Factors You Should Care About While Working With Outsourcing Software Development Companies

1. Communication Barriers

Communication is the key!

Working with an outsourced software development company can fail miserably if you fail to communicate your business objective and requirements clearly.

The greatest advantage here while with an outsourced company is the access to the global pool of talent. Getting experts to do the job is amazing, but they need to understand what are you expecting from them – clear communication.

The most significant advantage of outsourcing development is the access to a global pool of talent, but one of the main difficulties is – communication problems.

There are definitely going to be a few challenges such as aligning the time zones, aligning the language for communication, and understanding each other traditions and cultures.

Alone access to the talent isn’t going to get you to result, you need to build the connection and communicate effectively to reach the desired business goal with the IT development.

The use of collaborative tools such as Jira and Asana, with a remote team via video or audio call, at regular intervals, is the best way to build a communication path and achieve success with an outsourced software development company.

2. Failing to Understand the Scope of the Project

Before outsourcing a software development project to a remote team, you need to clarify the requirements, set up a regular delivery schedule, and the project’s overall scope.

Failure to communicate such details may result in distortion of the project scope. Without resolving these issues, software developers will continue to work in a silo and widen the gap between your expectations and the actual product.

The Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document can be an excellent tool that gives the development team a clear insight into the requirements. The clarity in the documentation is the first step in ensuring that your expectations and the outputs provided by the third-party company are consistent.

3. Non-Adherence to Code Quality Standards

Determining whether your outsourced software development services that is an extension of your in-house team adheres to the quality standards, could be a great challenge.

Code quality is an ambiguous term because there is no strict definition of high quality and low-quality code. Code quality is a set of attributes that must be communicated with the outsourcing partner, upfront.

A well-documented and well-tested code format with best practices for the programming language in which the application is written is necessary for long-term success and error-free implementation.

4. Ambiguity of Stakeholders

A major disadvantage of outsourcing is the lack of ownership of the project.

If your outsourcing software development company chooses a programmer on a contract rather than a full-time basis, ownership of the project becomes dicey. This disturbance in the project development process can lead to inconsistencies in output, as no project leader or team will not take the initiative to finish the project on time.

While outsourcing software development, you need to make sure that at least some project managers and resources are consistent throughout the process of development.

These are the people you can hold accountable and stay connected through email threads, video calls, and other communication channels.

5. Ambiguity in Contract Signing

At the very beginning of a development project, it’s more than difficult to hand over the full-fledged budget to the outsource software development firm, especially in the case of startups. It doesn’t create a legal appeal to do so as well and signing a contract overlooking loopholes like these may be an open invitation to substantial financial losses.

There is an old saying – “Get it in Writing” which is true in the case of software development as well.

The contract, which has been prepared perfectly in all terms, acts as a roadmap while working with outsourced software development companies and will save you from losses in case things go wrong.

Best Practices to Follow While Working with an Software Development Outsourcing Companies

Drafting a tight contract free from any legal errors helps ensure that no significant issues are missed during app development. Have a look at the things that you should keep in mind when drafting an agreement with an outsourcing software development firm:

Define Deliverables and Timeframes:

The contract must clearly define the expected output in the form of bullet points and approximate timelines by which the company will complete the work. An outsourced software development company that adheres to agile development practices can help provide an accurate picture of development progress.

Feature-based Contracts over Time-based Contracts:

At times contracts that are made for time-based development don’t adhere with the expectations that are set forth. Instead going for a feature-based agreement can create a great drive for the developers who are working on the project.

Feature-based agreements help to keep the developers encouraged to stick to the timelines and ensure the ownership of the software development company you are working with.

Installment Based Payment:

This payment structure facilitates the division of the project into different phases and sets the payment schedule as these stages are achieved—plan regular follow-up in the process and schedule meetings with the team. Instalment based payment system brings a lot of clarity to the agreement and makes it easier to resolve any disputes later.

Code Collateral:

Accepting apps without code collateral should be avoided when working with an outsource software development firm. The code you receive at the end must be free of any malware and specify an acceptance test period.

5 to 10 days is a reasonable period during which you need to rectify some errors in the application at the development company’s expense. The agreement should also specify how the web hosting or app store submissions will be managed.

Maintenance Support:

An outsourcing software development company may stop work in the middle of a project without any support contract. The maintenance assistance agreement should clearly state how long the team will support the programs they create and deliver.

Specifying support terms in the project increases the sense of ownership for developers working on building your app. They know that the wrong code means more work for them in the future.

Intellectual Property Rights:

As a customer, you have full rights to your project but make sure you get it in writing by including the intellectual property rights clause in the contract. This will save you some major headaches in the event of a rights violation. When working with your potential competitor in the future, this will prevent the outsourcing software development firm from reusing the code written for your application.

Privacy Agreement:

The Privacy Agreement is a non-disclosure clause that guarantees the confidentiality of the proprietary information we share with contractors. This ensures that app ideas cannot be copied or shared with others. The non-disclosure and privacy agreement must be signed with the outsourcing partner and the individual developers.

Compensation Clause:

Compensation clauses are legal provisions in the agreement that relate to the distribution of risk liability between you and the outsourced software development company.

It states who will bear the legal charges if any claim arises in the application development process.

Termination Clause:

It’s always a good idea to be prepared for the worst. Be sure to include a termination clause in your agreement that clearly states that action will be taken if the outsource software development company fails to complete the project as per requirements.

Jurisdiction to Solve Problem:

Outsourcing has made software development a genuinely global process. Specifying the jurisdiction in which any dispute will be settled will help understand the law under which a project is covered.