How To Outsource Software Development – Detailed Guideline

If you have read the article App Development For Your Business, you will know that app development in particular, or software development in general has to go through many steps, and the cost is not cheap. Therefore, to ensure that the money and effort spent on software development are right, businesses need to plan meticulously and in detail in choosing the right software developer for them. How to outsource software development? And What does a business need to know before outsourcing software development?

Before going into how to outsource software development, we need to know about 2 terms, Procurement, and Request For Proposal (RFP). It sounds so technical, but you can simply understand one is the act of buying, and selling services, and the other is bidding.

Procurement as a general business practice can be defined as:

“The act of obtaining or buying goods and services. The process includes the preparation and processing of a demand as well as the end receipt and approval of payment. It often involves:

・Standards determination;

・Supplier research and selection;

・Value analysis;

・Price negotiation; and

・Making the purchase.”

In other words, procurement refers to the basic process of securing goods or services from an external business or consultant.

A request for proposal, as the name suggests, is an invitation for external businesses or consultants to apply to provide your company with specific goods or services.

Investopedia.com describes RFP in the following terms:

“A request for proposal (RFP) is a type of bidding solicitation in which a company or organization announces that funding is available for a particular project or program, and companies can place bids for the project’s completion. It outlines the bidding process and contract terms and provides guidance on how the bid should be formatted and presented.”

Additionally, an RFP establishes specifications describing the particular solution that the company is seeking and the evaluation criteria according to which proposals will be assessed.

We understand the key terms and now dig deeper into the way we become a partner with software developers.

Make Your Needs Clear

Understanding your needs, your proposal will also be clear and easy to understand. So, how do you determine the exact requirements of your business?

Just by understanding the term “need assessment” you will be able to identify gaps in your proposal and analyze them.

Businessdictionary.com defines needs assessment — otherwise known as “gap analysis” — as:

“A technique that businesses use to determine what steps need to be taken in order to move from its current state to its desired, future state. Gap analysis consists of:

・Listing of characteristic factors (such as attributes, competencies, performance levels) of the present situation (‘what is’),

・Listing factors needed to achieve future objectives (‘what should be), and then

・Highlighting the gaps that exist and need to be filled. Gap analysis forces a company to reflect on what kind of business it is at present and to ask what kind of business it wants to be in the future.”

In other words, don’t just take another company’s proposal template and apply it to your business. In needs assessment, you can also specify external developer actions and how the action impacts each and every internal stakeholder. in your company.

What Are The Criteria You Need to Clarify?

In fact, every business can choose various standards that meet their needs. However, there will be certain broad criteria to which you can refer. Here are the three parts that I believe are most significant in helping you shape your proposal:

Price

Always consider your budget first. The IT outsourcing market is extremely diverse in terms of services and prices. You can find cheap developers in India but confirm the quality of service they provide before cooperating. Other markets with higher quality developers and reasonable prices that you can consider are Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines,…

AMELA is an IT outsourcing company from Vietnam, we provide IT consulting, software development, and IT talent introduction services. As long as you have a proposal, AMELA will accompany you from consultation, ideation, estimate, quote, and software demo, which help customers have the most specific view of the project.

Size of Project

The size of the project is also very important, it can decide whether you should hire a freelancer developer or a development team. If your project is small, you can consider hiring a freelancer, but if it is a medium to a large project that greatly affects the brand, you should consider hiring a development team, then the professionalism and security will also be more guaranteed…

IP

What kinds of IP and confidentiality assurances and systems does the developer have in place?

How has the developer dealt with the protection of IP in the past?

Have other startups ever had negative experiences with the developer in terms of guaranteeing confidentiality?

Which certifications has the developer earned?

How will the firm ensure the security of your project?

Create a Detailed Bidding Solicitation

I’ve come across a lot of businesses that make a cursory solicitation without any detailed explanation. As a result, the bidders are quite confused and take a long time to understand and get a bad performance.

In the following piece, I will discuss How to Prepare a Solicitation, but in general, you can answer the following questions to help you decide what to prepare:

・What information would you require as a software developer to begin a software development project?

・In what format should each piece of information you supply be presented so that developers can understand it?

・What is your ideal developer’s profile?

・What are the criteria for evaluation?

Setting a Meet-up

After attracting potential developers, it’s time to schedule a meeting. The meeting will help you create relationships with these prospective future members of your remote team. Especially if you employ a developer team from another nation, the meeting becomes a chance to learn about the culture, the individuals, and whether or not they fit your mindset.

It is not always possible to have a meeting in real life, so an online meeting will be a good choice. Who will take part in the meeting and what kind of document is to be prepared?

This is the first meeting, so the key members of both sides should participate fully, and prepare documents on bidding, work exchange, and terms or conditions in the cooperation process.

Final Thought

It is not difficult to discover a software developer, but a detailed plan is necessary to truly identify the perfect partner and long-term cooperation.

This is what AMELA wants to share with you regarding How to Outsource Software Development. I hope this information is helpful to you in your search for the best software developers for your business.

Editor: AMELA Technology