If outsourcing is your preferred approach for implementing IT projects, then discovering resourceful alternatives like a toptal alternative for developers is essential. If you’re considering options beyond Toptal, and based on our extensive experience, we at Designveloper will provide valuable tips on how to effectively outsource app development in 2025
Outsourcing IT products account for the largest market share of the global market. IT outsourcing is divided into mobile app development, web hosting, administration, technology consulting, and more. According to Statista, this trend will proceed further as a result of automation and digital transformation, especially cloud computing.
Outsourcing mobile app development has been a popular option for startups that can’t afford in-house programmers. With the cost of hiring developers skyrocketing, outsourcing mobile app development companies has become more affordable and accessible to many companies. As building an app becomes easier, outsourcing a mobile app development company is becoming more mainstream.
Now that these developers are becoming more available, it’s important to know when to outsource your mobile app development and what to look for in a reliable developer. If you’re looking for a way to build your business but don’t have the resources to hire an in-house team, it might be time to start looking into outsourcing mobile app development companies!
It may require a lot of expertise to create an app. You can easily save a considerable amount of money by hiring many employees to manage all the work. If you have no clue how to find an agency, you can check the job vacancies section. You will find an outsourcing mobile app development company hiring their services out to knowledgeable people to develop mobile apps. It is also important to check the quality of development as compared to in-house development. The client should get quality and professional service from the agency or freelancers. The quality and skills of the developers are other critical factors to get an opportunity to see how the developers will perform before hiring them.
There are three advantages of developing a mobile app in-house as well. The cost varies depending on the location of the development team, the exact technology you’re working with, the number of employees that can be employed to develop your mobile app and other factors. But, in general, the cost of outsourcing a mobile app development company could be much cheaper than working on a single device that could run on your own hardware.
From a technical standpoint, sourcing a mobile app development company is a better option if you have a budget constraint or want to optimize the budget for a particular reason. With an app development company, you are assured of their expertise, technology, and people with skills. However, it is only about an exchange of services and know-how.
Support Team: Once you decide to outsource, you have to be comfortable with the team. It is an excellent start if you have a relationship with the company, but you have to have a general feel for them before outsourcing. The support team plays a vital role in helping you in your daily workflow.
With in-house, developers work on your project and tend to be frustrated. Outsourcing a mobile app development project will give you a solution. Outsourced developers would be your source of relief. The developers will work on your app which will help you to develop a creative idea. These apps are frequently developed using an in-house developer, but the developers tend to become skilled enough to deliver faster and better quality with outsourcing. The developers will work on your app which will help you to develop a creative idea. These apps are frequently developed using an in-house developer, but the developers tend to become skilled enough to deliver faster and better quality with outsourcing.
Budget Control: You cannot hire an in-house developer to develop an app on an hourly basis.
Some companies may want to keep app development under their teams, and some companies have talented developers to handle their jobs in-house. Some companies outsource mobile app development companies because they have been doing business with them for a long time, and trust them to work on their project. The benefit of going with an agency or freelance is that you don’t have to find one on your own. If you already have an in-house resource, they can be part of your team. Cost-wise, the cost of in-house app development is higher because you have to pay the developer, the IT department, and the head of operations. For outsourced, you pay for everything upfront.
Outsourcing or performing business functions internally is a strategic decision of any company. Each solution comes with particular rewards and risks. However, we have witnessed a bigger shift toward outsourcing practices in recent years. Is this a time for your company to devise outsourcing strategies? To answer this question, you should consider the top 5 benefits you can receive from outsourcing as follows:
Cost reduction is always among the key driving forces for outsourcing.
According to the 2024 Deloitte Shared Services and Outsourcing Survey, a significant number of respondents continue to outsource business functions as a strategy to manage costs. This trend is particularly noticeable among small and medium-sized enterprises. These companies often face challenges in terms of space, budget, and human resources, making it difficult for them to effectively implement, manage, and maintain certain tasks in-house. As a result, outsourcing becomes a viable and cost-effective solution for them.
