Pros of Using an External Development Team
In the digital economy, companies are seeking ways to innovate more quickly, remain competitive, and deliver top-notch products and services without incurring significant costs. A strategic decision that many companies are taking involves outsourcing their development teams. Whether you are a startup that wants to scale quickly or an existing business that wants to enhance your digital transformation, hiring external development teams can offer you several powerful benefits.
These days, outsourcing isn’t simply a method for companies to save money. It has become a clever growth tactic. When executed well, bringing in an external development team provides your business with specialized skills, enables products to reach the market faster, and frees up internal teams to focus on product development. Now, let’s take a look at how an outsourced development team can transform the way your company approaches technology and value delivery.
Global Talent at Your Fingertips
What is the most apparent benefit of outsourcing, and how quickly does one experience this benefit? One of the most immediate and visible benefits of outsourcing is access to world-class talent. You’re no longer confined by geography or the local labor market. Instead, you can leverage developers from around the globe who possess diverse skill sets, ways of thinking, and life experiences.
For companies in markets where technical talent is scarce or where the cost of employing high-caliber developers is prohibitive, this can be a game-changer. In an outsourced team, there are experts for almost any technology stack, whether it's a front-end engineer, back-end specialist, DevOps specialist, or mobile app developer.
Faster Time to Market
Speed matters in tech. Being first to market with a product or feature can mean the difference between success and failure in many cases. Nearshore development teams also speed up product delivery, as they're pre-built, ready-to-run, and often operate within highly streamlined processes.
Instead of taking weeks or months to source, onboard, and train new employees, you can have a whole team engaged on your project in just days. Many outsourced teams are also agile and accustomed to a short time-to-market. They can move quickly and nimbly without compromising quality, so you can come to life faster and stay there longer than the competition.
Efficient and Effective Without Expense
Hiring and retaining a full-time in-house development team can be costly. Salaries, benefits, office space, hardware and software licenses, and other expenses quickly add up. You control these costs through outsourcing by only paying for services when you use them.
This quality can be obtained at a significantly lower cost by contracting a development company or individual developers in less expensive areas. This cost-effectiveness doesn’t come at the expense of quality. In reality, a large number of outsourced developers have several years of experience and operate under high coding, testing, and project management best practices.
Focus on Core Business Goals
If your internal team is too busy working on features, bugs, and infrastructure, they won’t be focused enough on the larger strategy. By outsourcing development, you can keep your core staff concentrated on high-level business and customer experience issues, as well as market expansion.
Your leadership can now focus on iterating your product vision, establishing partnerships, and scaling your operations, rather than getting sucked into the technical trenches. The role of the outsourced team is an extension of your business, taking care of the details so that you can focus on what truly drives growth.
Flexibility and Scalability
The body of your business never remains the same. Perhaps you’ll need some extra help to meet a product launch deadline in one month, but you won't require that same scale of support the next month. External development teams offer a level of flexibility that in-house teams can’t.
If the work is light, you simply don’t use as many craftsmen. On the other hand, heavy work often requires additional workers. That can be especially helpful for startups or small companies that are in flux and unable to commit to permanent hires. It’s also appropriate for companies that work seasonally in their development cycles or need specialists to help with specific projects on a short-term basis.
Reduced Hiring Risks
It takes a long time, it’s costly, and it’s often perilous. It might take weeks to locate a candidate, and even longer to determine if she’s the right one. If you hire the wrong person, it’s a waste of time, money, and momentum.
That risk decreases significantly with outsourced teams. Many outsourcing firms have already screened their developers and verified that they possess the right balance of technical and soft skills. Suppose a single team member is not a good fit. In that case, it’s possible to substitute that member in and out at a whim without throwing the entire project into disarray, which is just one of the reasons that outsourcing is so much more agile and less risky than traditional hiring.
Access to Expertise and Equipment
Tech is constantly evolving. Each year, we see new frameworks, languages, and platforms emerge. Training and keeping your internal team up to speed is a complex and time-consuming process. With an external development team, you'll have instant experts at your fingertips for anything new that's trending.
Seeking an individual with experience in machine learning, blockchain, or cloud-native applications? Outsourced teams are likely to feature specialists who are difficult or expensive to hire locally. These squads also have access to cutting-edge development tools, testing environments, and automation software (so you don’t have to pay for them separately).
Improved Product Quality
Quality assurance is often overlooked when internal teams are under tight deadlines or spread too thin. Many outsourced teams employ a team of QA professionals who are engaged in the code testing process at any stage of product development. The result is happier developers, fewer bugs, higher-quality UIs, and more reliable releases.
Third-party teams are well-structured and adhere to best practices, such as testing, code reviews, and other quality assurance measures. Their quality focus ensures you can ship stable, polished software that scales to support your business needs.
24/7 Development Cycle
You may also experience a “follow-the-sun” development process, depending on the location of your outsourced team. That means your outsourced team is working while your in-house team is asleep. This sort of 24/7 momentum helps accelerate delivery cycles and maintains the momentum.
If you do it right, having a time zone difference can be a beneficial thing. With the right tools and processes in place, asynchronous work can become more efficient and engaging.
Strategic Growth, Not Just More of the Same
One of the best things about an outsourced dev team is that their overall input in your business is often overlooked. These are groups that have contributed to dozens, if not hundreds, of projects across various industries. They know what works and what doesn’t, and can help keep you out of expensive traps.
They can be more than just task rabbits, and a good outsourced team can be your strategic partner, connecting you to industry best practices for building, designing, and scaling your application. “These people bring you fresh ideas, will tell you what they think, and can help you dream bigger,” Ms. Rubin said. Long-term, this strategic partnership can prove even more valuable than the technical support they offer.
Life Span Relationships and Business Sustainability
Outsourcing doesn’t need to be a temporary solution for stingy hiring. Many other companies hire their remote teams as long-term members and consider them integral to the team. This type of partnership ensures greater collaboration, stronger loyalty, and a deeper understanding of your product and company.
Consistent outsourced support can help agencies provide continuity of service in the event of internal changes, such as team reorganisations, leadership changes, or unplanned resignations. Your stable outsource team keeps you churning along at an even pace, and your knowledge is retained.
Final Thoughts
In a rapidly changing and competitive industry, agencies must work smarter to scale, grow, and remain competitive. Not only can an outsourced development team be a source of technical expertise, but it can also be agile, more cost-effective, and even serve as a strategic partner. From getting your MVPs to market quicker to building highly complex enterprise systems, there is no limit to the growth you can achieve with outsourcing.
The secret to successful outsourcing lies in selecting the right partner, one who shares your values, priorities, goals, and possesses the talent and expertise to help you achieve your desired results. When you find that perfect fit, your outsourced development team won’t just build software for you; they’ll help make your future too.