Offshore software development – definition

Offshore software development is a form of outsourcing software development of your need to another company. Usually, this is done because the company, which is providing software development services, is located in another country, where production costs are lower. Hence, the budget for creating a piece of needed software is lower. For example, there may be a company from Sweden that needs to create some software, but hiring developers “in-house” in Sweden does not fit in their budget. They can delegate their software development tasks to a company offering software development services in Ukraine, where production costs are much lower. This type of cooperation is very popular in the modern IT market.

How offshore development works?

There are multiple ways of offshore software development cooperation, and you should use the one which is preferred for reaching your goal. The most popular way of offshoring your project is to delegate the entire project to a remote offshore development team. If this is not what you need, you can also delegate separate parts or features of your project to be done remotely. With offshoring, the administration, payroll, recruitment, accommodation, insurance, and so much more are all taken care of by your offshore partner. The primary role of offshore software development services is to limit the stress and inconvenience of scaling your team.

Advantages of software offshore development

Here are the main advantages of using offshore software development services over hiring developer in-house:

• Lower costs of operation – offshoring may cost you even 50% less than hiring new employees directly to your company. The reason is simple, imagine a company which is based in New York. The cost of living in New York is insanely big, which leads to big salaries. This company can hire offshore software developers from Ukraine, which are qualified enough to fulfill all their needs and develop the software but take less budget. Costs of living in Ukraine are much lower than in New York, which gives this company a huge profit.
• Quick scaling – if the developer, who was hired in-house, decides to leave, your project may be paused for a long time until your recruiters find someone talented and suitable for this position. With an offshore development team, this problem will probably never occur, but it will be solved much faster and cheaper if it does. The same with recruiting new developers into an existing team; the offshore software development team will find new developers for your project much faster than your company can hire new developers in-house.
• Ability to focus on your core tasks – working with a dedicated external partner will make software delivery speed faster and with less attention and time needed from you personally. This means that you can focus on your tasks and not be afraid of the final product’s quality.

What should you remember when you decide to use offshore software development services?

• Prepare your requirements – your vision of the final product should be prepared before starting the development process. It is not a problem if you don’t have any IT experience – prepare as many details as possible about what you want to have in your project. Developers will find the most efficient tools to implement all of your ideas.
• Pick a good team – check your references and ask offshore companies for their previous clients. Finding a team that will suit specifically your needs is the key to success.
• Do not forget about your project – a common mistake of people hiring the offshore development team is not communicating with them after requirements are prepared and, due to that, not satisfied with the final product. Even though the remote team is more independent than developers in-house, they still may have some questions and ideas to make your product as good and precise as possible. Try to attend demos and presentations to control what is happening in the project.

BWC.Technology is a place that can help you with your IT project

BWC.Technology can solve all described problems above and help you to:

• save on internal resources
• isolate from complex technical topics
• save time on team and process definition
• save time and focus on preparing detailed requirements
• save time on testing

We work with proven technology partners to establish dedicated development teams, agile working practices, and deliver digital product increments. BWC.Technology is experienced to comply with elevated quality standards, having worked for large clients on multinational projects. Our team will guide you through the process of transforming your idea into a working digital product.