What Is Offshore Software Development? Why Is It Important?

Offshore software development literally is another name for ‘outsourcing’ in software engineering. “Offshore” represents the type of development work where you are giving project operations to another team in a different location. ( it could be in your own country or in a different country)

It can be a different continent thus the customers might face a time zone difference. Fortunately, these days it is no problem, courtesy of various superior quality remote team management tools and the best video conferencing software, handling all work efficiently and collaborating with providers from all over the world.

Building a new digital product (a website, an app, a chatbot, an inventory management system, etc.) is easier said than actually bringing it to shape and launching it in the market.

When you plan to create a new product, there are a zillion things to take care of, like-team management, deadlines, and technical details.

During this time offshore software development is the best bet, considering things are simplified when you choose an offshore software development company for your projects.

As you delegate a part of your responsibilities to specialists, there is no need for heavy focus on management and other things.

In this article, we will explain what is offshore software development, the points to consider while offshoring, its pros and cons, and whether offshore software development is a good practice to follow or not.

What is Offshore Software Development?

Offshore software development is the process of utilizing the services of a team located in a remote location to develop software for use in your home country. Mainly, offshore software development is a form of business process outsourcing where the service provider is based in another country.

The offshore software development trend is spreading like fire. As per recent market studies, around 80% of the largest global companies are preferring offshore software development services because of the huge benefits they provide.

Some of the important services given by outsourcing companies are product designing, coding, testing, SaaS development, intranet solutions, eCommerce, and project management, depending upon the requirement of the clients.

Offshore software development service brings along several benefits, like:

Customized solutions as per the organization’s needs and scope.
Streamlines the business process by making it more efficient.
Allows Innovation according to the targeted market.

Major Success Factor of Offshore Software Development Company

Offshore software development is a big blessing for software development companies, where a project is executed efficiently by saving on huge costs on project development.

By keeping an in-house offshore software development facility ready, one can easily outsource a major chunk of development work for better functionality to an expert team and focus on other essential business tasks.

Following are some of the key factors responsible for the success of outsourcing companies-

Skilled Team-

A skilled efficient team is one of the most essential requisites for outsourcing your development work. The offshore team must be very well-versed in ongoing technological developments in the software industry to combat any complex business challenges of the project.

2. Well-Designated Strategy-

A well-planned strategy is mandatory for any business to flourish, where each team member owns up the responsibility for the successful completion of the project. This ensures a high amount of clarity in the entire workflow. Also, a well-defined advanced strategy ensures better team deployment at the right time and the crafting of mandatory strategies at the right stage.

3. Groundwork Preparation-

In preparing the feasible ground for effective offshore software development, there is a regular need to have a common ground of understanding between the officials and team members on how the possible workflow will be carried out. This would help in making excellent software that can simplify the work modules.

4. Performance Analysis–

After making an outline structure of the process development, an offshore software development company should analyze each and every aspect of the performance review to identify the possible outcomes.

The best thing about outsourcing is that a professional company takes over each and every minutest detail of your project and delivers a superior quality end-product, by making use of the latest technology, automation/ tools associated with the software development process.

One such outstanding, software development company is Codersera, which specializes in outsourcing dedicated software development teams for various project needs of any size as they have expert developers of multiple skill levels, capable of delivering projects on time.

Codersera has been pushing the limits of delivering complex business challenges by providing innovative technical expert solutions and redefining operational standards.

Overall it is a great platform, quite superior in terms of professionalism, technical knowledge, work ethics, passion, and dedication for their taken projects.

Pros & Cons Of Offshoring

Pros of Offshoring

Reduced costs on development.
Competent skilled team
Shared responsibility
No need for administration and training.
Great performance
Huge Profits

Cons of Offshoring

Communication Issues
Cultural Gaps
Security of Data
Low-quality issues might crop up sometime.

Points to Consider While Offshoring

To reduce the risks while offshoring, you need to address the following: preparation (homework), selection process, and working practices.

Additionally, Determine the Following:

a) Study the marketplace and potential niche, and decide what features your target customers want. Learn about competition, find out what they are doing right and what they are missing, what technologies they use, etc.

b) Put together a roadmap with milestones/ priority lists to reach step-by-step. Also, make sure that what you’re going to create meets legal regulations, especially in cases where apps use personal data and money payments.

c) Prepare wireframes, sketches, and mockups of your future product. Think of a user story ahead- who’d be using your product, what for, and what they’d be able to do with it.

d) Analyze what capacities, skills, technologies, and tools will you need to make it happen.

e) Research available outsourcing models and select the one that suits you best.

f) Prepare a detailed specification (or documentation) of project requirements and quality standards.

g) And last but not least be aware of hidden costs, to avoid last-minute hiccups.

Final Words On Offshore Software Development

In view of experts, risks related to a different location, specifically another country, another timezone, and different languages, are too big to entrust a significant part of your business.

So, make sure you do the following-

Fix Quality Standards– By doing so for architecture and code standards, you’ll be able to keep the quality in check. Keep those standards documented and share them with the offshore development team. Also, conduct regular code reviews/audits.
Negotiate Rates– Talk about developer rates, mostly not to cut down a price already low, but to get a company or an individual to prove their capabilities.
Communicate Regularly and Track Progress– Weekly reports are good and clearly necessary, but real two-way conversations and meetings leave you with much more knowledge.
Set Mutually Agreeable Deadlines– When everyone agrees to all details, set strict deadlines for each stage of the project to make sure everyone follows them.
Protect Yourself- Team members should sign NDAs and/ or non-compete agreements, always before starting the development work. Intellectual property rights and confidentiality terms are clear to everybody. In addition, set up a private repository for the code (GitHub, BitBucket, GitLab, etc.).
Handle office administration tasks like printing, and document sharing with tools such as DocuSign or Hellosign.

Do you have any queries related to offshore software development with Codersera or this post, you can share your views in the comment section below or follow the link below!

Hire Remote Developers from Codersera

Codersera is a global community of the best remote React developers, coders, engineers, freelancers, architects, and consultants. Top companies and startups hire remote React developers for their Products, Projects, MVPs, and Proof of concepts (POC)