Many entrepreneurs and startups believe they can only outsource their software development processes if they have a long-term project. They also believe outsourcing can be costly, but this is false.
Outsourcing, in reality, can aid business owners in their company’s growth and optimization. This can then result in a successful market entry. They can also save money because outsourcing is cheaper than hiring in-house developers. However, the true challenge is choosing the right software development company. With tens of thousands of technology companies, knowing how to choose a software development partner can be difficult.
As a result, in this article, we will look at whether it’s better to hire freelance developers or a software development company, how to find and hire technology firms, what to look for in a software development company, common hiring mistakes made by startups, and why outsourcing is a great choice for your company’s project.
Hiring a freelancer is less expensive than employing a software development firm. However, it generally costs more and can overinflate your budget.
Most freelance developers are experts in a single field or specialization. As a result, if there are any unanticipated challenges or issues throughout the development process, they will waste time and resources trying to find a solution. Furthermore, you’ll almost always need to employ another freelancer to fix the issues if they make a mistake. However, that presumes that your new developer can read or decipher the code that your original contractor wrote.
When you employ a software development company, you hire a complete professional team. As a result, if one member cannot resolve an issue, another can readily step in to help. Furthermore, hiring a dedicated software development team eliminates the possibility of a project being abandoned or neglected. If one of the members were to leave or become unwell, another would step in to fill the void. This would be something that a single freelance developer would not be able to do.
Most significantly, freelance developers frequently leave once a project is completed without providing post-release maintenance and support. On the other hand, companies look after every customer and continue working with them even after the project is finished. They always offer their services for software maintenance and bug fixing. This is because they are focused on building long-term relationships with their clients. Furthermore, as they were responsible for creating the product, they will be able to provide high-quality maintenance because they will know exactly where to look and how to fix any issues.
As a result, startups should consider choosing a software development company. Despite the higher initial costs, business owners will save significantly more time and money in the long term.
Clutch is a well-known and reliable source for choosing a startup software development company. Before being listed on the site, each company is thoroughly investigated and vetted. This is done with detailed applications, customer reviews, personal phone calls, and portfolios. Additionally, when you search for a company, you will be able to see their ratings as well as vital information, such as their area of focus, employee count, contact information, hourly rates, location, and minimum project expenses.
Goodfirms is a comprehensive research and review platform that ranks software development firms. They are ranked by their experience, market penetration, portfolio, and verified customer ratings. Using an innovative filtering system helps users identify organizations that best meet their demands.
LinkedIn’s talent pool reports reflect the supply and demand for a specific type of talent in a given area. This enables startups to identify the best locations to search for top specialists in a particular sector. This platform also includes thorough profiles of each software development firm, allowing users to learn about its area of expertise, employee count, contact information, and location in seconds. This makes it easier to decide how to choose a software development company.
Upwork employs sophisticated algorithms to identify candidates who best match a client’s needs. Each agency’s page includes its experience, portfolio, reviews, and detailed profile. Clients can ensure they get exactly what they paid for as this platform counts keystrokes and takes random screenshots of the developer’s screen on the customer’s behalf.
A frequently maintained and updated blog illustrates that the organization is committed to sharing its expertise. It is a great approach to see how well-versed they are in various specializations and how well they communicate with the community. Even if you don’t have the time to read through every blog post in detail, you should at least skim through the titles and topics. You should also look at the publishing date to check if new content is produced regularly, indicating whether they are active and current with technology and trends.
When looking at customer reviews, remember that some feedback on a company’s website could be fabricated. To avoid this, you can either directly ask customers about their personal experiences with the organization or look for verified reviews on outsourcing platforms. It is strongly advised that you use the latter technique because these reviews must be approved by the platform’s administration, ensuring that there is no danger of them being fabricated. You will also be able to locate disadvantages not stated in the reviews on the company’s website, such as problems that the customer may have encountered while working with the organization.
You can see a company’s knowledge and experience with different technologies by looking at its portfolio. You will also be able to discover if any cases are similar to your project. When reviewing prior cases, consider the company’s work processes, specialties, and whether their products are user-friendly and well-designed.
A company that offers diverse services will be able to help you with your project in more ways than one. During the development phase, they can provide solutions, suggestions, and a product with several competitive advantages. When evaluating a company’s services, look for preliminary market search, post-release maintenance, regular quality checks, and risk assessment and mitigation.
Different projects necessitate a variety of approaches and solutions. Even if a company excels at writing code, it may lack the necessary technological expertise for your project. In addition, a team must stay current with new technologies, such as frameworks, programming languages, and tools. It is crucial to speak with the company and see if their technological stack can be customized to your project’s requirements.
Some startups make the mistake of exclusively relying on recommendations when selecting a technology vendor. Although recommendations are an excellent and important source of information, each project is different and will necessitate a unique set of skills and techniques. As a result, businesses should conduct comprehensive research on the necessary talents and technologies for their projects. Following that, they can search for organizations with experience and expertise in those disciplines and browse through portfolios for similar projects.
It is critical for startups to describe and thoroughly set out their vision to the technology vendor. After all, if the organization does not comprehend your business’ needs and specifications, it will be unable to produce the proper product. As a result, simply stating a concept or idea is insufficient. Before beginning any work, thoroughly discuss approval methods, goals, milestones, required content, and solutions.
Startups should also begin with a minimum viable product (MVP) to analyze their project, identify issues, and test it with real users before devoting their complete attention.
When a company employs outmoded interfaces, technology, and workflows, it can significantly impact how end-users interact with the resulting software. It can also lead to difficulties in performing effective updates and finding a new development vendor to take over or continue the project. As a result, if a startup begins with an outdated firm, it may end up costing them more time and money in the long term.
Most entrepreneurs make the mistake of focusing too much on the price and not enough on the quality of service. They may not be aware of the full extent of risks they take by accepting proposals with the lowest price and shortest competition conditions. Low prices are frequently connected with inexperienced development teams that lack the necessary skills and knowledge, which can cause the budget and timeline to balloon by three to five times what was originally planned.
While it’s understandable that startups want to keep expenses low, they should recruit up-to-date developers on the latest technologies and have the necessary skills to avoid low-quality results.
Software development should include quality assurance as a standard procedure. After all, it is uncommon for a project to start perfectly, successfully, and error-free. As a result, hiring a company that can conduct regular testing both during and after the project’s development is critical.
Choosing a software development company for your startup is a crucial decision that should not be taken lightly. It can determine whether your startup’s market penetration succeeds or fails, thus, it is critical to make the right decision. However, by utilizing the tips for choosing a software development company, as mentioned in this article, you will discover that hiring can be easier. You will also discover that ExpertTal is exactly what your startup needs.
We provide you with remote access to world-class software development talent to help you build high-performance teams. Our talent pool is pre-verified, pre-screened and proficient in a wide range of languages and software development frameworks.
Contact us for a no-obligation consultation so that we can start preparing your startup to stand out from the crowd!
Kamal Rastogi is a serial IT entrepreneur with 25 yrs plus experience. Currently his focus area is Data Science business, ERP Consulting, IT Staffing and Experttal.com (Fastest growing US based platform to hire verified / Risk Compliant Expert IT resources from talent rich countries like India, Romania, Philippines etc...directly). His firms service clients like KPMG, Deloitte, EnY, Samsung, Wipro, NCR Corporation etc in India and USA.
