Development is arguably the most complex aspect of technology-driven businesses. Not only the technical and execution part, but there are also a lot of tough decisions to make around resourcing strategy for offshore product development. One such decision is to choose between Freelancers and Offshore Product Development Companies.
Both are the primary options for outsourcing product development tasks by medium and small IT companies. However, you can get the job done through both channels. Similarly, in this case, an Offshore Product Development Company is a better option than giving the project to a freelancer. Let us see why?
Why is an Offshore Product Development Company better than Freelancers?
Occasionally, freelancers will be a perfect fit for outsourcing your software development requirements. This may be around getting a particular task done. For example, you need to optimize or integrate the database with a specific third-party application.
However, if you are looking for an end-to-end development cycle, as in the case of offshore product development, you would also find it more beneficial to use a software outsourcing Company.
Let us understand this through a typical example. Suppose you are building a house. Will you hire a local contractor or a team of expert architects and engineers? Most of you would choose the second option. It is because no matter how skilled the contractor is, he can’t beat the industry-related knowledge and expertise of the architect and engineers.
Similarly, a freelancer cannot compete with the synchronized teamwork and quality service you can get from offshore development companies. However, freelancers cost much less than development companies. But they are with you only till the completion of the project; it is a single-time engagement. After that, you are on your own. On the other hand, offshore product development companies have a long-term engagement with you.
They will also provide time-to-time maintenance to the product even after the delivery.
Freelancers are good to appoint for smaller projects. But the established offshore development firms are the ones you must turn to when you have a big project with many complexities.
Moreover, a freelancer comes with a specific skill set that limits the number of services they can provide. But a whole team of development companies possesses a Collective Skill Set to offer you a wide range of services.
Along with all these factors, several other benefits might encourage you to choose an Offshore Product Development Company over freelancers. Let us have a close look…
Benefits of choosing Offshore Product Development Company over Freelancers
There are numerous benefits but let us focus on the primary ones…
- Shared Expertise in Building Software Solutions
Hiring a freelancer gives you a single resource to use. It is one of the critical advantages of choosing a product development company. With a product development company, you get access to multiple resources having expertise in different domains, such as UI/UX design, business analysis, data analytics, and marketing support.
This limits the scope of variations in the project. Also, with a freelancer, you get only one individual’s input on the project, which might make the product’s features monotonous.
- Efficient Product Development
The offshore development companies follow standard procedures for developing your product. Processes such as requirement analysis, business process analysis, wireframing, prototyping, R&D, testing, maintenance, technical support, documentation of system specifications, and code are all in proper order. This ordered procedure is responsible for the development of a bug-free product.
Eventually, you get an efficient software development solution. And, when everything is in order, there are fewer chances of problems and confusion. This saves a lot of time as well.
- Reliability
As we discussed earlier, a software company will always be more reliable than a freelance developer. You do not lose the connection even after the product is delivered. Software applications need regular maintenance after deployment.
A dedicated development team will help you with the service and maintenance of the product after it is online. This is something you cannot expect from freelance developers. Even if they agree to do it, they will charge extra money from you for the maintenance of your product after delivery.
- Safety
Offshore companies charge more than freelance developers. However, they are worth this amount. You get better quality because they have adequate resources to make your product development safe and secure. On the other hand, most freelance developers do not take ownership of testing the product or any kind of service once the project is finished.
- Legal Binding
The solid paperwork that an offshore development company conducts creates a legal binding between you and them. There are clauses for data security along with NDA (non-disclosure agreement) in the documentation. All this makes it safer to tie up with an offshore development company instead of hiring a freelancer.
Conclusion
Taking nothing away from the freelancers working out there. They can handle your projects well enough. But a case in point was the comparison between them and offshore development companies. The facts and figures indicate Offshore Application Development Services as the winner.
