Businesses are heading towards digitalization to make their processes smoother and more efficient. Therefore, for creating stable and highly-functional software solutions for business operations, they require the services of software developers. However, software developers are some of the most highly-paid professionals. The average salary of a US-based software engineer or developer is over $121,000. Unfortunately, many businesses can’t afford such wages. Moreover, you’ll have to offer them multiple benefits and perks to make your job offer look attractive.
Not every business can afford to invest so much in a software development project. Hence, they look for ways to develop their software without spending a fortune. Recently, many companies have started opting for offshore software development as it helps them save a significant amount of money.
So, in this post, we’ll discuss the benefits and disadvantages of going for offshore software development services:
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Why Do Businesses Hire Offshore Software Development Experts?
In many companies around the world, skilled labor is super cheap. For example, in Asian Countries, the average wage of software developers is just $6139 per annum. This is exponentially lower than what companies have to pay to hire a software developer in the US. For a fraction of the price, you can opt for the services of an experienced software developer.
Hiring offshore professionals is beneficial for businesses of all sizes. It can help them significantly reduce project costs without compromising the quality of their services or products.
However, hiring offshore or nearshore software development experts also involves some risks.
Pros of Hiring Offshore Software Development Experts
1. Better Flexibility
Managers often try out different ideas and strategies during a software development project. Let’s say a manager wanted to create a Python-based application at first. But, when the developer found integrating the required set of features difficult, they decided to change the programming language to JavaScript. When such decisions are made while the project is underway, it can increase the overall cost significantly, especially when your team consists of locally hired software developers. Offshore software development experts allow you to make changes in the project strategy without inflating the overall cost. They also offer access to a large pool of resources
2. Improved Scalability
With the help of offshore developers, you can increase or decrease the scale of your digital business operations and processes without significantly impacting the project’s duration. By doing so, your business operations will be done a lot faster. Also, because you’ll have many tools and resources at your disposal, you can scale up or down based on your requirements and business operations without observing a massive increase in the project’s overall cost.
3. Low Wages/Service Charges
As mentioned before, software developers in many offshore locations offer their services for a surprisingly low price. They also have enough expertise, skills, and resources to create high-quality software or application for your business from scratch. Hence, you can save over 50% on the overall software development project and invest that money in other critical business operations.
4. Improved Productivity
Most offshore software developers are highly punctual. Also, while they handle your software development project, your core team can focus on other crucial business operations. Offshore developers can be pretty useful for companies that aren’t tech related and just looking for software solutions for certain processes. By leaving your software development project to an experienced programmer, you can also improve the productivity of other business operations.
5. Massive Talent Pool
You’ll find thousands of talented software developers in offshore locations willing to offer their services for cheap. A massive talent pool of developers specializes in different languages, skills, frameworks, and technologies. You can choose anyone based on your requirements and budget. However, we recommend checking the reviews first if you’re searching for talent on freelance websites.
Cons of Hiring Offshore Software Development Experts
1. Potential Communication Barrier
Communication barrier is a problem companies often face while dealing with offshore developers. Companies prefer virtual communication tools like social media messengers, email, video calls, etc. But it’s not as effective as communicating directly. Because English is not their primary language, offshore developers often cannot understand the requirements correctly. So, due to miscommunication, the end product is faulty and fails to meet your expectations.
2. Time Zone Differences
Time zone differences make coordinating working hours with an offshore developer difficult. So, whenever you try to reach out to the developers working on your project, they might respond to your message or email a few hours later. Similarly, you might be sleeping when they have to contact you to ask something. However, many professionals have started to adjust their working hours with their clients’ respective time zones.
3. Security Risks
Your company data is precious, and trusting an unknown offshore software developer with sensitive information can be risky. If they end up violating the agreement and unauthorizedly access your customers’ data, workflows, and code, it can cause severe security-related problems. Hence, doing a background check can save you from such unfortunate incidents. Also, don’t forget to check reviews online to better understand their services’ quality.
4. Conflict of Interest
Software development projects often fail due to various reasons. As an investor, it hurts when you have to bear losses. On the other hand, the offshore developer tried hard to provide you with the best possible software development solutions. Hence, in this situation, no one likes sharing responsibility for the failure, resulting in blame-shifting. Therefore, draft a legally binding contract while dealing with an offshore developer and ensure you’re sharing responsibility terms.
Hire Offshore Software Development Experts from a Reliable Website
Hiring offshore software developers from freelance websites might backfire. With only a handful of reviews, you can properly judge the quality of their work. So, if you want your business operations to run smoothly and stably, you should hire offshore software development experts from a reliable software development service.