In today’s world of information and technology, good software can help you achieve the next level of productivity and efficiency.
However, involving oneself in outsourcing software development activities can be overwhelming to the one who has no technical background or has not been a part of any software outsourcing company.
Without the support of a professional IT outsourcing company, you would need much effort and provide different inputs to ensure successful development.
‘To whom?’- remains a critical question for companies looking to outsource their software development needs. Let us discuss the key areas on how you can develop effective software development process to improve project execution phase of your software development journey.
1. Understand the Project Scope
The project scope is going to determine how the result of your software would look like. Based on the project scope, the developers of the software development company will figure out the platform and programming languages that will be used.
Project’s scope will give a bird’s eye view to all the concerned persons about how the actual execution is going to take place. Before outsourcing software development, if the project scope is written comprehensively, you can strategize the subsequent steps — like how are you going to manage the system, how many resources you would require, what would be the hardware requirement and so on.
With the project scope, you can anticipate what kind of problems will emerge to be solved and targeted users. Whether it is local software, mobile application, SaaS platform or CRM software, everything is going to be determined about what you write as the project scope.
2. Understand the Scenario
Knowing demands and actual requirements regarding outsourcing software development will help you identify what you actually need. Understand what kind of software is required for the current system to improve its efficiency.
You can assess the kind of features you would like in your software and decide the supported platforms like mobile, desktop, browser, etc.
3. Hire Technology Partner to Outsource Software Development
This particular point will determine how successful your software development would be unless you are building it in-house.
Because the software agency will shape your vision into thriving reality through their workforce, they will know requirements and align their skills with your project’s scope to give you the best results. By any chance, if there is a very slight mistake or recklessness from either you or custom software development partner, your software would not be able to give an ideal user experience as anticipated.
Quick Tip: Ensure you partner with a trusted and experienced software development company
The best way to determine the most suited company for your needs is to ask for their work portfolio. You can also check their authenticity from their previous case studies, customer testimonials, third party review platforms and success stories.
A professional and committed team will also guide you with the project scope to develop scalable software. It can give you creative ideas which you would not have thought because due to lack of expertise in the field.
4. Mention Benefits, Not Features
The purpose of outsourcing software development is to build a software that impacts your users positively. To create lasting software, you need to have a clear vision about what are the benefits that the software should provide to the users.
It is highly advisable to share the benefits you want to provide with your custom software development company and brainstorm the complementary features to be added in your software. Please note that we have mentioned benefits instead of features. Most of the clients share the features that they want to include, which would not be a suggested practice.
Because the benefit you want provide through a particular feature might result in complex navigation and bloatware, so a developer can suggest an alternative feature that could help you implement your desired benefit. Once you mention the targeted benefits, the developers will suggest you the features that should be there in your software. Let developers do what they are best at, and you can approve their suggestions if you require.
However, always focus on the benefits provide value while outsourcing software development. This will result in one-of-a-kind software for your users.
5. Define the Time Frame Without Fail
The time duration is a crucial element while outsourcing any software development requirement. Indeed, the more time you provide, the better software you could develop; but that doesn’t mean software development gets prolonged and take years to build the software, period.
Whether you are working with a partner or an in-house team, define the deadline first and be relatively flexible with it.
Let the development team share how much time it would take them to build the software. Defining time-bound will help you improvise software development. On the other hand, if you need the software relatively quickly, you can skip adding a few features for now and save it for future updates.
6. Be Clear with The Budget
Budget is an essential element of project of any kind, and especially in outsourcing software development, the more you invest, the better software you can develop. However, as a dependable business owner, you need to provide a budget cap to have fruitful project development for your company.
So, while discussing the project scope with your software development company, also mention that what’s your budget for the project of particular outsourcing software development. Now, it might happen that some few features that you have approved might not fit in the budget. So, you can plan and negotiate to get the best version of your software.
With the budget, you also need to consider post deployment activities like — managing your software or paying to an in-house team or paying yearly maintenance to the software development partner, etc.
To outsource software development, try not to be reluctant in investing your funds. So, be mindful and discuss this matter your team and partners well in advance.
7. Be Ready for After-Deployment Task
You would need to manage and maintain your software once the software development partner deploys it. So, you will need dedicated human resources or talented staff who have relevant experience for the role.
For example, if you have developed a team management software, then you might need dedicated support of a team who will manage the roles, responsibility and flow the organization through that software.
Here, the outsourcing software development company can also help you with support. If you want to change anything or upgrade your software, it would be ideal to go to people who have developed the system because they would have an idea about the flow of the software.
8. Maintain a System
Whether you are going for an in-house team or hiring a professional software outsourcing company for outsourcing software development, the process would require a system which will maintain all the activity logs and communications among the teams.
As a business owner, it is must to be aware of the daily, weekly, monthly updates and reports about the development of your software. Ask your software development for the definitive channel of communication for help in case of any unplanned scenario. Establish a robust communication channel where a point-of-contact from your company will stay in touch with the partner.
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