How to Work with an Offshore Software Development Team

More and more businesses are taking advantage of offshore development services. And so can you. But managing offshore software development is not that easy and comes with its own set of challenges. According to Deloitte, offshore development is preferred by 65 percent of businesses for Power BI, big data analytics, business processes, web development, and cloud computing. 

If you are considering outsourcing or have already made an investment, you have landed at the right place. Because of the significant cost differential in hourly rates, companies' top preference is offshore development. In this article, we will be looking forward to the challenges of working with offshore development and how to solve them.   

Challenge 1: Communication Gaps

Communication is the main problem with offshore development. It is simple to understand why outsourced development teams might not accurately reflect the needs of the business without the necessary communication. Now, there are several issues with offshore communication, including the following:  

Solution:

Making daily or weekly internet calls is an easy fix. When you use an agile development strategy, all team members effectively collaborate and communication is automated. With the help of daily meetings, you become aware of every little thing and can discover new ways to be used in working and communicating in order to quickly fix any errors as they appear. 

Challenge 2: Wasted Costs

The surprisingly cheap project costs are the reason offshore development has gained such popularity. Additionally, as more companies choose to outsource their development, outsourcing is becoming more and more popular. But companies make mistakes in hiring the best people to save money. The offshore team can waste money on a set of codes that don't meet your company's needs and objectives.

Solution:

Be more comprehensive and conduct an in-depth study to determine the typical offshore cost for a project similar to yours. Finally, choose the group with the most satisfied client testimonials, coding proficiency, and completion rates. 

Challenge 3: Inefficiency due to high turnovers

In many countries that house offshore development centers, the IT industry is notorious for having turnover rates as high as 50%. Project knowledge and experience are lost as a result of high turnover rates. This may affect the effectiveness, timeliness, and caliber of the project.

Solution:

Maintaining track of each team member's tasks and approaching deadlines when working with an internal team is simple. With a team that is 6,000 miles and multiple time zones away, this is obviously a little more difficult. Because of this, it is essential to create task-tracking systems. Setting up a productivity tracker where each team member can record their tasks, progress, and delays is the most effective way to accomplish this. 

Challenge 4: Low Quality of Work

It's possible that some offshore areas lack the development methods and technologies required for the current project. Bad or sloppy coding can lead to an unsatisfactory product, which wastes time and causes frustration. 

Solution:

Instead of going to giant organizations with several levels of management and a higher risk of misunderstandings and needless overhead, you should aim to go to more seasoned, smaller firms. A team of six to seven highly qualified offshore developers will be preferable to a larger group of less experienced developers. 

Challenge 5: Unclear Goals and Unrealistic Expectations

When it comes to dealing with offshore software development teams, clients' failure to present defined goals is by far the most frequently mentioned difficulty. Given that complaints about irrational stakeholder expectations are frequent for both domestic and international initiatives, this is not surprising. 

Solution:

Create a clear goal with a set of deadlines. You must know what you want and what is best for your organization. Both parties must have clarity about what they want and what they need to do. Focus on completing the project’s milestones and streamline the workflow to avoid any disaster. 

Challenge 6: Unable to Find the Right Team 

There is enough competition among offshore development corporations and organizations. It can occasionally be challenging to decide between a great team and a great organization due to the plethora of possibilities. There are more layers of individuals involved in large firms, which increases the likelihood of misunderstandings, overhead, and unneeded delays. On the other hand, small teams don't automatically imply superior abilities and performance.  

Solution:

Companies like Amplifyre can help you find the dream team for your business processes. Amplifyre helps you select the best software provider by matching you with the most compatible vendors for free. Click here to learn more. 

To Sum Up

Of course, not every offshore development project will fail. But to achieve success and overcome these typical offshore software development difficulties, it needs time, money, and careful planning. You and your team need to have a realistic perspective on the broad picture and be fully aware of the possibility of frustrations and roadblocks. It will be expensive if difficulties are not anticipated and solutions are not available. If you are looking to outsource and want to have the best offshore development team working with you, feel free to contact us.