Why prefer purchasing a software development service and what are the specific benefits.
Liis Siitan 2023-09-13 (3 minute read)
You have a product that requires development, and you're facing a dilemma whether to buy a software development service or build an in-house team of developers? Do you need help to assess your company's needs in this matter and make a decision based on it? Don't worry, we have prepared a summary for this purpose and will share the thoughts that have emerged in the following article.
When setting up a development team, it's necessary to consider whether the planned development process is a one-time effort or will it continue for an extended period. For an one-time development project, it doesn't make sense to build an in-house team and deal with tasks such as recruitment, finding office space, purchasing necessary tools, training, and later managing the team. Instead, it would be wise to purchase a one-time software development service and thereby avoid additional factors that consume your time and money.
In the case of a long-term development process, we also recommend starting with an external development partner, based on whose experience you can gradually transition to an in-house development team. By doing so, you ensure a high-quality and faster development process for your company, which is more sustainable in the long run.
Typically, a quality development process requires more than just a developer – you might need a developer who can also fulfill roles like project manager, analyst, tester and so on, or you might need separate individuals for these roles. For an in-house team, this means hiring a higher-paid specialist or additional resources, extensive recruitment efforts, more personnel management, and associated extra costs.
When hiring an external partner, you don't have to worry about this; they will take care of the entire team and the required skills. Opting for software development service procurement ensures specialized experts from the beginning, who can help simultaneously build an in-house team and gradually integrate junior developers into the development process. This approach makes the initial development process faster and, in the long run, more cost-effective. Above all, we recommend choosing a partner with experience in various fields and technologies. Finding individuals knowledgeable about different systems and technologies for an in-house team is initially more complex and undoubtedly more costly.
As the development process progresses, there is a high likelihood of needing to increase, decrease, or even discontinue team members. With an external partner, the other party handles this concern, and you don't have to worry about additional tasks. It's much easier for an external partner to shift their developers between projects, hire specialists, or redirect the entire team to a new project. In the case of an in-house team, adjusting the number of developers creates numerous additional tasks, leads to additional expenses, and requires extra time resources.
For a successful development process, it's essential to analyze the scope of work beforehand and forecast the time required. An external partner, due to their experience working as a team, can provide accurate assessments from the outset and create forecasts that align with reality. As a fresh team, this is usually challenging to do at the beginning because there hasn't been an opportunity to thoroughly get to know your team members and their skills.
With an external partner, you can commission a pilot project, which is relatively short in duration, typically a month or slightly more, and doesn't commit you to long-term cooperation. Through this, you can validate your business ideas and see if they work in terms of software, as well as whether it's worth further developing the product. Additionally, you can assess the potential partner's suitability and save time and expenses that would arise from building an in-house team. If the partner doesn't fit, you can look for a new one, but if a hired developer doesn't fit the team for any reason, you would need to restart the recruitment and training process from scratch.
Before making a decision, think about what exactly you want to achieve and what your possibilities are, then act accordingly. If you want to analyze your company's software development needs more thoroughly and need assistance, feel free to contact us. We'll help you identify your actual needs and provide recommendations on how to proceed.
Solutional is an agile software development company which has a team of professional engineers who are able to solve all software problems from beginning to the end without any middlemen.
Contact us at info@solutional.ee in case you have any new or existing projects needing help with successful execution.