Think Before Outsourcing App Development
The Non-Technical Entrepreneur Who Wants to Know When To Allocate Outsourced or In House Resources
Are you a non-technical entrepreneur thinking about Outsourcing Vs. In-House app development? It is important for you to know when to get help for your app development projects. Hopefully, this post will help you figure out if you want to allocate resources in-house or find outside help to develop your next tech project. Although this post is written for app development, learnings will hold true for any king of tech product – whether it is a website, SaaS product, or a desktop software.
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Entrepreneurs and founders of different sized organizations outsource app development for a variety of reasons. You can find some of the common reasons below:
Common Reasons Why Founders Outsource:
- Reducing and controlling operating costs
- Improving company focus
- Gaining access to world-class capabilities
- Freeing internal resources for other purposes
- Streamlining or increasing efficiency for time-consuming functions
- Maximizing use of external resources
- Sharing risks with a partner company
Whether outsourcing project is part of a long-term or short term strategy, Cliffex – a leader in mobile and app development – recommends that you have clear goals before you start your project.
Outsourced app development projects which aren’t managed properly usually end up over budget, off task, or over deadline. Simply due to problems like poor communication.
Knowing When Your App Development Project (Website, App or Software) Needs a Little Help
You might be wondering what outsourcing is. Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for an existing internal activity. Outsourcing usually involves the contracting of a business process, operations, and/or non-core functions. These could be development, manufacturing, facility management, call center support etc..
In American startup culture, a lot of entrepreneurs will use outsourcing as a means to help grow their businesses. Outsourcing app development is often times more cost effective and efficient than hiring a local developer or vendor. For those who are looking for find a CTO to help them with their tech product, outsourcing is much better than giving up equity stakes in your business.
Every year, founders outsource items like development, design or support. They do so without having a clear plan of action as well as Primary Indicators of Success – or a way to gauge the value of the project.
With all of those moving parts, in addition to mismanagement, poor communication, and unmet expectations, many outsourced projects leave both the vendor and client feeling – lacking. Outsourcing fails for a variety of reasons. Check out some of the more common reasons below:
Common Reasons Why Outsourcing Fails
- Role clarity
- Big picture
- Planning
- Trusted partner
- Implied Communication
As experts in managing projects for our clients, Cliffex has learned that our most successful partners are successful because they knew WHEN to outsource – which is key.
Too often, founders and managers spend too much money on project development – oftentimes their ideas aren’t flushed out enough before they start spending money developing apps and websites.
The sunk cost fallacy teaches us another common mistake – not knowing when to cut losses and move on to another project.
Assigning a team member, usually a project manager or a product manager (Suggested Reading – Spotting the Difference Between Lean Manufacturing vs. Agile Development) to manage your development project to completion, will be your best bet.
Leverage goal setting and milestones in order to guide your project through to completion. A good project manager will make sure that both internal and external stakeholders are working together in order to complete their areas of development.
Remote = Practical, Scalable, and Affordable App Development Team
In modern software development and engineering practices, you no longer have to be in the same room as your team. Project management, communication, and collaboration tools makes it easy to work with times across borders and timezones.
In fact, Cliffex has serviced hundreds of happy clients across time zones. Our team understands that through efficient collaboration, shared vision, and open communication, our clients get the success they deserve.
You can develop your project online or in person. The Cliffex team has the ability to create your project from wherever they are in the world.
Beginning Your Next Development Project
Before you begin your next development project, don’t make the mistake that a lot wantrepreneurs make. Understand your customer, conduct preliminary research, and write down a short description of what success looks like to you. Also reflect on how you’ll feel, what would make your customers happy, and the experience you expect.
Because You Don’t Want To Waste Your Resources
Whatever your business goal. Whether it is selling new products via a sleek website or creating a customer loyalty program via a customized app. A proper plan of action is going to be required.
Time and money are your most valuable resources in business. Poor project development costs both the vendor and customer feeling dissatisfied. Everyone wants to feel as though their time, energy and money are valued. So be sure to avoid wasting them.
How: By Using Our 10 Minute Checklist to Outsourcing App Development
Cliffex understands how difficult it is to outsource a project, so we’ve created this 10 Minute Checklist for you to figure out if you’re ready to outsource your project, or if you need to spend some more time flushing out the idea.
Once you’re ready and you know it’s time to get started on your project, request a FREE consultation with a member of the Cliffex team.