How to Evaluate a Good Offshore Team for Your Mobile App Development

Today’s digital world calls for digital resources that can transform your business into a flexible and productive powerhouse. This means staying ahead of the curb wherever possible. But given the pace at which strategies are evolving, it is sometimes difficult to stay competitive and lean at the same time. That is where outsourcing and offshoring come into the picture.

Outsourcing and partnerships with offshoring companies have become essential strategies for modern organizations, especially for app development projects. They provide the advantage of being cost-effective, faster than in-house run projects, and exposure to world-class talent.

But choosing the right offshore mobile app development company is not a simple matter. Various parameters need to be checked before signing off on the collaboration. In this blog, we share details on how to go through the process and make the correct decision.

When hiring an offshore mobile app development team, there is no one size fits all. Before starting with the evaluation process, it is essential to set the scope, requirements, and feasibility of your project. Follow the steps below to get the best results.

Phase I: Defining Your Goals

• Establish the purpose and content of your app

  What value does your app bring to the users? Do you want an app that runs on a single (native) or multiple platforms like iOS and Android? What features do you want in your app?

  These are questions that you must answer before creating an outsourcing plan. 

  For example, when PayPoint was in search of an outsourcing partner, they had a rough idea of what their application will do and look like. They knew that the front end of Collect+ should be accessible, scalable, and include cross-platform functionality.

  This idea of what they required before choosing a partner helped them narrow down their choice and go with GeekyAnts.

  Takeaway: Selecting a company that has the right expertise to meet every requirement is essential. Be clear about your app's content, utility, and target audience so that you can choose a development company with expertise in the relevant tools and technologies.

  Additional questions that can be added to the checklist include:

  • What services are you looking for exactly?
  • Do you have a great app idea and are looking for expert developers who can quickly make an MVP?
  • Do you have an existing app that needs some tweaks or new features?
  • Do you already have an in-house team and are looking for developers skilled in a particular technology?
    

Phase II: Starting Your Search

• Looking for companies

  Platforms such as Clutch, GoodFirms, or Business of Apps are a great place to start your search. You can also ask for references to establish the company’s experience and expertise beforehand.

  Check if the company has worked on projects similar to what you have in mind. Client reviews, case studies, and testimonials are also helpful while assessing the portfolio of a company.

• Evaluating methodologies

  Agile, scrum, waterfall— each method provides different results depending on the project’s scope. The offshore team should have enough expertise to suggest the best methodology for your project. From discovery to planning, reviewing, and releasing, every app development company follows a unique development process.

  For example, in our partnership with Mobile Premier League, the time and material engagement model was chosen for the project. This allowed us to deliver their requirement for an interactive UI/UX and scalability features for their e-sports application within a shorter timeline. The result — they now have 100M+ users nationwide with 47,000+ positive reviews on the Play Store and App Store.

• Pricing and development time

  Request a proposal and price estimation from the offshore mobile app development company you wish to partner with. For this, an in-depth and accurate description of your product and your expectations is required.

  Learn more about time and material, fixed price, and dedicated team models. A structured pricing model will help you understand the most and least expensive features of your app and the time it will take to complete the project.

Phase III: Finalizing an Offshore Development Company

• Communicate your requirements clearly

  Be transparent and honest about your expectations from the project, the services you require, and your budget for the project. Ask questions till you are satisfied and get a plan for the project. Remember that good companies always have questions to ask you to understand your project's scope better.

• Settle time and communication zones

  Ensure that the offshore development team has sufficient points of contact so there are no communication gaps. Tools such as Slack, Jira, Miro, Zoom, Google Meet, and Figma facilitate communication and help keep teams updated in real-time. The development team should also be willing to work and assist you according to your time zone preferences.

• Check if the company provides project management services

  An established app development company will have a team dedicated to ensuring smooth and transparent communication with the development team. The client management team will offer creative and useful solutions and address any concerns you may have during the app development process.

• Ensure that all data security protocols are in place

  Ensure that the offshore company keeps your data confidential and follows all the correct legal processes, like signing an NDA beforehand. The development company should also be compliant with regulations such as HIPAA and have all the necessary certifications.
  

• Post-launch tech support and maintenance

  Ensure that the potential development partner offers post-launch maintenance and support so that your app can scale and function smoothly post deployment.

There are specific advantages of offshoring based on organizational structure. However, there are general benefits that are common to all companies.

Faster turnaround time 

An in-house development project requires an ecosystem of developers, designers, QA engineers, and project managers. This can be expensive, resource-intensive, and time-consuming.

Having an offshore team to handle the development cycle takes the burden away from you. The result is faster project completion and better go-to-market timelines, as the offshore team already has the necessary setup to complete projects quickly.

Access to international talent pools 

Offshoring lets you tap into new markets to choose experienced professionals. Select experts in emerging technologies who can develop apps with that competitive edge. You can find developers skilled in less popular programming languages, tools, and tech stacks.

Low development costs 

Building a team for app development requires technical expertise and team-building skills. Without this, you may end up with a team that needs constant replacements, adding to expenses. Offshoring the development project takes care of these problems while cutting down costs by almost 50%.

Flexibility and focus on business goals 

Once you partner with a capable development team, you can focus on core business functionalities. Working with an offshore development team allows you the flexibility to schedule the work to make the best use of your time. 

A Mckinsey and Company report states that over 44% of well-known organizations expect a significant skill gap by 2025. Factors influencing this report are a lack of workers skilled in the latest technologies, high demand for tech talent in a post-COVID-19 pandemic world, an ageing population, and higher expectations from workers and employees. For CIOs, CTOs, and product owners, offshoring or hiring remote teams from outside their country is a sure-shot way to answer this problem.

In general, outsourcing will benefit the company in the following ways:

• Cut down on development costs by almost half
• Find the relevant skill set and world-class expertise
• Hire more developers at a cheaper rate if needed
• Get the finished product to market faster

Offshore mobile app development is hiring a company outside your home country for the app development process. Countries with developing economies and low costs of living, such as India, China, The Philippines, and Brazil, are some countries that offer the best offshore app development services at reasonable prices. Among them, India is emerging as the leading player, thanks to better ease of doing business scales.

You can outsource the following software development services:

• Mobile app development
• Web development
• UI/UX design
• Cloud computing,
• Automation
• Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR)
• Quality Assurance
• Post-launch maintenance and support

At GeekyAnts, we have been working for 17+ years to create a strong portfolio of digital solutions provided to partners worldwide. We have collaborated with businesses of every scale across industry sectors, specializing in various applications and software products.

With hundreds of award-winning apps and open-source projects, GeekyAnts has always been among the first to experiment with the latest technologies and tools to create the perfect products. If you are looking for an app development partner to boost your brand, we are ready to help you. To schedule a call: CLICK HERE

Remember: App development is a resource-intensive, long-term commitment. Partnering with the right offshore app development company is an affordable and viable solution that helps you get the most out of your project.