Outsourcing Your Application Development

 According to TEKsystems, the most critical role for IT success this year is the programmer. Closely followed by the project manager. So I think it’s fair to say that IT projects are a large part of what many businesses are working on right now – everything from managing big data to sorting out mobile and dealing with the need for increased security.

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proworkflowHowever, many businesses don’t have a set of skilled developers in-house, waiting around to be given the next project task. And you don’t necessarily want to recruit an Android developer when you only have one app to build. We have to supplement in-house technical expertise with bought-in expertise, and this is where outsourcing comes in.

Why outsource development?

Outsourcing development means you get to access the best people for the job wherever they are based. It can be cheaper, especially if you are prepared to work with development teams in emerging economies. But be prepared to pay for project management or account management services as they will need to be professionally managing their resources too – it’s unlikely that they will ‘lend’ you a complete development team without a team leader so you should expect to have a (chargeable) single point of contact.

Outsourcing is a good option if you don’t have the skills in-house and don’t see the need to have those skills in-house. You may decide to recruit instead if you do, for example, want to make sure you have adequate resources to maintain, support and upgrade your product. This is particularly relevant if you are building an enterprise app that will support some of your company’s key systems – you don’t want that breaking down and not have the resources on hand to fix the bugs.

Where do you find an outsource partner?

When you’re looking to award a contract for your project, don’t assume that the person based around the corner is the best one for the job simply because they are close.

Look outside your region for skilled development professionals. According to research from Visionmobile, what’s in popular use locally doesn’t necessarily reflect what developers are skilled in. For example, the report says that in Spain the majority of local sales of smartphones are Android. However, Spanish developers predominantly work in iOS, developing apps for the iPhone and other Apple products.

The survey also found that 41% of developers work in both Android and iOS, so it’s a good idea to ask your potential outsourcing partner if they fall into this bracket – as your project is bound to have a wide mix of stakeholders who want access to the new software on both.

Options for paying your outsourcer

Most corporate deals would be fixed rate or time and materials but apps development has a couple of other charging models. If your project is to build something that will be sold to the public, you could offer a commission-based model or look at percentage of sales contracts. Apps can also make money from advertising but I wouldn’t advise that if you are building an app that has niche appeal as you need to think about how this will reflect on your company brand. If you are building an app for internal use, such as a front end to various enterprise systems, that option will look unprofessional and won’t generate much money anyway.

Remember that you may need to include ongoing maintenance in your contract – don’t assume that the work finishes with the first iteration of the software! You’ll likely want a support contract so think about that upfront and write it into your overall contract if appropriate.

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Working with outsourcers

The main difference with working with an outsource partner for the project manager is that generally you’ll only be dealing with one single point of contact. Your partner will probably be the outsourcer’s project manager or development team leader. You might have to ask to see detailed plans (be suspicious if they aren’t prepared to share this information with you). Then you’ll incorporate their major milestones into your own project plan.