With the increased pressure on companies since the pandemic, outsourcing has become a popular option. Outsourcing has primarily occurred within the divisions of marketing on social media, system management, design, and more in the software development industry.
Outsourcing is assigning responsibilities and projects to third-party individuals or teams to decrease stress, improve time management, and save money. This can also lead to bringing on more qualified developers as well as establishing long-term relationships.
Saving Businesses Money
The financial element of management and development is one of the biggest factors when deciding to outsource. Outsourcing saves businesses money, which they can then spend on buying better software or equipment, upgrade current software, and even handing out raises or bonuses to their employees.
One good example of this is the difficulties the creators of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, and Jan Joum, encountered. They outsourced in order to bring in experts who could fix the issues the early version had. Now, they were one of the most popular social media apps in 2020 (and still in 2021).
Outsourcing to areas where there is a lower standard of living means companies don’t have to pay those developers as much as they would if they were hired within their own country or spent money promoting or training current employees.
Access to the Global Talent Pool
With outsourcing, finding qualified individuals or teams with impressive portfolios became much easier. The results of the pandemic furthered this type of business relationship with the initiation and maintenance of lockdowns. Remote work dominated all industries, though that helped the tech industry implement a much-needed change.
Another benefit of outsourcing includes the ability of businesses to branch into different avenues of technology by hiring experts in different fields. Companies work alongside those experts, but the relationship can be short- or long-term. This flexibility has been an asset for businesses not satisfied with any aspect of the outsourced developers.
Some Other Benefits
Along with saving money, outsourcing can save time by delegating the more complex tasks to outsourced teams or individuals. Businesses also found it helpful that they could choose how much (or how little) of a project they wanted to outsource. With less time and money involved, the risks for companies decreased as well. For startup businesses, this was a crucial factor as the first few years after establishing a company can play a significant role in whether it succeeds or fails.
Summary
Outsourcing has many more benefits, but it should not be something companies readily jump into. The right outsourced individual or team may be difficult to find. Not all third-party developers are necessarily good at what they do. In fact, there used to be a big debate about the educational experience over being self-taught. The opinions on self-teaching have become steadily accepted since practical applications are viewed as helpful. Nonetheless, while the benefits of outsourcing seem nice, there are risks such as bringing in the wrong kind of team for a project, not being able to maintain a clear and communicative relationship, and falling for an outsourcing scam—which can happen! Doing research is important before even deciding whether outsourcing is the right option.
