The Best Offshore Software Development Practices That Can Work Wonders For You!
Offshore software development has been evolving with time. As a result, businesses are stepping ahead towards growth, and offering unrivaled opportunities. Offshore software development best practices are becoming increasingly popular nowadays. Many companies have actually benefited by performing best practices for offshore software development. The strategy has the potential to save a significant amount of money for businesses. Furthermore, it expands and offers profits to other industries as well. Also, you can find the best software development company for your business by going through the list.
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Let’s Learn More About Offshoring Best Practices in Software Development
What is Offshore Software Development?
It is basically a process by which a company outsources its software development requirements to a third-party offshore-located outsourcing company. Offshore means a country that is located off the coast of a different continent. Offshore software development best practices are preferred due to cost savings and time efficiency. Now that things have changed, more businesses have started using best practices for offshore software development. Software Development In-House or Outsourced, which one is better?
Many of us are under the impression that offshore and outsourcing are synonymous. Actually, they are not! Businesses transfer some of their work to external service providers instead of giving it to internal employees, this is known as outsourcing. It is typically used to cut costs and reduce internal infrastructure. On the other hand, offshore is a part of outsourcing. Actually, outsourcing has three subsets: nearshore, offshore, and onshore. To understand the offshoring best practices in software development, let’s read some of its advantages:
Global reach- The technological landscape is now growing with the birth of artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, deep language processing, augmented reality, virtual reality, blockchain, and other technologies. All of them create a significant impact on business today. Offshore software development model best practices cover that up!
Cost-effectiveness– We all know how expensive hiring software developers can be. A business can reduce its software development expenses by using offshore software development best practices. It is a cost-effective alternative that completes your work according to your specifications.
Best practices for offshore software development
No company would need to maintain infrastructure or spend time recruiting an in-house development team if it could not afford it. Thanks to offshore software development best practices, you can now hire experts to do so. Here are some offshore software development model best practices that you can take into account before proceeding with the services. To begin with,
1. Consider the high-context or low-context cultural aspects
Well, the classification may have very little to do with the skills or professionalism of your outsourcing team, but it certainly has some impact on your overall communication and collaboration style. Simply put, low-context cultures do rely on facts and words. However, high-context cultures prioritize emotions and trust. These differences can cause friction among team members and a decline in collaboration. While selecting an in-house team, you have to look for professionals who have the knowledge and can bond well with others. Whereas in the case of outsourcing, you don’t have to deal with all this, Just introduce them to your culture and values. This will ensure a complete understanding of the company’s goals and your objective in the future also. Try offshoring best practices in software development to cut off cultural differences, particularly those affecting communication.
2. Choose Your Team Wisely
Now, this is something extremely crucial in offshore software development model best practices while you are choosing offshore developers. Picking the wrong development team for long-term projects can clearly cost you a fortune. You have to take the first step carefully and then move ahead to win half of the development battle. For starters, selecting the right offshore partner is the first step toward success. This is because most business functions depend on how your outsourcing team takes the lead. A good outsourcing partner will benefit you but the wrong one can sink your boat. So investigate your options thoroughly.
3. Set Clear Goals And Provide Detailed Information
Providing the team with much-required project information is one of the offshore software development best practices. You need to inform them about the business objectives you have set for yourself and want to achieve. Apart from that, make a list of functions and highlight the most important ones that need to be prioritized and compiled first. It is vital to clearly define the goals, priorities, and milestones. As soon it is done and understood by all team members, achieving the goals and tracking progress becomes easier. Establish the acceptance criteria and quality standards but make sure to always distribute them to all team members in order to avoid future problems. Offshoring best practices in software development include you communicating with the team lead, who is accountable for the team’s performance. Creating such a contract will aid in the development of your project.
4. Establish Strong and Clear Communication
The most important aspect of an offshore project is effective communication. It’s not just about conveying or receiving a message accurately; instead, it is about gathering feedback and implementing it the right way. This keeps local and remote teams on the same page. When it comes to offshore software development best practices, proper communication is essential. Similarly, to avoid potential misunderstandings, make sure the outsourcing team speaks English at an acceptable level. You need to hold regular communication calls to overcome cultural differences. When you hold regular meetings, you can control their performance and identify the issue easily. If you’re starting a project with offshoring best practices in software development, figure out a schedule that works for everyone on the team. Get holds of tools and software such as SLock, Asana, Skype, etc to connect virtually.
5. Solid Project Management with Methodology
Creating software is not everyone’s cup of tea. Managing offshore teams, reaching deadlines, sharing information across them, keeping the team in the loop in a timely manner, maintaining everything organized and other aspects can be so frustrating. Make sure you seek offshore software development model best practices and manage the team properly with solid project management skills. The process you choose holds a significant place in decision-making. These software development approaches can really influence the day-to-day operations of your company. The primary objective here should be to ensure the development is done on time and in an efficient manner. Follow these methodologies:
- Agile software development methodology
- Waterfall methodology
- DevOps deployment methodology
- Scrum software development methodology
6. Always Stay in Loop
Despite all these offshore software development best practices, working with an offshore development company can become challenging. Businesses need to get off the radar and focus on their core aspects. This may or may not affect this positively. You get to focus on what you love about your core business built at the same time you go off the track. So how can this situation be tackled? You have to keep asking the outsourcing team for regular updates and stay in the loop with them. For the time being, the professionals whom you have hired must value your time and money. As a result, issues will never pile up and can be resolved right there.
Putting It Together
Offshore software development best practices can be highly advantageous if taken correctly. They allow businesses to achieve their objectives in the shortest amount of time and with a defined budget and no additional staff hiring as well. Now that you are familiar with best practices for offshore software development hiring an offshore development company around the globe would not be a difficult task for you. These practices can assist your company in selecting the right software partner and achieving the best results soon. We hope this blog was helpful for you and after this, you can easily manage your offshore partner with full efficiency and eliminate the loopholes to make the process hassle-free.
All the best 🙂
FAQ
What makes offshore software development practices a success?
Today, offshore development teams usually work hard with high standards of expertise and reliability. Everyone can achieve the best possible software development quality. This process can cut down project start-up time, effort, and cost.
How much do offshore developers cost?
On average, offshore developers can charge between $4 and $9 per hour. This is a reasonable rate in exchange for competitive talent and convenient locations.