Choosing the outsourcing partner for your project is a very important task, since the quality of collaboration with your outsourcing partner has a huge impact on success of your project.
Let's assume you have already decided to outsource and have chosen the outsourcing model. Now is the time to decide who you want to work with. In general you can choose between freelance experts or an outsourcing development company.
Although in this article we focus on examining the hiring of an outsourcing development company, we would like to point out advantages and disadvantages of hiring a freelance expert first.
Pros:
Cons:
Recommended:
As the hiring of freelance experts has some advantages and disadvantages, so does the hiring of an outsourcing software development company:
Pros:
Cons:
Recommended:
When choosing an outsourcing company there are several critical parameters which must be concerned in your analysis of potential candidates:
It is very important to be aware of some major cultural and technical differences that a physical distance to your outsourcing provider dictates. Nearshore providers live and operate in a same or very near time zone as yours, have similar cultural background, but cost more than the offshore providers. On the other hand offshore providers operate in time zones which are distant from yours, have completely different cultural background but cost less since the cost of living in those countries is lesser than in nearshore countries.
One of the most important criteria are the skill-set and experience level. You have to make sure that the outsourcing provider offers the required skill-set and experience level in those skills. Also bear in mind that not only tooling and technical skills are required but also a process ones. If you are an agile operating company, you have to find a partner which shares and implements the same process philosophy.
Checking the reputation and the success rates of former projects by examining references is also a part of the due diligence when selecting an outsourcing provider.
If you have a very limited project budget, then you will definitely consider the costs of each outsourcing provider candidates. Nevertheless we advise you not to overweight this criteria since at the and of the day you want the best possible quality for the given budget of your project.
Choosing the optimal outsourcing provider that should become your project partner requires some due diligence. Several important questions need to be answered before making a decision:
If you have any further questions, or simply need help by the analysis to make your decision, please contact us. We offer you a free consulting.