CTO’s Guide to IT Outsourcing

You could assume remote management is nothing new when you hear the term. In the post-pandemic era, it’s growing difficult to find people (especially in the IT field) who are prepared to work in-office; nevertheless, many are still just getting started. Simply put, this is a different mode of work. And some CTOs and executives might struggle to adapt.

While remotely managing their teams and business operations may be routine for some top managers, it continues to be a headache for others. All the types of questions keep lingering in your mind like, What are the primary reasons to outsource, How should I outsource, What shouldn’t I outsource, What are the best ways to outsource development successfully, What are the primary issues and roadblocks, etc. Therefore, whether you have expertise in this area or it is still entirely new, here is a guide on IT outsourcing that includes suggestions for effective remote management and how to make an outsourced workforce a successful course of action.

This article’s goal is to provide some helpful tools and best practices to use while managing a team remotely and outsourcing your project development. But not just IT outsourcing is affected by the vast majority of the problems listed below; other remote management scenarios and outsourcing models are also affected.

We will discuss some of the best practices and tools which will help you immensely if you are planning to look for outside resources for your project or are exploring outsourcing product development. 

To give your questions a rest, we will start with the why.

Table of Content 📜

Outsourcing App or Web Development
What should you Outsource
When should you opt for outsourcing
When should you not opt For Outsourcing
Working with Outsourced Teams
What Will Outsourcing Look Like In The Future
Summing up 

Why Should One Opt for Outsourcing App or Web Development?

Three rudimentary justifications exist for outsourcing development. First, when you employ mobile app development services, those developers can deliver quickly if product development needs to begin immediately and there aren’t enough developers on staff. You can just sign a contract with an outsourcing company, and those hired developers will start working. Second: outsourcing provides flexibility. If you begin a project but are unsure of its viability, it is simpler to terminate the outsourcing company’s contract than to fire developers. Cost-cutting comes in third and is the least significant but most frequently mentioned. The cost of outsourcing is comparatively less. The next point is what and when.

What Should You Outsource?

What should you delegate to the independent provider? Beyond the obvious, like MVPs, it is less evident and more erratic what businesses outsource. Frequently, it simply comes down to management’s inclinations. Let’s face it. There are many scenarios in which outsourcing can prove to be a boon.

Let’s go over those, one by one:

When Should You Opt for Outsourcing?

When there is a Pressing Deadline:

It is the right product built at the right time that makes a world of difference in success. You can achieve this by taking advantage of IT outsourcing services.

When Tackling Challenging Projects:

Technical skills and in-depth knowledge are requirements for certain projects. For this reason, offshore agencies provide relevant engineers.

Lacking in-house Talent:

When all of your qualified professionals are committed to various projects, or when you do not have the IT expertise required for the development and delivery of software.

In Cases where Expertise is Necessary:

There are specific requirements for your IT project that can only be met by developers who have experience in that particular field.

When you Need to Optimize the Cost Savings:

Using an outsourcing company can help you avoid paying the high costs of recruiting your own employees while simultaneously producing superior results.

When Should You Not Opt for Outsourcing?

It is important to learn when and how outsourcing is suitable. But you also need to understand when it’s not. Here are some reasons that you shouldn’t choose offshore outsourcing.

When You are Short on the Funds

If there are qualified and experienced developers and time-sensitive sprints, the cost to outsource may be substantial.

When you Cannot Locate the Ideal Organization

Before entering into an agreement with a company, look into reviews, case studies, and other important areas. Never choose a business solely because it is providing affordable offerings.

When Confidentiality is in Danger

Be very cautious when it comes to software security, NDAs, IP protection, and the integrity of your business data. Forgo outsourcing if you detect any gaps.

When the Project is Slipping out of Your Hands

Software engineering outsourcing is not the greatest option if you prefer to retain some control over your project while an offshore team makes all the decisions.

An Essential Competency in Development

Giving it to a third-party vendor is not an alternative if digital product development is your company’s sole focus.

Read Also:- How to Manage an Offshore IT Team 💡

Working with Outsourced Teams: Good Practices to Follow

Below are some effective practices for use by all companies who outsource – not just those who outsource software services.

Establishing a Trusted Contact Point on your End

The selection of a dependable person to serve as the exclusive point of contact between your company and the outside source is a smart idea. It’s crucial to specify their exact area of duty. Once more, it’s better to put it in writing at the start of the project development process, when all responsibilities and goals should be explicitly specified by the outsourcing service company and the client company.