When you don’t have enough specialists to deploy certain projects, especially on app development, outsourcing is an effective solution.
Outsourcing helps employees stay focused on core functions, thus saving time to recruit, train and maintain a new team. Also, high-skilled outsourced teams are responsible for business functions they have the most experience with. They then give you as good results as possible and hence improve business value.
Recommended reading: 20 Best Mobile App Development Companies In Vietnam
2020 was a hard time for those suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic. We saw various companies cancel or halt outsourcing contracts due to financial constraints. But there was an imperative need to recover their economy and business operations. So they started hiring outsourced agencies to proceed with delivering products or services.
After the disruption, business continuity comes with some new changes in policy, business models, and outsourcing strategies. This helps companies to digitize their deliverables more effectively and avoid unnecessary mistakes in the past.
Outsourcing saves much time on recruiting, training, and managing experts. Your company can approach a wide range of specialists, regardless of their location.
Working with specialists comes with multiple benefits. While your company sets clear goals, external vendors help identify specs and suggest action plans to build digital solutions better. Also, it minimizes the risk of getting the wrong way during the digital transition and increases ROI.
Your company gets involved in the development process with outsourced agencies. Through frequent meetings, video conferencing, and project management tools, you will be kept connected with outsourced partners to track progress.
Recommended reading: Why Should You Develop Mobile Applications in Vietnam?
Process optimization and efficiency continue to be key drivers for outsourcing and shared services, as highlighted in the 2024 Deloitte Shared Services and Outsourcing Survey.
The ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution and the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic are pushing companies to accelerate their business operations and other functions. Leveraging an outsourced team of specialists allows business processes to be built with flexibility and agility. Consequently, your company can swiftly adapt to new changes, such as scaling projects, integrating new technologies, or meeting increased user demands.
Outsourcing options are plentiful. If you decide to outsource app development projects, you should consider one of the following common options:
When talking about how to outsource app development, people often think of hiring either single freelancers or outsourced companies. But without your noticing, commercial off-the-shelf (COST) software is a typical outsourcing model. This is a ready-made software solution developed for the mass market.
Pros:
Cons:
Recommended reading: Top 20 Best IT Outsourcing Companies
Freelance developers are self-employed tech specialists. They are liable for certain parts of projects and get hour-based pay. After each project, your company can continue working with freelancers for another project or terminate contracts.
Today, your company can hire excellent candidates through freelance services websites (e.g. Toptal, Upwork, or Fiverr). On such sites, freelancers often clarify their competence, pricing packages, and past work. Beyond that, you can browse through reviews of past clients to define a developer’s attitudes and expertise during work.
Pros:
Cons:
Working with outsourced companies is a preferred option for many clients. Today, outsourced companies come into three groups:
You can search for reliable partners through third-party directories (e.g. Clutch.co or GoodFirms). The companies therein define their strengths, portfolios, and experience. You can read through reviews to determine how they worked in past projects.
Pros:
Cons:
Is communication and time management an issue for outsourced companies?
Communication and time management can be issued when you work with outsourced companies.
However, many outsourced companies have found ways to solve this problem.
Companies, for example, Designveloper, involve clients and other stakeholders in the process from scratch through communication tools. For this reason, clients can track progress while developers show what we have done and receive instant feedback from clients.
The development process and technologies help parties communicate, manage time, and understand required metrics better.
Outsourcing is better for some types of projects than in-house. The types of projects that are better suited to in-house construction require highly-skilled engineers in the field with real-time access to the technology you need. On the other hand, outsourcing provides you with more flexibility in the design, rapid iteration, and less oversight than if you were working on an in-house team. For example, if your app is ready to launch and you need the live version by the time the New Year arrives, it will take a lot of preparation time and research on the go to get it done. It’s cheaper and more efficient to hire a full-time developer than to pay a third-party agency for a week’s work. But the price you pay is higher than if you were to hire a freelancer.
Outsourcing mobile app development is a cost-benefit analysis. You can get the best expertise at a fraction of your workforce cost. Also, you can focus on your core competencies as much as you want. The development and maintenance are outsourced, and your teams can work in other departments.
