After the global pandemic and severe crisis in 2020, most businesses shifted into the digital world. They created online services, mobile apps, and web stores to keep providing customer assistance. This considerable change also greatly influenced development strategies, forming new relationships between companies and digital agencies.
It is no surprise that IT services outsourcing is on a huge rise. During the pandemic lockdown, remote staff pushed the product forward. The businesses that worked with offshore teams at that time lost less money than others following the traditional ways of software development.
The global outsourcing market revenue is expected to hit $525 billion by 2030. That’s why hiring a digital agency for your future projects is a perfect strategy for the years to come. It will also work if you plan to grow your small business or launch a startup.
Before you rush on to implement the trends into your workflow, let’s see how the practices of outsourcing have changed in 2022.
Improved cyber security
Internet technologies help your business grow. However, they also hold lots of threats like cybercrime and security breaches. For instance, hackers have stolen over 33 billion records — a 175% increase compared to 2018.
You’re wrong if you think criminals target only large companies. Small and medium-sized businesses are involved in 43% of all data breaches. The cyberattacks damage not only the work processes but your company’s reputation. Imagine what happens if private user information or payment data gets stolen? That’d be a total disaster even for a famous brand.
To prevent this from happening, people invest more and more in cyber security. The practice includes employee training, installing firewalls, and computer protection. If you plan to send your future mobile application to outsourcing, protect all crucial information and purchase a trusted cybersecurity system beforehand. Some companies use mobile action plans for offshore teams since their smartphones are vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Remote work illustration by Unini
Business continuity plan
After the COVID-19 pandemic, most businesses started looking for various ways to stabilize their operations. Their search resulted in a business continuity plan or BCP.
It contains all the data necessary for restoring and maintaining the workflow in an emergency. The plan covers events like crises, cyberattacks, lockdowns, etc., but its contents vary from place to place, depending on the business’s strong and weak sides.
If you are often unsure about the strategy during an emergency, or most of your projects are created by outsourced teams that require guidance, you should create a BCP. It eliminates most of the costly risks as well as decreases customer loss. Moreover, this plan allows you to stabilize development when things go south. Your team members will know what to do in this or that case and keep working on the project no matter what.
Focus on talent retention
You can find talented people in other countries when outsourcing software development. With the help of this practice, you can hire and stimulate them to work in your team for years.
Retention includes retraining, upskilling, mastering new expertise, and providing support like relocation. Most enterprises and mid-size companies use modern technologies like e-learning platforms that work perfectly for office and remote workers.
This outsourcing practice allows you to gather and retain a skilled team from all around the world. The members grow both professionally and personally, becoming loyal to your organization. It also boosts their productivity and overall results.
In the end, a successful retention strategy helps attract more and more professional employees to your company and stay ahead of the competition.
CGMA e-learning platform by Shakuro
Cloud computing
A power or Internet connection outage is a real threat to business processes built on outsourcing. Lots of crucial data can get lost due to an accident. Most companies selected cloud computing as a solution. The worldwide public cloud computing market is rapidly growing and might reach an estimated $495 billion in 2022.
First of all, it’s a perfect tool for collaboration. Using cloud platforms, outsourcing development teams, UI/UX designers, and managers can work on a project simultaneously from any part of the world.
Next, cloud technologies provide easy access to company resources. Your out-of-office employees don’t have to take laptops whenever they need to work — they can do it even from a smartphone or tablet. The same goes for sharing: a member can drop a picture directly in the cloud, and the image will be available for all developers participating in the project.
Finally, cloud solutions can serve as a perfect data backup. If one of the outsourced team members has lost local information due to a PC malfunction, they can quickly restore data from the cooperative cloud.
These are only the main advantages you will have while outsourcing mobile app development with cloud platforms. You will get perks like better customer service, team efficiency, cost reduction, quick and robust workflow, and many other bonuses.
5G Internet network
Network speed is another crucial factor that influences offshore teams. An unstable Internet connection can disrupt your company’s solid workflow. When a deadline is knocking at your door, every second counts.
The new Internet technology provides faster data transfer while being much more stable. These two things are crucial when you outsource web development. If the primary connection goes out, a team will be able to use a mobile 5G network, which is as reliable and fast as a regular one.
While 4G can provide only 100 megabits per second, 5G can potentially reach 10 gigabits per second. The speed leap sounds juicy. However, this technology can be pricey for small businesses, and not everyone can afford it yet.
Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT is a concept describing data transfer between physical objects with some software or sensors over the Internet connection. Inside IoT, people can interact with these objects, and, at the same time, things can interact with each other. In the end, you have a solid system that gathers and analyzes data that later is stored in the cloud.
It sounds futuristic, however, we come across IoT in everyday life. Smartwatches on our wrists, Bluetooth headphones, mobile phones, and smart speakers are live examples. If we think bigger, we can take a look at smart houses and farms, where intelligent chips, sensors, and switches control most of the fundamental processes.
IoT has created a trend in mobile application development, especially among startups. Projects for smart house management or everything ‘smart’ have become a rather popular field for outsourcing.
Smart home website concept by Shakuro
Thanks to intelligent brains, IoT provides more accurate user statistics. It’s a goldmine for marketing and retail companies. As a business owner, you can create contextual advertising based on smartphone data like geolocation, recent history search, etc. The user statistics also lead to better customer service and maintenance prediction, influencing brand loyalty.
An IoT app can be an excellent outsourcing project for small businesses. Since it’s a popular field, you can quickly find a suitable development team, gather new user statistics, and test the ground in the market.
Process automation with bots and AI
Any work sometimes consists of repetitive tasks. The latest trends suggest delegating these tasks to bots or intelligent algorithms. This solution helps your team work on other high-priority issues while AI deals with small tasks automatically.
In terms of outsourcing, this practice can drastically speed up all development processes and make the offshore team more tech-savvy. It helps save human resources, time, and money.
No-code development platforms are a great example of process automation. By 2025, enterprises will implement no-code or low-code technologies in almost 70% of new database, web, and mobile applications.
No-coding is a way of creating websites or apps with the help of graphical interfaces and configurations. Both professionals and beginners in development can use these platforms. The first can break free from small repetitions and build chunks of code just in a few clicks. The less experienced programmers can still impact the application development without drowning in an ocean of unfamiliar code.
No-code development by Mike Denzel
If you don’t want to automate a vast amount of your project, try doing it in baby steps. For instance, check out automation or productivity apps for desktops and mobile devices. They are gaining popularity: the market size is expected to grow by 9.1% from 2021 to 2028.
Such apps as Automator and Google Action Blocks allow you to add routine actions to the mobile screen using a name or an image. By activating this block, you trigger the corresponding action.
Generally speaking, an outsourced development team with automation platforms can do massive work, saving time and effort.
Cost reduction
The main advantage of project outsourcing is cost-efficiency. Thanks to technological progress, people can work remotely. So you don’t need to pay for their physical presence at the office. As well as, they don’t have to waste money on transportation. It’s a win-win relationship.
Cost reduction has become a trend after the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to economic uncertainty, mid-market companies and small businesses avoid spending large budgets on projects. They started looking for various opportunities to reduce prices and save money for a rainy day. Hiring a team from regions like Eastern Europe or India can reduce development costs by up to 50%.
If you are afraid that cultural differences can disrupt your project, try nearshoring. It’s a kind of outsourcing where companies establish relationships with digital agencies in a nearby country.
In this case, you and your future team will probably speak the same language and have similar culture and traditions. What’s more, there won’t be any time difference. Imagine this: your company works in UTC+5 while the development team operates in UTC+3. There will definitely be communication issues.
Do’s and don’ts for the practices of outsourcing
When implementing new practices into your business, you should always do it wisely and make the best of them. Below you will find a list of tips suitable for any method from this article.
Do:
- Find a reliable outsourcing development company. Make sure they are experienced in the field and have similar projects on their portfolio. Good testimonials are a plus too;
- Sign a contract with clear conditions and project costs. Both you and the team should understand the final goal with in-between steps;
- Discuss and set a deadline for each step to minimize surprises;
- Monitor progress using timely calls and meetings;
Dont’s:
- Don’t give the management lead to the outsourcing team. You should follow the process and participate in decision-making, especially in those connected with the UI / UX design. Otherwise, the result might turn out absolutely different in comparison with your original vision;
- Don’t hire a team that doesn’t speak English well or at least your native language. This can lead to massive misunderstandings and time-consuming negotiations;
- Don’t avoid asking questions if something seems odd to you. The information will help you stay up-to-date with project progress and clarify the overall concept.
In conclusion
The best outsourcing practices can significantly speed up project development and ease the work process for your team. They potentially reduce costs and improve product quality. However, use them wisely: provide control, participate in decision-making, and stay tuned to future changes.
Contact us if you are looking for a trusted outsourcing company to implement your idea. We will help you develop your product using the latest technologies and trends.