Define the precise areas of cooperation where the individual can serve as your agent and make decisions without needing to involve you (CTO) every time. It’s crucial to establish and adhere to a border since there may be instances where you want to make judgments on your own.

Integrity and Authenticity are Essential

Throughout the process, it’s critical to be sincere and open; of course, this goes for both sides. Be attentive to let the remote project manager or any other service provider point of contact know if something worries you. Recognize that difficulties are a necessary component of productive collaboration.

This implies that if anything doesn’t seem to be fulfilling enough, ensure to let the team members who are operating offsite know as quickly as possible. By doing this, you can guarantee that it is fixed instantly and does not become a bigger issue. However, it’s advantageous to be receptive to pushback from the development team. Communicate with them genuinely if they have any reservations about cooperating.

Your cooperation will be more productive and healthy when you share information with empathy, and frequently. These qualities will also help you eliminate issues as you develop. 

Faith in the Selected Company

The previous practice is related to another good one. The key is trust. This time, though, it’s about putting confidence in the selected vendor. You undoubtedly thought about some things before choosing an app development business to outsource your project to. So, if the firm you’ve picked is the result of your investigation and evaluation, you can be sure that the partner you’ve discovered is reliable. Outsourcing revolves around trust.

Strengthening Teamwork with Tools

Using dependable, tried-and-true tools comes in last on the list of excellent practices, but it’s certainly not the least. There is a tonne of tools available. We list a few tools that may be less well-known but considerable together with highlighting the most beneficial ones.

In general, the things you must do when leading a team remotely are:

communication, task and time management, and the means for monitoring results and progress. By utilizing some tools, we at ultroNeous have been able to develop our strategy for productive client collaboration.

For Daily Communication

We advise using Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Skype, and Chanty for daily client contact as well as for immediate messaging among development teams.

Create distinct channels to make sure all parties involved are reached. One is for the development team, and it is used to talk about current development-related difficulties. The second is for internal management, so we can make sure the project is handled correctly on our end. To ensure everyone is on the same page, there will also be one channel for all the people involved in the project from both sides.

Video Conferences

There are several possibilities for some larger, scheduled video chats. We often recommend tools depending on what channel of communication we agree with our clients.

Slack is for one-on-one meetings, and it has chat video functionality. 

As an alternative, we have Zoom, which is becoming more and more well-liked these days. Google Hangouts is also used to arrange video conferences. All of those choices are common and well-liked. 

Task Management

We suggest Atlassian’s Jira for management and task control. We consider Confluence or Google Drive for file management. Both are famous and trustworthy.

Now, a few comments on the less visible techniques are linked to the impacts tracking system and are worthwhile testing. Specifically Miro and Reetro. The first is a system for online collaborative whiteboarding that may be used to share the strategy and timetable with a client and streamline internal work. The latter is a fantastic resource for the assessment meetings that are conducted following each sprint. It has several features like allowing remote access for the customer or product owner to join the online meeting. These are unquestionably excellent tools for any Agile team and significantly increase the efficiency of remote administration.

An Effective Onboarding Process

The last bit of wisdom is to set yourself up for partnership by creating a seamless onboarding process. The project requires ownership from your remote software development team and wants things to go more smoothly overall. Do you take pride in your work? Show them the value! Accountability and making each team member feel like they are a vital part of the project are what foster ownership.

What Will Outsourcing Look Like in the Future?

Deciding to outsource is a major move, therefore it’s critical to know what the industry’s future holds.

Numerous changes have occurred in recent years, and more are expected to happen in the future. It is a quickly developing region that is opening up to enterprises, especially SMB organizations.

Although it is difficult to predict how outsourcing will change in the future, it will undoubtedly evolve.

Summing Up

You learned the whys and hows of outsourcing and its management. Strategic outsourcing involves collaboration. It requires more effort than most people anticipate to make the relationship successful and rewarding. To utilize a true outsourcing solution, all stakeholders must be dedicated to good governance and management. While it may be tempting to handle everything yourself when running a business, outsourcing may be the simplest option. And that’s when ultroNeous comes to save you from the tiresome research. We will provide resources so you can relax, as your project will be in the hands of experts. Contact us to access the pool of industry-leading development skills and give shape to your ideas.🚀