Software developers are an indispensable asset for any business and organization. Ever since the digital world picked up the pace of development, there has been no stopping the revolution of technological development. Today, gadgets, technology, and instruments have become pervasive for all types of organizations where any form of business is carried out. From the concept to hire a virtual employee to the emergence of outsourcing business functions and operations, we have come a long way, in a relatively short period in the race of technology development.
How to leverage offshore development teams to ensure a 100% success
Outsourcing software development is not a new concept today. World over, companies are practicing outsourcing to cut down on costs, enhance the output and earn better margins. However, the quality of the offshore development teams determines the success of the outsourcing activity to a large extent.
If a company can leverage such international development teams to their benefit, they will be better placed to face success and overcome hurdles in the path of their business endeavors. In order to make this happen, they may need to understand remarkable tips to hire a full-stack developer or an adept programmer, either of whom should be able to work in house and develop a complete methodology, based on which the offshore development teams may work.
Here are a few strategies which might help an entrepreneur in placing an effective strategy for outsourcing software development process.
Start with a trial period without firm commitments
The first thing to do while you hire web developers outside your company to work for you is to determine a trial period for which they will work for you. This is a crucial decision to make as far as starting an outsourcing commitment is concerned. While outsourcing a job sure has its share of advantages, there are a few disadvantages that also make it a trouble to operate.
Consequently, in order to eliminate the same, it is suggested that entrepreneurs should set aside a trial period. As such, this period can be flexible and then, assign the job of software development to the offshore team for that period. This will allow the entrepreneur to judge the performance of the overseas employee and assess if he is capable of undertaking the tasks assigned to him and handle them to the best of his capability.
During this time, it might be unwise to make any firm commitments about the permanence of employment or the assignment of tasks to the employee for a more extended period. Take your time to judge the work of the employee and only after complete satisfaction, decide to make a firm commitment.
Steps to take care during Service Transition
Consider the case when you hire a mobile app developer and make the transition from the usual desktop to a mobile-based platform. Does it not take time and some transitional efforts to shift the entire data and work between the platforms? Sure it does. In the same manner, when a transition is made from the regular workforce to assigning jobs to offshore virtual employees, specific steps need to be taken.
This will ensure that the change is a smooth one and does not pierce the blanket of peace in the organization.
During the transition period, it might be of utmost importance to ensure that all employees have understood their job roles and those roles are clearly defined.
One of the significant problems that an entrepreneur may face during this period is a clear divide in the responsibilities between employees. This might become a reason why jobs remain unfinished or perhaps employees might end up fighting amongst one another about what they were supposed to do and what not. This confusion can be avoided if the roles and responsibilities of all the parties involved are laid down clearly and transparently for everyone to understand.
Always negotiate the monthly wages
The cost of software development isn’t going to be a cakewalk to afford. Added to that will be the cost of the personnel who will be doing it for you. Ideally, you should aim to minimize the overall costs involved in the case. While the prices of developing the software cannot be negotiated for real, it is quite possible to manage the human resource aspect of this cost.
For this, you will have to try and negotiate the monthly wages, which you will be obliged to pay to the offshore virtual employees. The best way to do this is to search for beginners, and fresher’s in the field. These people can offer competitive pricing for the same work, as compared to an experienced professional, who is likely to charge a hefty amount for the same. You will do well to hire software developers who fit the bill for your entrepreneurship activity.
Manage Balancing productivity with quality
One of the significant problems which an offshore virtual employee is likely related to the work that they perform and are expected to perform. Since these employees are not physically present in the premises of an office, they do not have a strict bound over their head to work under a rigid and formal environment.
Due to this, the quality of the work performed by them is highly susceptible to undergo quality issues and come out with flaws and mistakes. Moreover, these offshore employees are at liberty to carry out their jobs at any hour of the day as they like. This means that they are not likely to possess the same levels of productivity at all times, and this is another factor which is expected to impact their quality of output.
An entrepreneur will be charged with a solemn responsibility to maintain and strike a balance between the productivity of the employee and the quality of his production. What techniques might he adopt to get that done, depends entirely on his caliber but without doing the same, it is highly likely that he will be unable to achieve the targets set by him.
As far as outsourcing software development is concerned, the entrepreneur will also be charged with the responsibility to ensure that the offshore employee maintains complete secrecy of the technical data entrusted to him. Having him sign an agreement or contract for the same might be one way to ensure that this happens. Another factor to consider is the provision of the requisite technical tools and platform for the development of the software.
This will be the responsibility of the entrepreneur. To ensure the active development of software in the hands of an offshore employee, the entrepreneurs will have to take a rain check of the stages of development from time to time. This will involve assessing the process of software development and testing at various stages, to eliminate rework and problems at later stages. Offshore employees can prove to be quite successful when it comes to managing routine administrative tasks.
This might have become too much of a job for regular employees to handle. In this case, the addition of a virtual workforce may be the answer to all the productivity issues as well as the efficiency problems which an entrepreneur might be facing with his regular workforce.
