5 Questions To Choose Between In-House Software Development and Outsourcing

Outsourcing or in-house? This is the question every company encounters at least once in their activities. This is true with custom software development as well. To make things easier, we prepared the complete guide. So, to choose the option that is right for your case, just answer the following five questions.

Question 1: Do you have an in-house development team that is right for the project?

This is the fundamental question because it determines your software development facilities. It deals not only with the presence or lack of developers in your company’s staff but goes much further. So, when answering this question, you need to consider at least these three points:

• Can anyone code in your company?
• Are they proficient in the technology the project requires?
• Do they have timeslots in their working schedule to execute the project?

If you answer ‘Yes’ to all these three bullet points, in-house software development is the right option. To clarify, as you have developers on the payroll, you pay them for their working time. So, why to outsource the project and pay someone else as long as you can bring it in house? Definitely, you have clever minds and free hands in your staff to build an app or other needed solution by the effort of your employees.

If you answer ‘No’ even to one of these bullet points, perhaps, software developing outsourcing is the only option available to get the solution within tight deadlines. Definitely, you can’t build software if no one among your staff members can code and test. Nor can you bring the project in house with a lack of required domain expertise and strong proficiency in the required technology. For example, even if you have the ever-greatest Ruby on Rails developers, they can’t build a machine learning algorithm on this technology. They need Python for this purpose. At last, you have to outsource the project if your developers have already engaged in another project or have other priority tasks to carry out. However, you may still walk down an in-house development path. So, go to question 2 to clarify your choice.

Question 2: Do you have enough time to build a development team you need for the project?

As you can guess, building a development team from scratch is not a one-day thing. On the contrary, it may take months to find the right engineers. Of course, with great minds already on your board, it takes much less time to get the team you need for the project. That is to say, for example, great Ruby on Rails developers will be, no doubt, great at Python development over time. But do you have this time to wait for them to master new technologies?

If you answer ‘Yes’ to the question, you have all the chances to develop the targeted solution in-house. So, go to question 3 to clarify your choice.

A ‘No’- answer to the stated question means you are in very tight deadlines and don’t have time to build a development team that fits the project. Fortunately, one of the main advantages of outsourcing is quick and easy access to talented engineers worldwide. Thus, you can find a software development outsourcing company with skilled and experienced team in no time. So, in this case, you have come to the end in your research, and outsourcing your software development project is the only option you have.

Question 3: Is this a long-term project?

When it comes to the project duration, we can divide all the projects into short-term and long-term ones. Typically, if you plan to complete a project within a year, it is a short term project. In contrast, long-term projects take more than a year. For example, it may take two and even three years to develop an enterprise solution.

If you answer ‘No’, the rationale speaks for the outsourcing option. Let’s explain this rationale with an example. For this purpose, let’s assume the project duration is only half a year. First, it would be hard to employ good developers for such a short labor contract. To clarify, everyone wants stability and a safe future. And great minds know their own value and are unlikely to look at your side while a short-term contract is the only thing you can offer for them. Even if it is a one-year contract. Second, you are not going to pay them during the whole year as long as you need their minds and hands only for half a year, aren’t you? It would be such a waste for the budget. In contrast, with outsourcing, your expenses stop as soon as the project ends and you get your software.

If it is a long-term project and you answer ‘Yes’ to the question, you have all the chances to get developers with required niche skills and expertise. In other words, two or three-year labor contract sounds to be very attractive as it ensures their safe future for the next two or three years. Therefore, they will be quite interested to get these positions, providing you offer them a decent salary, of course. So, go to question 4 to get the make the picture even more complete.

Question 4: Are there any special requirements for project security?

Here we speak about such important aspects as:

• Project idea (and/or implemented solutions) security,
• Its impact on your company’s competitive advantages.

A ‘Yes’-answer means all these aspects are crucial for your present and future positions on the market. With in-house development, you have greater control over the project and it gives you all the means to prevent any project leak. In contrast, outsourcing can’t give you such an overall control, and risks still are at present. If so, we recommend you to choose in-house development.

If you have no fuss about enhanced project security issues, then answer ‘No’ to the question we consider here. In this case, go at last to question 5, to decide whether you need to outsource your project or develop it in-house.

Question 5: Is the project cost-efficiency crucial for you?

Cost-efficiency determines how much money you need to spend in order to get the desired result. Great and secure as it is, in-house development requires a larger budget to complete a project. On the contrary, outsourcing is a much more cost-efficient way to develop the software you need. Your savings with outsourcing include overhead savings but the largest economy you get due to the lower labor costs. Yes, cost-efficiency is one of main outsourcing advantages if compared to in-house development.

So, let’s reformulate this last question about cost-efficiency into the question ‘Do you want to save money?’ If you answer ‘Yes’ to this question, outsourcing is the right decision for you. If you answer ‘No’… Well, bring the project in-house.

But then, we still have one more question for you. Why are you wasting your money for nothing?