5 ways to fail your software development outsourcing project

Software development outsourcing has become very popular among all types of companies, from SMEs to Fortune 500 brands. If before the primary reason for choosing this practice was cost reduction, now organizations mainly delegate IT-related tasks to access the expertise of engineers, increase efficiency, and relieve the time of in-house employees.

Although software development outsourcing provides plenty of benefits, it is important to make everything right. To create a great solution and meet deadlines, you should avoid common mistakes that lead to budget overrun and even project failure.

How to fail your IT outsourcing project

1. Make the lowest development cost a top priority

Cost reduction is one of the main advantages of software development outsourcing. When choosing an IT outsourcing service provider, you can hire designers and engineers from any country where wages are lower than in yours.

For instance, the cost of building a digital product in Eastern Europe is 2-3 times lower than in the USA while specialists' skills are the same. Developers in countries like Belarus and Ukraine earn $25-$50 per hour. In the USA they charge $70-$150. Asia and Africa offer lower rates that generally vary between $15-$40.

However, you should not make the lowest price a top priority. Since the key goal is to build a quality solution that aligns with your needs, you should focus on finding the right software development partner. Reputation and expertise in the required field (e.g., blockchain, machine learning, or cybersecurity) are the main factors you should pay attention to.

There are many problems you can have working with inexperienced and unreliable contractors, from the non-conformity with the quality standards (product performance issues, multiple errors in the code, etc.) to incompliance with deadlines.

However, cost savings are not necessarily about poor quality.

2. Require to build a software product within a week

Another common mistake is to expect that an IT service provider is able to create a software solution within a week or month. Custom software development generally takes 3-12 months depending on the project size and complexity.

Making a minimum viable product (MVP) that includes only the key functionality generally requires 3.5 months. To clarify why it is impossible to launch an app or website so quickly, let’s consider the project stages using the example of our IT outsourcing company.

At Arateg, we deliver software solutions within the following steps:

• Discovery — Our team collects and analyzes your requirements. Diving into your business-specific needs, we get an understanding of how a digital product should look and behave to fulfill them. At this stage, we also conduct competitor analysis and prepare a technical specification.
• UI/UX design — From drawing wireframes to making a clickable dynamic prototype, our specialists create a design of your website or application. Focusing on quality, we ensure a consistent user experience across all devices and platforms, smooth navigation, as well as develop an intuitive interface.
• Software development — We build your project taking care of the system maintainability, performance, security, and other important things.
• Testing and debugging — Our quality assurance engineers test the product for bugs, errors, security breaches, compliance with the requirements, etc. Then, our developers make the necessary improvements.
• Release — When the client confirms that the project is ready, we launch a system for the public or integrate it into the customer’s workflow.

Building a digital solution is a complex process that demands a thoughtful approach. In our IT outsourcing company, we manage to reduce time-to-market and improve quality by following the best software development practices.

3. Don’t test a software product

Software testing is crucial to create a quality solution and succeed in the market. If the delivered product looks amazing on a smartphone, it doesn’t mean it will look amazing on other screens and devices. If the app or website performs great when you use it, there is no guarantee that there are no performance issues under heavy loads.

Bugs, errors, low page load speed, poor user experience, and system unavailability are those problems that you can face due to skipping the testing stage.

4. Don’t conduct market research

Even if you have a clear understanding of the product goals, you should define the target audience and analyze competitors. This will allow you to see how you can add true value to customers. As a result, you will be able to fill a market niche and generate revenue.

Knowing user problems, you find out what tasks the app or website should address and identify priorities. Discovering the strengths and weaknesses of similar solutions, you learn how to stand out from them, for instance, by adding a unique feature or providing an engaging user experience.

5. Say “No” to regular meetings

When cooperating with a software development outsourcing company, it is very important to control the project. If you are too busy for daily audio or video calls, we recommend holding at least weekly meetings. This will let you be aware of the team’s progress, resolve issues on the fly, and make sure you are on the same wave with an IT service vendor.

Through close collaboration with your partner, you will be able to validate the outcome of each project stage, test the product, and provide feedback. As a result, it will be much easier for the vendor to deliver the app/website that will meet your expectations.

At Arateg, we continuously communicate with you throughout the development process to discuss project issues and show intermediate results. Then, our team prepares daily, weekly, and monthly reports containing information about the completed tasks, spent time, built functionality, etc.