The Ultimate Guide to Outsourcing Web Development

George Fironov
George Fironov

I connect businesses with top software engineers and IT talent on demand. I focu...

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Establish a culture of constant and clear communication

outsource web development

Custom web development outsourcing is a magic wand for those who need to build an expert web product without in-house resources overloading. Use it right, and you’ll enjoy unparalleled benefits and get your project done without great effort. Underestimate its nuances, and you’ll feel all the shortcomings.

In this guide, we’ll underline all the important nuances of offshore development in Ukraine or another country of choice, giving you the best practices to follow and pitfalls to avoid. Stay posted to fully benefit from outsourcing web services.

Why It Might Not Be a Good Idea to Outsource Web Development

how to outsource web development

Entrusting your website or web application building to an external executor is a smart decision chosen by many. Deloitte reports that 59% of businesses go for it because of its cost-efficiency. It brings other significant benefits for those who have mastered the art of remote cooperation. However, it may turn into a risky affair in cases like the following:

  • You can’t get an accurate project cost estimation. Recent studies show that 2 out of 3 outsourced projects have hidden costs. If your vendor cannot present a detailed estimate that includes all the work from research to management, the project will likely have some extra payments.
  • You don’t have the resources to avoid or mitigate the security risks. Cybersecurity risks are a paramount concern of outsourced web development, threatening 68% of organisations. Ask your vendor about their security measures or keep security assurance on your side.
  • Your partner doesn’t maintain consistent quality assurance. The global market for quality assurance is about to reach $3,989.57 million, making outsourced QA services one of the most popular in the field. To ensure you’re getting a qualitative product, ask your vendor about the quality standards they follow in their work. If applicable, you may also involve a supervisor to control qualitative delivery.
  • Your web development experience depends largely on the vendor you cooperate with. Therefore, let’s discover the best practices in choosing a reliable ally.

Breadcrumbs for Choosing a Top Outsourcing Vendor

outsourcing website development

The journey of web product building starts with the need to choose an IT outstaffing company. Good, if you have recommendations or a previous successful experience. But what if you have to start a search from scratch? Follow these breadcrumbs and reach your superpower web application.

Find the Requirements and Project Scope

Before reaching a vendor who will help you outsource website development, take your time to understand a project scope and arrange the requirements list.

Create a document that will present this information in a comprehensive form on the negotiation phase. The scope of a project will include:

  • the description of a problem your business needs to solve with a product development;
  • specific functions and features you want to see in a ready product;
  • specific deliverables you would get, such as source code, prototypes, user documentation and more;
  • constraints like regulatory requirements, desired tech stack, budget and timing limits.

Orient on Your Budget

Your budget will weigh heavily on a vendor choice. Compare the estimated average cost of outsourcing offered by the service providers in your country, and in the countries with lower cost of living leading to lower hourly rates of coders.

For example, being located in the US, you can address European or Asian companies. Businesses from the Western Europe are usually more likely to reach out to the software development vendors from Eastern Europe.

Take Path of a Chosen Outsourcing Model

Depending on the location that you have chosen, the web development process will fall under one of these types:

  • onshore projects that are executed by the external executive located in your country;
  • nearshore projects completed in a partnership with web development outsourcing companies from the neighbouring countries;
  • offshore projects in collaboration with a distant partner located 2 and more time zones away.

The model you choose influences the regulatory compliance, the peculiarities of legislation, contracting, everyday life of a team while cooperating and much more beyond costs.

Make a Stop for Interviewing Potential Partners

It is vital for your project not to hurry in making the choice of entrusting your business software to an external force. When you outsource web development, communicate with every potential vendor and ask questions before the contract is signed:

  • company background that includes the experience on the market, industries of specification, portfolio available for studying;
  • expertise in specific technologies and frameworks of interest, possibilities to order custom development or buy a box solution;
  • the structure of a team and possibilities for customization according to the client’s request.

Follow the Selected Service Provider

Find an outsourcing services provider who matches your requirements and desires most of all. Ask about the basic contracts or offer your one. Take time to study them and meet to negotiate changes, if needed. Cooperating with vendors from one of the best countries for outsourcing software development, pay extra attention to the legislation differences and peculiarities.

After the choice is made, let your partner share their vision on your problem and present the options for solving it. Their extensive industry experience offers a professional vision and a space for finding unexpected solutions.

Go Through the Project Maintaining a Clear Communication

Establish a culture of constant and clear remote team communication. Decide on the means of communication to be used in the development process, agree to record tasks, requests, and any other project-related information in a service that gives access to this information to the participants.

Projects often use the Atlassian suite for these purposes. Jira board helps to track tasks and progress, and Confluence is a comfy tool to keep all documents visible and well-organized. Choose a person in charge of making and organizing records. Usually it is a task for a project manager.

