Introduction
Website development is very important if you want to establish a robust online presence. there or a number of ways to perform website development.
You can either hire an in-house team to do so or outsource website development to a third party. Both these methods have their advantages and disadvantages.
Choosing an ideal method for your business depends on different factors like your business requirements and the scale of website development projects.
In this article, we will learn about in house vs outsourcing website development in detail.
So let’s get started!
Website Development Outsourcing or Outsource Software Development
Website development outsourcing is a strategic decision made by businesses. This decision is made to entrust the development, design and maintenance of their website to another agency.
Instead of providing the tasks to an in-house team, the business collaborates with other professionals who have experience and expertise in the field and can create an online platform as per business requirements.
With the help of outsource development, companies leverage the expertise and skills of experts in this field who are located in different geographical areas.
This process includes a number of services like content creation web designing coding and continuous technical support.
When you outsource your web development services, you can focus on core competencies while on the other hand, dedicated professionals can help to maintain your website.
This, in turn, will lead to a number of benefits like faster development times, cost savings, a more robust online presence etc. But just like any other thing, web development outsourcing has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Let’s have a look at them.
Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Web Development
Advantages of Outsourcing Software Developer
1. Cost Efficiency
Comparing in-house development with outsourcing is not complete unless and until we compare the budget of both. For most companies, outsourcing website development is more cost-effective when compared to in-house.
This can be due to lower labor rates in various companies. According to different statistics, the average earning of a software developer in Western countries can range anywhere from $100 to $150 per hour.
On the other hand, this figure can range from $20 to $40 per hour in Eastern Europe.
In simple words, outsourcing can help you reduce your project development cost by around 60% when you take into account different factors like hiring, infrastructure costs, developer hourly rates etc.
You can use this money on more important tasks to grow your business.
2. More Extensive Pool of Talent
Outsourcing gives access to a global pool of talent and expertise to the companies. Every business wants to make its software development process easy and affordable with the best experts in the field.
Outsourcing is the right solution to this because you can pick developers with extensive experience and skills from all over the globe.
Moreover, outsourcing is a better experience because a successful and skilful team will be behind each project.
3. Lower Risk of Outsource Development
There are a number of risks associated with the software development services cycle like operational risk, scheduled risk and Technical risk.
When you collaborate with a software development outsourcing agency, then you can reduce these risks efficiently because experts can handle all these complex projects.
There is a legal contract that will bind this outsourcing and it will include key aspects like payment, scope of work time confidentiality, etc. thus reducing your risks effectively.
4. Seamless Change in Team
Getting a team changed in the case of the in-house software solutions team is very complicated. However, this is a simpler process when done with outsourcing. Many offshore agencies can provide a replacement within a week.
Moreover, if you want to hire a new developer then your outsourcing provider will also try to fill in the occupancy at the earliest.
Cons of Outsource Development
1. Communication Barriers
One of the biggest disadvantages of outsourcing is that there may be different communication barriers with your third-party agencies or remote teams. These communication barriers can be in the form of language issues, time zone difference and cultural differences.
The importance of communication cannot be overstated in the case of collaboration. Effective communication is important because it will help to prevent any misunderstanding and delays.
2. Less Control
You have less control over the development of your project when you work with an outsourcing provider. Though this will help to save your time so that you can focus on core business functions, it will also reduce your proper quality control.
This can become a challenge to meet the company’s standards.
3. Issues Relating to Privacy
Outsourcing requires you to transfer confidential information to a third-party developer. This same third-party developer can take on projects from your competitors in the future.
Hence, there can be trust issues regarding the privacy policy of the outsourcing agencies.
So, it is important to hire a credible agency after you substantiate their record and testimonials. You can also find an NDA to protect your private information. Having learned about outsourcing software development, let’s move on to in house development.
In-house Website Development
As the name itself suggests, in-house website development is the process where the companies start a team from scratch. This team will have a number of positions based on the experience and skill set required in software development.
Creating an in-house software development team is similar to hiring permanent staff in organizations. You will have to conduct all the processes of recruitment, interviewing and onboarding to build your team.
Pros and Cons of In-house Development
Pros of In-house Web Development
1. Full Control
The best advantage of in-house development is that you retain complete control over each element of your project. In this way, you handle all the decision-making matters so that you can ensure that the website is completely aligned with your brand’s vision.
2. Company’s Culture
As mentioned earlier, an in-house team has permanent employees who can participate in software development projects. Since they are in-house, these individuals focus more on the project as compared to the third-party specialists.
They are already involved in the companies so they know it’s corporate values and requirements. As a result, they are more motivated to achieve the company’s goals according to its culture.
3. Transparent Communication Processes
The companies can establish better communication processes between their software development and business teams to remove all hurdles from the communication process.
Since both team members work from the same place, there are almost no barriers to communication. As a result, chances of any miscommunication or misunderstandings are decreased.
4. Extensive Support
This is another privilege that comes with in-house development. There are always certain flaws that come up with the new software product.
However, if you have an in-house development team then they can investigate these flaws immediately and fix them without any delay.
On the other hand, if you have an outsourced team then the response may be delayed because of several reasons.
Cons of In-house Software Development
1. Costly Option
There are a number of hidden costs apart from the visible cost of hiring an in-house software development team. The average salary of a software developer in the US can be any where around $71000 according to Payscale.
The interesting fact is that this figure is excluding all the hidden costs of insurance, social security, vacation, sick leave, recruitment etc. This means even when the team is sitting idle or working on multiple projects you have to cover their fixed salaries.
2. Risk of Retaining Employees
The field of software development is an ever-evolving and dynamic field where new trends come up almost daily. Hence, software developers are interested in acquiring new skills and refining their already learned skills.
But if your company does not have any interesting software development projects then the specialists may apply elsewhere to upgrade their skills.
So it is a challenging task to retain them because specialists are highly demanded and hence you may risk losing your best talent.
The worst thing about this retention risk is that you may be forced to look out for new candidates even when your project is not over. So, this option is quite costly and time-consuming.
In-house vs. Outsource Website Development
The in-house development approach develops software internally with the help of full-time developers who work for a fixed salary.
Their major aim is to focus exclusively on the product as per the company’s culture. This provides them full control over the development process as per the company’s standards.
This concept also gives them full protection and confidentiality for their intellectual property. However, the organization must have a proper infrastructure with a workspace where all the equipment and software tools can be used.
On the other hand, outsourcing your project means giving your project in good hands to developers who have experience and knowledge in the field. This is a cost-effective option because you are not required to maintain a full-time development team.
Conclusion
Thus, this is all you need to know about in-house software development and outsourcing. If you want more control over your website development projects, then in-house website development maybe a better option for you.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a cost-effective option, then outsourcing may be better. The ideal option depends on the scale of your business and its requirements.
Good luck!
