Though offshoring software development project is not a new concept, the occurrence of a Global pandemic has impacted the demand for Offshore Development Center. The increased market volatility and the economic downturn have forced businesses to adopt stringent budget cuts and rethink their modus operandi to build resilient and flexible business models. With remote working being the new normal, offices are no longer seen as a physical place but a digital space to deliver quality output.
Today enterprises are actively looking to move their software projects to Offshore Development center, so their in-house resources can focus entirely on their core business activities. As per NTT’s 2020 Global Managed Services Report, 45% of companies plan to outsource their development project in the coming 18 months.
But before we dwell further on why businesses worldwide are opting for Offshore Development Centers, let us find out what they are.

What is an Offshore Development Center?

An Offshore Development Center is a development company that helps you set up a team of experts in another country to work on your software development project. This team acts as an extension of your IT team and helps you fast-track your project.
For example- Suppose you are a company based out of the USA, developing a software solution, and wish to reduce your time-to-market to gain first mover’s advantage. Hiring an ODC in countries with a lower cost of living, like India, Ukraine, and the Philippines, could be your answer in achieving this goal without much cost implication.
However, in 2021 offshore development centers are no longer looked at as an extension or a temporary solution but are becoming a full-fledged business unit operating overseas, owing to the benefits they offer.

Benefits of offshore development centers

A)Cost-efficiency –

Delivering high-quality projects without exceeding budget is one of the most prominent challenges software developing companies face. Delegating your IT projects to an offshore team can reduce the development cost by as much as 60%.
Developing nations like India, Ukraine, and Vietnam have emerged as major tech destinations in the last decade. These countries offer a massive talent pool across technologies. Since many of these are developing countries, the lower living cost results in a lower labor and infrastructure cost. Also, government policies towards FDI are more likely to attract investment.

B) Specialized Skills –

Tech demand plays a critical role in the digital economy of a country. A nation with an affinity towards certain technologies is bound to have a higher supply of resources that specialize in these technologies and vice-a-versa. Thus, creating an imbalance in the distribution of resources across the globe. Offshore development centers help balance the market by providing technology specialists that may not be available or are limited in the number you own nation.

C)Tech Backup

While building a software product, enterprises hire specialists and uniquely skilled resources to create quality solutions. Losing a resource like this could adversely affect the timeline and quality of the solution.
Hiring an offshore development center would aid in avoiding such situations from occurring. An ODC would assist you in creating backups for resources that can easily take over the responsibility of the project, ensuring zero downtime and a smooth transition of work.

D)Extended hours of work coverage

Having a team cross border and working in different time zones ensures that your project is continuously developing. When your in-house team is logging out of the office, your offshore development team takes over the project.
A model like this is beneficial in QA. Since the teams are operating in different time zones, before the ODC team starts their work on any particular day, their previous work has been reviewed. The quality team would have already shared a report on errors, bugs, and shortcomings in the code. This way, companies ensure zero lag or delay in the project.

E) Business extension –

Offshore development centers are a great way to expand your business presence and offerings overseas. ODC helps you create a physical business presence in an offshore market with minimal cost commitment.
Hiring local talents allows you to localize your products and solutions to tap the potential customer base in that nation. It also helps create brand affinity amongst the local businesses.

F) Focus on core competencies –

With an offshore development center in place, businesses can delegate their IT operations to the offshore team and focus resources and time on building their core competencies.

Offshore development centers vs Outsourcing

Members in ODC team

  • Account Manager – Accountable for managing client relationships and ensuring on-time delivery of high-quality projects.
  • Project Manager – Responsible for project planning, execution, and quality assessment at every project stage.
  • Designers and Developers –
  • The tech team looks into the design, installation, testing, and maintenance of software.
  • Test Engineers – Tech team that assess the integrity, quality, functional and non-functional requirements of the project.
  • Usability Engineers – A team that evaluates the usability and user-friendliness of the solution.
  • Graphic Designers – Experts who build visual concepts to showcase solutions’ USPs.
  • Content and Technical Writers – Team responsible for creating instructions and integration content for the software or website.
Selecting the right Offshore team is the key to successful project execution. But how can you ensure that you choose right? Here is how-

How to choose an ODC team?

Setting up an offshore development center has its own challenges and risks in terms of management, communication, culture, legal compliance, government policies, and cybersecurity.
Learn how you can mitigate the risks and challenges of setting up offshore development centers.
These challenges can be avoided by gaining information on the country chosen for ODC and thorough vetting of the services providing companies.
Read on to find out how to vet the offshore development partners.

1. Leadership Team

One must interact with the leadership team before selecting an ODC service-providing team. Talking to the leadership will give you an assessment of
  • How well does the organization know its business? What are their strength and weaknesses?
  • Do they understand your brand requirement, and can they onboard the right talent for the project?
  • How good are their communication skills, and how soon can they debrief your instructions?
Communication is a non-negotiable aspect of setting up an offshore business. Good communication and the right selection of talent, and the right cultural fit ensure project success.

2. Experience, reference and social proof

While shortlisting an ODC team, you must find out
  • How long have they been doing this business?
  • What kind of projects have they successfully delivered in the past?
  • How many industries have they served?
  • Who are their clients?
  • What are they saying about their business operation?
  • Have they received awards and accolades in the recent past from the industry?
Finding answers to these questions would help you assess their industry and technology niche and work quality. You will be able to make an informed decision.

3. Transparent and honest communication

When an offer sounds too good to be true, you may want to drop it.
Developing a successful software product or solution requires time and a skilled team conducting granular assessment and ensuring quality. There are multiple rounds of quality assessment, feedback, and code inspection at various stages of development.
Though ODC teams are known to deliver premium quality work while meeting the deadline, anyone promising unrealistic delivery time has probably little to no idea about how software development works.

Why choose Your Team in India?

At Your Team in India, we believe and practice committing right to our clients. Your Team in India (YTII) is a custom software development company that provides IT offshore development center services. We empower startups, SMEs, and large-scale enterprises to hire highly-skilled Indian software developers and build reliable software solutions.

Pillars of our ODC services

  • Dedicated Team– Commit to providing dedicated offshore development team resources for your project, irrespective of the size or duration for which you hire them
  • Dedicated relationship manager– We will assign a dedicated relationship manager to your project, who will closely monitor the team and ensure the delivery of quality work.
  • Data Security –NDA contracts are signed between the hired talent, you and YTII to safeguard your solution Ips and build confidentiality of the ongoing project.
  • Focused Leadership Team and constant self-owner review and audit– The leadership team constantly reviews and provides feedback on ongoing projects.
  • Process framework- Well-formed, reliable and robust processes framework and SOPs that clearly define the work hierarchy and ownership amongst the team to ensure seamless operations.
  • Mentoring of why – At YTII, we ensure that every ODC team member is mentored on ‘why they are creating a product or solution?’
Knowing the ‘Why’ is crucial, as it becomes a self-checking mechanism for individual contributors. Knowing the purpose helps them evaluate their work and match it to the client’s expectations.
  • Agile mindset- Every developer is autonomous, self-sufficient, and works with an agile mindset, delivering high-quality work.

Wrapping Up

Setting an offshore development center can help businesses achieve high-quality work at a much lower cost. Especially when you choose India as the destination to offshore your IT projects. India is amongst the top destinations for IT outsourcing in the world and accounted for 55% of the market share of the US$ 200-250 billion global services sourcing business in 2019-20.
But the destination is not the only factor. Choosing a reliable ODC partner like YTII is critical to setup a successful ODC in India.  Get in touch with us to know how YTII can assist you in building a thriving offshore development center in India.
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