Software Development

To Outsource Or Onsite?

Software development is a tricky business. How many millions of dollars are wasted every year on applications being started and never finished. OK alot of this is due to poor initial analysis or a change in business rules. But a lot of this is due to aggravated management waiting for software to be finished that just keeps ballooning in cost.

In walks the Software development outsourcing company to solve all the worlds problems with cheap cheap labour! WRONG!

Cheap labour will generally get you cheap software that doesn't work or if it does work does something different then your system requirements. Working with non english speakers or even indians who have a different mind set then the west can easily add an extra layer of failure to your system. Now instead of paying a western company for 1 developer at $100 an hour for a system that won't work you're paying an Indian company $10 an hour for 20 developers and still get a system that won't work!

What to do? What to do? A simple fix that I can't believe hasn't been accepted around the world. Have a local grown business analyst working abroad that can understand your company needs and get them across to the offshore developers. Take Kremsoft for an example. They have management and analysts from Australia, Canada, the UK and the US, providing a local voice abroad.

I wish you success with outsourcing software development but be careful! Costs might seem reduced with offshore developers but as they say the hidden flaw doesn't stay hidden. And if developers don't understand your requirements then what system did you just pay to have built?