Mistakes To Avoid While Outsourcing Software Development Projects

By Author: Anna Harris
Total Articles: 60
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Offshore software development is a common practice among the IT companies. With this business approach, it is possible to get the software development projects completed at pretty lower prices. Even though it has many benefits to the business, it may also cause problems if not outsourced properly. Here we are outlining some of the common mistakes that people make while outsourcing their software projects to an offshore organization.

Not allowing the ownership of the development process to the outsourcer
While outsourcing a software development project, a organization its software development projects to its outsourcing partner and it does not interfere in the development process. After the completion of the project, it buys the result of the project. But, when the company does not transfer the ownership of the development process to the outsourcer and decides to keep it under its own control, it loses the value that the outsourcing partner could add to the software development process.

Ignoring the cultural differences
Today ...
... people across the world have become very fluent in English. But, communication is lot more than just words. Intonations, vocabulary, gestures, idioms, unspoken assumptions, acceptable and unacceptable behavior vary in businesses across the globe. These variations can result in catastrophic failures in communication. So the ability to speak good English is not enough always.

Relying on virtual meetings
In case of offshore outsourcing, usually both the companies communicate via emails, calls and video conferences. However, just virtual meetings are not enough. If you don’t visit your offshore team you may never interact directly with the team members, you won't be able to know what is working well and what is not. In short, you will be relying completely and blindly on your remote manager, which may be dangerous for your business. So make sure you visit your offshore partner at least once in six months or just invite your offshore manager to visit you.

Not protecting your intellectual property
In your country, you are safe from code theft by non-disclosure agreements, ethical norms and the legal system. But in case of foreign country, social norms are different and legal systems also have different rules. So it could be dangerous to trust your offshore developers with the source code of your projects. So you must always have a non-disclosure agreement including the best possible legal options and ways to protect the intellectual property.

Improper Process Management
Companies that are new to outsourcing may sometimes choose the wrong partner for their outsourcing process. They often assume very little administration is required in the outsourcing process and lose supervision to recognize any problems before they actually face them.

So try to avoid these minor mistakes while outsourcing your software development projects to an offshore organization. It will help you get better results from your projects.

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