Clients who find out how the app is progressing for faster product delivery. Outsourcing mobile app development is done carefully as it has a huge responsibility of delivering quality products. Hire a firm that can handle the project in a short time. It is pretty challenging to release a quality product without proper app development work. You can even get an app as an in-house mobile app developer. But hiring outside agencies is a better strategy.
This is the top reason for deciding on in-house development. You have complete control of who can access sensitive information like medical records and credit card information. Outsourcing to an external agency involves the risk of leaking sensitive data to an external agency.
Low Quality and Limited Productivity: The short period to develop an app for an app or new technology application can affect the quality of the product.
Recommended reading: Let’s Face It: Is Mobile App Development Dying?
Once you have an app idea, you decide to outsource app development instead of using in-house staff. So what’s the thing you should do next? If this question is also what you’re concerned about, we then give you some critical tips to outsource app development effectively.
Before building up any digital solution, you need to clarify what you expect from your future app. Service providers, albeit individuals or companies, can help with market research, business analysis, and app creation. But they hardly do that if you have no clear visions, goals, and requirements of the app.
To make an app idea visible to you and your outsourced partner, you should answer the following questions:
When it comes to budget, you shouldn’t try to find as cheap deals as possible. Focusing only on prices without caring about quality is a big mistake you should avoid. If a service provider offers the lowest rates but poor-quality code, you will waste more money fixing the bad codebase.
Besides, after listing reliable outsourced developers that offer you affordable prices, you should ask them for estimates. There’s no exact figure for a whole project as app development is a long-term process. It means the project doesn’t wrap up after the product release. Instead, you need to consider its constant updates which respond to changes in market trends and user demands. So you need rough estimates for your app project.
Your company should consider key factors (e.g. geography and budget) in search of suitable developers.
Where are your future service vendors? As already mentioned, providers now come into three types: on-shore, near-shore, and off-shore. Their location can impact communication and budget.
If your office is in the US, on-shore or near-shore developers are much easier to manage. Beyond that, your company can frequently hold in-person meetings with ease. But the price may go beyond your initial budget.
Meanwhile, when working with off-shore companies, you may face obstacles like different time zones and geographical distances. But many committed and experienced companies have solved these issues through project management practices and tools.
The best channel to learn about app developers is B2B reviews websites such as Clutch.co or GoodFirms.
Through their portfolios and client reviews, you can have deeper insights into industries and projects outsourced companies have experience with.
Further, you can make a list of possible, reliable app developers. Then you should work with them to find out who meets your requirements. Suitable partners should have a well-organized development process, understand your ultimate goals, and have clear budget estimates.
Once learning about app developers, you can make comparisons and choose the most suitable partner.
Apart from benefits, outsourcing comes with negatives as well. Without good preparations, your company can face serious damages related to finance or brand image. Below are some tips to help you avoid unexpected issues when outsourcing:
This contract ensures sensitive data of your company and clients will remain confidential and be protected from illegal leaks.
Your company and an outsourced partner have different workflows. So it’s needed to establish business communication guidelines that include reporting methods, time for meetings, and more.
Upfront payments are essential to protect outsourced companies from dishonest clients. But you should avoid paying too much and pay small installments instead to protect your company from dishonest developers.
Communication is one key factor that contributes to the success of your app project. Therefore, your company and an outsourced provider should agree upon proper communication methods and tools to support your communication best.
Hiring the right developer is the key to maximizing the user experience and launching the app. Before deciding on a developer, consider the following factors:
A decent app developer plays a vital role in deciding how to outsource app development successfully. Having said that, finding a suitable service provider is not an easy task. It costs you much time and effort. But in turn, working with an outsourced developer gives you much more benefits for your company and digital products.
An app development process is a tedious task, and it needs a solid team to execute it. Therefore, getting the best team is the key. Organizing a reasonable timetable for the entire process also plays a vital role in completing an app development process. Looking for a skilled development team, contact our team for free estimations if you want to upgrade your business with this latest technology. We will be happy to provide a perfect development solution.
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