Outsourcing development can make or break your business. Let’s drill down a little farther into some of the reasons business leaders and managers hesitate to outsource. Here are the top three reasons:
- Unexpected costs (in time and money):
If you’ve ever managed an independent contractor, you know there are hidden costs associated with it. You have to provide more management and oversight, onboarding a project can take longer, and there are likely to be gaps in messaging, goals, and ways of working. Choosing the wrong contractor can lead to a lot of headaches and miswork in the long run.
- Communication problems:
Outsourcing could mean you have to manage projects with developers in different time zones. For example, Romania is seven hours ahead of the East Coast, and India is ten hours ahead. That makes real-time interaction extremely difficult to manage. You can’t just pick up the phone and know you’re going to talk to someone when you need to.
You’ve probably also heard communication horror stories like this: you receive delivery after a long and expensive project only to discover that the documentation is in a language you and your team don’t understand.
Finally, you might also have to deal with cultural boundaries in outsourcing. It’s easy to step on toes and become frustrated when managing cultural differences.
- Uncertainty about quality:
It’s simply more difficult to evaluate the competency and expertise of a developer at a distance. You have to be careful that you’re not investing money and time into a relationship that’s not going to yield the results you expect.
Okay, those are three of the big pitfalls of outsourcing. But the truth is that outsourcing development is still a great idea for most businesses. So the question is, “How do I outsource well?” More about that next.
About ThinkboxHQ.com:
Are you ready to start outsourcing your development?
ThinkBoxHQ can help you take advantage of the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of outsourcing so you can meet your business goals and succeed.
Our U.S.-based management team coordinates with our network of trusted developers in Argentina to provide a development outsourcing experience that you’ll be happy with. Our consistent team of developers is thoroughly vetted and approved.
Our goal is to make development fast, easy, and affordable for you.
