This decision might be a hard one to make for companies, one that can influence the success or failure of your product. In making this decision, one has to consider the pros and cons of either model or even the hybrid.
Work culture is evolving with the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it is quite clear that some things have come to stay, principal among them is remote work. Remote work which is the new shift brings many questions around its modus operandi, one of which we are discussing in this article.
We will argue for and against each model but ultimately, the decision is left to the reader. Chances are you are deeply considering which model to adopt but the answer isn’t so simple as it depends on the product you plan to build, the available time frame, the skills you want on board, and if such skill is readily available locally. So really, you should consider your preferences carefully and if you seek professional advice you can contact us at CodeLn.
We will proceed under the following banners: Financial implications, Company culture, Recruitment and Onboarding, Communication and, Data Security, these should guide you to make an optimal decision.
Financial Implications
A common philosophy around hiring remote talent is the act of seeking tech talent in regions with generally lower standards of living in order to enjoy the benefit of more affordable salary negotiations, this is a controversial advantage and isn’t always the intention of companies that use remote development models. But generally, remote teams can be managed with a lean budget.
Maintaining an in-house development team is cost-heavy because it involves office space, power, internet, constant payroll hassle, and benefits like free meals, coffee, etc. Even for the developers, they spend time and money commuting, productive time can be lost in traffic.
Company Culture
It is commonly assumed that remote developers might not share your excitement about your product and to them, your projects might just be another task to complete and deliver. Most people believe that it requires more than code to build a successful product, passion, and commitment they say is key to achieving this. No doubt, it is easier to instill your company culture and team spirit in an in-house team than it is for a remote team. Day-to-day physical interaction goes a long way in helping you achieve this faster.
Recruitment and Onboarding
Generally, recruiting and onboarding an in-house team takes time, on average 3 months. Occasionally, you might need to handle the relocation of engineers from another region which requires quite a budget for companies. Retaining talent after the painstaking recruitment process can be a big issue around in-house teams as well. However, with remote teams, recruitment and onboarding are not as stressful as the process can be done solely online and relocation will not be necessary. Whichever option you choose, be reminded that this is CodeLn’s specialty as we cut down overall time-to-hire from 3 months to 1 week because of our automated recruitment process and pool of over 9000 African Software Engineers.
Communication
If not effectively managed, communication can be an issue for remote developers as your development team might be on different time zones and it might be hard to coordinate the team amidst time zones, deadlines, fixing bugs, getting quick feedback on tasks, etc. But with the right tools, these can be properly managed. If you missed our last article about tools to manage your workforce remotely, read it here.
In-house teams stand out in this area, you can effectively communicate with the team, share ideas, jump on quick brainstorming meetings, and bond over coffee. You also get relatively quick responses to fixing bugs and integrating new features to your product or project.
Data Security
Data security is what most companies are concerned about and this is no wonder because intellectual property should be protected. As much as you may not trust your developers with sensitive data, there are a variety of tools, VPNs and Anti-viruses, secure mails, etc. that can be employed to ensure data security. As more and more companies adopt the remote work model, more tools will come to solve this problem fully.
In conclusion, we have not tried to provide a foolproof guide but rather give you what you might call a “heads-up”. Some companies prefer the hybrid model, a mix of both remote and in-house teams. This model has worked well for us as a company, we are more comfortable having most senior engineers work remotely because they have more experience while junior engineers work in-house under the tutelage of an in-house senior engineer. You should consider what model works best for you and adopt it.
