Enterprises despite their size and nature, outsource technological requirements and expect their technology partners to maximize revenue by optimizing business processes. It has become a trend to implement the latest technologies to achieve competitive advantage and highest customer satisfaction. But, the biggest challenge is to choose the right solution for your business.
We all agree on the point that outsourcing is cost-effective, reliable and it will quicken your time-to-market. In order to get all these business benefits, business owners usually rush into agreements with outsourcing partners and often choose a service provider who later offers a very standard set of solutions with having a very less knowledge about your business and offerings.
We have noticed an exceptional increase in IT outsourcing in past few years. And with this the number of service providers. All have their unique plans and solutions. When you have so many options, sometimes it becomes very important to choose the right partner, rather than rushing into things.
No one would like to partner with a company which is not trustworthy or doesn’t have required expertise. Personally, I would rate integrity above all. Trust, Integrity, Innovation, Passion are few aspects which can’t be measured. But, believe me, these are the aspects, which can make your business a hit in a long run. As a founder, you should consider various factors while evaluating a credible service provider. But make sure you never miss below points.
“Outsourcing has become an accepted & dependable part of the CIO’s toolkit. Today’s outsourced work tends to be straightforward, repeatable processes like application maintenance or support.”
Abbie Lundberg, Business Technology Analyst
What is your need?
Before considering outsourcing, and evaluating possible technical partners, the first thing you should ask yourself is what your exact need is and what could be the potential solution for that. As a business leader, you should identify your business goals and you have to prepare a roadmap to achieve those goals. After understanding your technical requirements, and probable solutions, you can either choose offshore development or onshore development service providers.
Expertise will come in the first place
After identifying your exact needs, you can look for potential and credible service providers. After shortlisting them, you can gather information about their company and how they work.
Few of the things which you should consider while evaluating outsourcing partners is, their skill set, business model, technical expertise, access to latest technology, previous project portfolio, experience in managing complex business challenges, communication, adherence to deadlines, last but not the least, passion towards developing technological masterpieces.
Out of all these, expertise will come first. You should go for a partner who can assign the right person to manage your task. It is always good to talk with a technical lead or developer who will work on your project and a team who can follow agile or hybrid development models. Never go for an outsourcing partner who doesn’t have access to latest technologies.
Approach
If you are looking for a long-term partner you have to be little extra conscious. There are few factors which are not limited to a project contract. We always need to consider the human involvement and behavior. Even if a service provider has got all the latest technological tools and expertise, but poor is customer service- it could be devastating for your business.
Someone’s approach towards their customers cannot be ignored. If someone is not customer-centric in today’s business, it could affect your business too. There are few service providers who are here to make some quick money & with a short-term business goal. If you really want to build your product, stay away from them.
Market Reputation
No one can compromise on quality. We always look for the best custom software development company to work with. Can you afford to work with a team who are not polite or always miss deadlines or deliver sloppy products? No. No one can afford. Do you have an idea, how your outsourcing partner can add value to your business or how much scalable their solutions are? These are few things you should understand before signing an agreement.
Market reputation of any enterprise can tell the past glories or failures. In the world of connected social platforms, it is not that difficult to understand about a particular company. Social media platforms, website testimonials, reviews can help you in this. If you still have a bit of doubt, you can connect with one of their customers, and can note their experience working with that vendor.
After evaluating the market reputation of the firm, and considering all pros and cons, if you are convinced to ignore few cons in order to achieve better pros of the company which can align with your business plans- you can go for it.
Budget
If you expect superior work and a perfect solution for your business, you have to consider the cost factor. Cost is equally important. There are few companies who expect overnight miracles within a penny, which sometimes doesn’t look realistic. Before approaching any vendor, you need to consider how much money you can invest in the project & how much ROI you can get out of that.
Never compromise on the quality and reliability of a software solution for lower cost. Avoid vendors applying hidden costs or additional costs. Understand the fact that, there are vendors who don’t take all projects. There are software outsourcing companies who take only long-run projects and also there are companies who take assignments of any size. Make sure whom to approach keeping your size of the project and budget factor in mind.
Data Security
In technology, data security and privacy are one of the major concerns in past decade. During various stages of the project, you need to share your sensitive business information with the vendor. If not managed by professionals, things can be messed up and your data can be mis-utilized. So, before signing any partner, make sure they go through your intellectual property rights and privacy policies thoroughly and make them sign NDA.
It is essential to consider vendors who conduct regular security and network audits within their workplace. They should use tools to protect data and prevent any data leakage.
Development Model
The only way you can sustain in the market today is by accommodating yourself to the changing market conditions. If you want to be a market leader, you have to prefer agile development methods. The agile development model is highly collaborative and can offer quick results. Always go for a technology service provider, who follows the agile development model and can still find it comfortable to adapt to the changing requirements.
Flexibility & Post Deployment Support
Flexibility in terms of support is very important. It is very important to understand how flexible your partner is if any urgent support requirement arise. If you have time zone differences, you need to be very serious in this aspect. Similarly, your partner should be there for any after sales support. Support must include any future bug fixation and software updating.
Business Stability
Never miss this point. In past, many enterprises suffered because of this reason. Do check the operational and financial stability of a vendor before collaborating. Factors like ownership structure, partners, acquisition plans etc. should be verified.
Ignoring any of these points could turn out to be a blunder for your business in future. What if you signed an agreement with a vendor & after few months they got bankrupt and goes out from the business. It will be a nightmare for you as well as your customers. Switching vendors at any point will cost you more.
Final Thought
While building an application or business solution you have a couple of options. Either hire a team & make them develop it, or outsource it to the specialists. Outsourcing’s affordability and access to global technological talent are few of the major reasons for its popularity.
Many successful global companies did it before. Skype, GitHub, Slack are to name few. All you need to do is, identify the best possible vendor, communicate your idea, consider their opinion, prepare the SLA, set KPIs, focus on your core business and let the experts handle the rest.
Many people find it difficult to outsource. However, at the end of the day, all you need is a right partner for your business. If you find the right one, outsourcing can add greater value, enhance business efficiency, productivity and reduces overall operational costs.
Thanks for reading. Hope you liked this blog. I would highly appreciate feedbacks.
