developers. This makes sense given the economic disparities between the countries, which is why offshore has grown in popularity but is it all good?

That brings us to the challenges of offshore software development.

The Challenges Business Face while Custom Software Development

1. Communication Issues

One of the most significant disadvantages of offshore is the lack of consistency in communication between you and your provider. Let’s pretend you’re in the United States and your possible vendor is in Ukraine; the time difference between your countries will be a significant issue because you’ll be sleeping when your team is working and vice versa.

Moreover, because you’ll almost certainly be dealing with non-native English speakers, the language barrier may become an issue. Of fact, most businesses place a high value on their developers’ ability to communicate in English, but this does not always imply complete compliance.

2. Code Quality

You must realize that the cheapest solutions on the market are not always of the highest quality. The quality of the code is determined by your dedicated team’s level of competence, and if you’re looking for a team of senior full-stack developers who charge dollars per hour, you’re in for a long and challenging hunt.

Because of the poor code quality, being stingy here could result in losing even more money. Make no investment if you are unsure if it will pay off, and never invest in a product of questionable quality.

That’s why to acquire a high-quality product on time, you need to know how much software development outsourcing costs.

3. Inadequate Cost-Cutting

You might believe that hiring less expensive developers is a smart choice at this time, but that isn’t the case. A less skilled developer would spend dozens of hours on a task that would take a much more experienced developer only a few minutes to complete.

Some argue that hiring more developers will speed up the development process, but it is more likely that it will slow down the process, make it more complicated than it needs to be, and make team management a complete nightmare.

Brook’s Law states that adding more workers to the project will only delay it further if you are behind schedule.

Cultural matching remains a crucial offshore software development difficulty, despite the fact that the world has become significantly smaller in our globalized day.

4. Cultural Compatibility

Even though the world has become much smaller in our globalized day, cultural matching remains one of the most challenging aspects of offshore software development.

Because people from different cultures have different ideas on authority, duty, and obligations, how your remote team treats you and your project may surprise you.

This cultural mismatch may result in a fantastic intercultural communication experience, or it may obstruct your ability to bring a compelling product to market. It is entirely up to you whether or not to take that risk.

5. Enhanced Competition

Surprisingly, choosing between multiple contractors is one of the most difficult aspects of outsourcing software development for a client. Thousands upon thousands of software development firms exist worldwide, each claiming to be the finest and giving the most significant costs.

Of course, severe rivalry makes vendors care more about quality to stay viable alongside the competition. Still, it also puts clients in a risky position where they must choose between several providers.

So, what are Your Options?

If you’ve already decided to outsource your software development, you should weigh all of the benefits and drawbacks of doing so.

The main benefit of working with overseas developers is cost savings, even though we concentrated on the problems or disadvantages of this cooperation method.

Working with developers based in another country can save you money, which is why you shouldn’t rule it out completely.

How Do You Make the Best Decision?

Not every offshore development project must be a complete failure; some reputable suppliers can deliver high-quality code despite all the risks.

To find the best software development business, look through their portfolio to see what types of projects they’ve previously worked on, who their past clients were, and how successful their previous projects were. Then you might want to look at their rating on websites like Clutch to check what clients from the past have to say about their work.

You can also reach out to previous clients and enquire about their experiences with the firm. All of your research will be worthwhile since you’ll be able to choose the ideal provider that can truly deliver on all of their claims.

To Wrap Up

Sure, there are risks and no process is perfect, and offshoring isn’t a perfect collaboration model either. There are numerous obstacles that both clients and vendors must overcome to produce a perfect software solution. Even when working with the best vendors, mistakes happen, and you should be aware of this, especially given the unique challenges of working with people on the other side of the world.

You should endeavor to resolve specific challenges on the client’s end to ensure a smooth partnership.

• Make every attempt to establish a strong and trustworthy relationship with your customer.
• Avoid separating your team from the offshore team by ensuring better collaboration
• Ensure that developers work as a cooperative organism rather than distinct units, always fighting who is to blame for all errors.

Choose the best software development company, maintain open and constant communication, and be realistic about your objectives – these are the essential criteria that will help you avoid the pitfalls of offshore.

We can assist you if you want to launch a project or require a team to supplement your in-house developers.

You can reach the Netsmartz team here.