What Are The Myths Of Offshore Development?

The offshore software development sector has grown at a breakneck pace in recent years. As a result, companies seek ways to scale up their businesses sustainably, and investing in offshore development teams has become a popular option. As a result, companies that partner with offshore development firms gain access to an allegedly large talent pool, more cost-effective pricing though often times hidden and indirect, and an overhyped growth potential.  

Despite this, many people have started acquiring faith in the myths about offshore development. Building a virtual team in another country may sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be so in today’s hyper-connected world. While some people have had a horrible first-hand experience (typically with outsourcing rather than offshoring), others have heard exaggerated second-hand and third-hand horror stories about security breaches, failed projects, and poor communication. 

It has resulted in many negative headlines and myths about offshoring, causing some organizations to miss out on an enormous performance and growth potential. So let us debunk a few prevalent offshore development myths right now as professionals in developing effective offshore teams. 
  1. The terms “outsourcing” and “offshoring” are synonymous. When reading publications concerning offshore software development, the terms “offshoring” and “outsourcing” are interchanged frequently. However, outsourcing and offshore are, in fact, two completely different notions. Outsourcing involves hiring outside contractors to provide capacity that you can’t meet on your own. For example, if a corporation takes on too much work, it can outsource the project to a third-party provider for the duration. It has a few advantages, most noticeable being flexibility and low cost, but it also exposes the company to significant dangers. Outsourcing can result in a loss of ownership, hidden costs, and a lack of customer focus, to name a few issues. The simple truth is that you usually get what you pay for: if you go with the cheapest option, you will not receive the most satisfactory outcomes. Offshoring is not the same as outsourcing. Companies create a remote software development team (which they fully own) to supplement their existing staff with experienced specialists. Offshoring to younger economies like India allows corporations to obtain high-class experts at a lesser cost than their home country, at least that is what it is sold as.
  2. The goal of offshore software development is to cut expenses. A common myth or a misconception about offshore development is that the primary goal of forming a remote team is to be as economical as possible. Offshoring to nations like India and Ukraine is unquestionably cost-effective: living costs are substantially lower in these countries than in the West. That is the key factor in setting the developer’s wage. However, we have found that cost isn’t the most important benefit of outsourcing. Consider India, which produces almost 1.5 million engineers each year. As a result, Bangalore, along with San Francisco and Singapore, is one of the world’s most sought-after R&D locations. It is even nicknamed "India’s Silicon Valley" for its enormous engineering and scientific innovation achievement. Offshoring software development to India gives you access to some of the world’s most brilliant and well-trained technical experts. In addition, the fact that salaries are often lower compared to Euros and Pounds is a plus!
  3. Offshoring does not result in the production of high-quality work. This is related to the previous two points: you will not obtain a high-quality result if you always go for the cheapest option and hire unqualified contractors. In order to build your organization and scale it up substantially, quality offshore software development means using top-tier talent. Because of the more reasonable cost and plenty of skills available, you can scale up to more sustainably than at home without losing your output, whether for internal or external clients. Underestimating the importance of an offshore staff is one of the most common mistakes businesses make. Whatever business you’re in, the key to successful offshore is devoting enough time to recruiting and assembling a truly top-notch staff. There’s no reason to believe your team will offer sub-par work if you put out that effort.
  4. Offshore software development is unproductive due to logistical issues. Another prevalent misconception about offshore development is that the development teams are completely useless due to geographical distance and time zone differences. However, as per what our experience has taught us, this is not the case. Working with remote teams was once a big problem due to the complexity of long-distance communication. For example, a UK corporation with a crew in India suffers a 5- to 6-hour time gap. With such little overlapping of time between their working days, clear communication is important. Today, a myriad of online applications — such as video calling, instant messaging, and screen sharing — make communication very simple. Furthermore, your remote crew has already completed an entire morning’s job by the time your in-house team arrives at work! There’s also plenty of time for stand-up meetings, check-ins, and reviews during the crossover period. Being based halfway around the world has become an extremely minor issue. It’s even more productive for certain businesses than having everyone at the same place!
  5. Offshoring is only effective for businesses with a lot: Small to medium-sized firms typically believe that offshore software development is unfeasible without sufficient funds, assets, or dedicated financing. The truth is that the cost of forming an offshore team is entirely dependent on your unique needs: The nation The desired quality of work The size of your team Third-party services (Wifi connection, electricity, and so on) A variety of other criteria It is unlikely to be productive because a three-person startup is too tiny to profit from an offshore workforce. But, on the other hand, SMEs might greatly benefit from offshore software development if they are looking to expand. Offshoring, when done correctly, is a terrific method to minimize costs while still generating high-quality work. Consider it this way: you’re investing in a larger team, but your offshore workforce can also handle heavier workloads and earn a better profit margin.
Perception: Getting Good Offshore Results Offshore software development is now a common occurrence. Its popularity stems mostly from disparities in software product quality and labor costs. However, even though IT companies account for more than 60% of the total outsourcing market, the industry faces significant accusations. 
Misconceptions about offshore software development have grown due to a history of cheap code, failed projects, and inefficient offshore partners. Many firms are still hesitant to adopt offshore software development due to numerous misunderstandings. Knowing these myths and how partners invest and work to deliver high-quality products at a lower cost is essential to enhance the many benefits that offshoring has to offer. With the help of experienced offshore development experts, you may learn how to maximize the impact of your offshore investments.

Read full article at: https://www.yourteaminindia.com

Real World Scenarios They Don't Tell You:

  • Offshore development teams while usually having significantly lower labor costs require near-perfect documentation around requirements and technical approach, those tasked with providing such documentation spend non-value-add hours preparing and refining the documentation to be handed off to the offshore development team effectively negating the perceived cost savings and delivery of solution. The time spent preparing documentation in most cases is equal to or greater than developing the solution entirely using internal resources and maintaining that intellectual capital in-house.
  • Offshore development teams often times experience high turnover resulting in constantly changing of development resources requiring additional training on those special idiosyncrasies that are unique to your business, this turnover leads to further delays with the need to frequently onboard and educate new resources.
  • Usage of offshore development teams results in the loss of intellectual capital, while delivery of technical solutions is the primary objective, having resources available with intricate knowledge of the solution is vital in maintaining and further enhancing the solution in a timely and agile manner.
  • Offshore development/consulting firms will make the claim that their resources are 100% dedicated to your organization's needs, unfortunately this is typically far from the truth, while the cost of living in offshore locations contribute to the lower labor costs, these costs are also realized because the firm will have multiple additional companies they are assisting all under the "guise" of being 100% dedicated to delivering your solution(s), resources are essentially shared which explains the longer delivery times involved with leveraging offshore development teams.

Supplemental Media:

Remote Work Revolution: Succeeding from Anywhere Reengineering India: Work, Capital, and Class in an Offshore Economy
Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging to Build Innovative Teams Dead Ringers: How Outsourcing Is Changing the Way Indians Understand Themselves

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