Check These Points in Outsourcing Web Development

Agile offshore development with a trusted vendor is usually a secure and smooth affair, as this development methodology ensures efficient and flexible delivery. However, there are some peculiarities that may seem minor at the beginning but bring significant inconveniences into the process. We’ve created a checklist of these nuances you should check at the beginning of cooperation to ensure a smooth flow.

outsourcing web development

Is a Confidentiality Agreement Signed?

A confidentiality agreement, or an NDA is one of the important documents ensuring safety of your sensitive data. You may also want to include more details to prevent source code re-usage, personal or business data of your company being disclosed or other potential information security threats.

Also pay attention to the demands of your software development team. They may also want to keep some personal information to be kept secret.

Do You Have a Risk Management Plan?

How to outsource web development with lower risks? Predict them and develop a plan. Analyse which of them may be avoided or mitigated, build a strategy to overcome the rest.

Include such points as budget overruns, unexpected technical challenges, possible delays. Discuss with your vendor a monitoring process to control the flow and assess risks in early stages.

Are the Communication Channels Set?

To build a constant and effective communication with your web outsourcing team, establish the communication rules at the very beginning. Decide on the most suitable tools for daily chats, task tracking, results demonstrations. Most remote teams are using services like Microsoft Teams, Jira or Trello, but custom choice is also possible.

Build a clear and unbreakable flow of information using the pre-decided meeting schedules, defined reporting formats, and tools for tracking progress.

Is an Internal Decision-Maker Assigned?

The development project will be coordinated better, if you have a single person responsible for it. This person can have a position of an Account manager or a Project owner. The name doesn’t really matter. The thing is in the capabilities to resolve issues, approve progress, and communicate your business requirements. It will be better to entrust this task to a person with a strong knowledge of your business, alignment with your needs, and a technical background.

Are You Involved Enough?

Even if you seek how to outsource website development, it doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to hand the full control and responsibility over it to an external crew. Your in-house team will still be responsible for strategic decisions, guidance and feedback, providing the project’s vision and ensuring the alignment of the project with business goals and needs. It’s up to you, whether you will be responsible for it yourself as a business owner, or will rely on another project leader. The thing is to keep a leadership inside your company and assure enough involvement and cooperation.

Do You Know Your Team Well?

When you decide to outsource web developers, do your best to make friends with these people. Trusted and friendly relationship with the remote workforce will foster effective collaboration. Give time to introductory meetings and informal communication to unite internal and external parts of the team and keep people motivated on a long run. Strong personal connections will also benefit the efficiency of everyday communication and productivity.

How to Outsource Web Development without Typical Mistakes

how to outsource website development

If you are looking for an option that will combine a high quality with the competitive budget, hire dedicated development team in Ukraine. It will make you feel all the benefits of outsourcing, and we’ll assist you on this way to avoid typical mistakes that can upstage your experience.

Don’t Jump at the Cheapest Option

The lowest-cost vendor may seem appealing at the first glance but may hide obstacles like additional fees beyond the development costs, lack of expertise or free workforce. Fixing a buggy and inefficient code will take extra time and lead to extra expenses.

In addition, the loss of profit is hidden in a greater idle time, when the application doesn’t work. Outsource website development to the vendors evaluated based on reputation, portfolio, and technical expertise will be a more efficient strategy than just focusing on the development rates.

Work on a Clear Communication

A clear communication lies in the combination of handy means of everyday connection and productive document exchange. Well-maintained documentation and easy access to other team members during the web development process prevent misunderstanding, delays, incomplete tasks and getting out of track.

To keep everything working, develop communication protocols and meeting schedules in advance. Make sure every team member is onboarded smoothly and aware of the communication and reporting formats.

Consider Cultural and Time Difference

Outsourcing website development, keep in mind that you are going to work with multiple foreigners, each in their own time zone and with a unique cultural background. The project flow may be troubled with disparities in work ethics, different national and religious holidays, mismatching communication styles.

To bring everyone to a common ground, establish common rules of communication, reporting and other working practices. Choosing vendors, also pay attention to the companies with extensive experience in cooperation with international clients and workforce.

Set Strong Security Boundaries

Companies that outsource web development projects have to exchange sensitive data and intellectual property with a third party. In these conditions following strong security protocols is vital for the company’s business life. Data breaches and compliance issues can harm not only the company itself, but also its clients and reputation. Check if the vendor follows secure coding practices, access control and other essential security protocols, before sharing any sensitive information.

Don’t Stop on the Release

Web product deployment isn’t equal to an end of the digitalization cycle. Soon you’ll face a need to update or check for vulnerabilities. Outsourcing allows not only launching an appealing web resource, but also providing post-release maintenance and ongoing support for end users and company workers. If you outsource development, also ask vendors about the options for maintaining and upgrading the application on request.

Frequently Asked Questions

Looking to hire remote software developers but have a few questions unanswered? We are sharing our list of frequently asked questions by our clients when hiring software developers.

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Develop a list of requirements, project scope and budget — and find a vendor that matches everything.

The total number consists of the developer rates, timings, and extra services you need.

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