Outsource Software
In the Western countries, especially in the United States, it has been a trend for the last few years to outsource software development to other countries like India. The main reason is economic. Developing software in India might turn out to be five times cheaper than developing it locally.
Software outsourcing would involve providing quality software solution to another company which is located in another country. Generally, they keep themselves in touch with each other using internet. The development could include designing of websites and making the system more user friendly.
The companies in the Western countries are looking at ways to reduce costs. There is a lot of competition in the business world to gain the top position in the industry along with growth. But, this would require completion of projects on time, easy availability of skilled and trained IT professionals at competitive rate and many other factors.
This was why the concept of outsourcing software developed to attain these goals. Presently, nearly 50 per cent of Fortune 500 companies are outsourcing software to other countries. And the result is also quite encouraging. It has been found that many companies that outsourced software development reported 40% to 60% increase in cost saving.
There are a few advantages of outsourcing software development. They are:
a. It is a development process where there is only a single point of contact.
b. Best IT professionals would be available readily and at quite cheaper rate. There will be immediate access to the pool of latest technical knowhow without any delay.
c. The system would be developed keeping the specific requirement of the client. This would make the development cost much lower.
Outsourcing of software development would encompass lots of services. This will provide single point of responsibility in the total development process. A typical outsourcing software project would include a thorough analysis of the nature and the requirement of the business, business consulting, software development providing solution to the problem, testing and maintaining the complete system.
There are companies, particularly in countries like India, who maintain a specific group to handle such outsourcing projects for their clients.
But, there are some negative points in this process of software outsourcing. There could be some hidden costs involved in the development process. There could be some difference in the work culture and communication styles. Another problem area could be the issues regarding security and privacy involved in the development process.
Therefore, before outsourcing software development, one should carefully consider all the pros and cons before taking any step in this direction.
