1. Cost:
The primary reason customers started getting software written offshore is the same reason people vacation in Mexico: it’s cheaper. The hourly rate for a skilled developer has increased dramatically over the past few years. As if we all programmers run on gas.
For projects, you can have a whole skilled team working for the same or less amount than the on-site developer. In addition to that, you do not need to worry about hiring costs, training costs, finder fees etc. The process becomes faster, easier and under budget.
2. Time:
Due to lack of resources and economy shortage, IT companies do not have time available to maintain the company’s existing software systems, let alone create new applications or rewrite an existing old application. With outsourcing software maintenance you can free up your IT department’s time to work on strategically important tasks or you can have a killer application developed by Technosoft and not waste any of your existing IT’s valuable time.
A key executive time-saving area, often ignored, is report writing. Executives spend an enormous amount of time gathering data and create ad hoc reports of their choice. These tasks can be outsourced to an experienced data reporting company (Technosoft’s reporting wing is very skilled in creating complex business reports) saving the executive’s valuable time for other leadership tasks. This saves the executive’s valuable time for other leadership tasks.
Finally, software development organizations are decreasing their product’s time to market by outsourcing their software development. And companies, using technology as a competitive edge, are outsourcing to have technology help them start saving time now.
Communication Barrier:
One of the major issues, related to outsourcing, is communication. It is usually hard to communicate with IT resources in-house, let alone communicating offshore. This is a legitimate concern and such that needs proper attention. However, those who have worked with software developers can attest that effective communication is not ensured by sitting in the same room or ability to speak the same language efficiently. Effective communication, in software development, takes place when software developers give proper respect/attention to end users and follow proper software development processes to document, agree upon and deliver according to customer’s requirement. We use industry standard techniques to illustrate our understanding of your requirements.
All our engineers are adept in using all types of UML diagrams. We create use cases, flow charts, state charts, sequence diagrams etc frequently during all phases of software development. Further details about how we ensure effective communication at each phase of software development can be found here. In addition, we also have a detail of our processes available here.
We use all available communication tools/means available to ensure that effective communication takes place between our skilled resources and clients.
Different Productivity Levels:
Some opponents of outsourcing claim that productivity of the offshore workers is different compared to an on-site worker.
There is definitely truth to that. However, the same rule applies to developers working at different organizations.
The general finding that “There are order-of-magnitude differences among programmers” has been confirmed by many studies (Curtis 1981, Mills 1983, DeMarco and Lister 1985, Curtis et al. 1986, Valett and McGarry 1989, Boehm et al 2000).
So when considering outsourcing, you would want to partner with a company which places greater emphasis on finding the best talent and is investing in constant developers training.
A proof of this can be found by inspecting the number of certified resources a company has. For example, Technosoft has the majority of its developers certified by a trade vendor such as Microsoft, Sun Microsystem, IBM, and Oracle etc.
Time Zone Differences:
In offshore engagements, time zone differences are blessing and problem at the same time. Time zone difference becomes a problem when you and your offshore partner do not have a common few work hour window to communicate effectively. Blessing in a sense that you can have people working for you while you are sleeping.
Imagine your customer reports a bug 4:00 PM, overnight an offshore developer fixes the bug, deploys it at your controlled environment and then offshore QA tests and certifies the bug in your environment.
Before your IT individuals come in, the bug is fixed. The key here is to find a partner which has few hours of overlapping time. This way you can get the best of both worlds.
Intellectual Property Issues:
This is a serious concern and the only way around it is to deal with a US-based offshore company. A US-based offshore development company bounded with legally enforceable contracts is your key to almost all IP issues.
Technosoft is a Connecticut based company, incorporated in 2004. We take Intellectual property very seriously and would be ready to sign an NDA at the very start of the engagement.
So even if you decide to outsource to another company after exploring your options. Your idea will be safe with us.
Industry Knowledge:
Offshore company’s perceived lack of US industry-specific knowledge is another counter-argument to outsourcing. Industry-specific knowledge is absolutely important and without this knowledge, you would find yourself spending an enormous amount of time explaining how your industry works to an offshore company. The key here is to find an “offshore software development company’ which has in-depth knowledge of your industry. For example, if you are in the healthcare industry then you would look for a company who has developed solutions conforming to HIPAA privacy and security standards. You would want to deal with the company who is proficient in healthcare standards such as EDI, HL7, and HIPAA, etc.
We are dedicatedly working for Healthcare Software Development and Integration development. Moreover, we have many clients well versed in software development and have healthcare solutions deployed at main hospitals. We augment their resources with our HL7 integration, HIPAA privacy & security services.
Please see our healthcare Software development expertise page for details.
All the best.
