7 OFFSHORE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT MYTHS DEBUNKED

by The Scalers Offshore Development Teams In India

The last few years have seen the offshore software development industry grow exponentially. Companies are looking for solutions to scale up business sustainably and investment in offshore development teams has become a very popular one. By associating with offshore development companies, companies gain access to an extensive talent pool, more cost-effective pricing, and significant opportunities to grow their business.

And yet for many, the stigmas about offshoring are enough to put them off the idea.

The concept of building a virtual team in another country may seem intimidating, but in our hyper-connected world, it doesn’t have to be. While some people have had a negative first-hand experience (usually with outsourcing, rather than offshoring) others hear exaggerated 2nd and 3rd-hand horror stories about bad communication, security breaches, and failed projects.

This has generated a lot of bad press and myths around offshoring, which is, unfortunately, causing some businesses to miss out on a significant performance and growth opportunity. As the experts in building successful offshore teams, let us debunk a few common offshoring myths right now.

1. ‘Outsourcing’ and ‘Offshoring’ are the same thing

When you read articles about offshore software development, you will often see ‘offshoring’ and ‘outsourcing’ used interchangeably. The reality is that outsourcing and offshoring are two entirely different concepts.

Outsourcing is about engaging external contractors to deliver the capacity that you temporarily cannot meet internally. Say a company takes on too much work, they can outsource work to a third-party vendor for the duration of the project. This brings a few benefits – usually flexibility and low cost – but it also exposes the business to considerable risks.

Loss of ownership, hidden costs, lack of customer focus – these are just some of the troubles you can run into with outsourcing. The reality is that you usually get what you pay for: if you find the cheapest provider possible, you’re unlikely to get the best results.

Offshoring is quite different. This is where companies build a remote software development team (which they own, in entirety) to augment its existing workforce with skilled professionals. Since offshoring is generally to newer economies like India, companies can access the first-rate talent at a lower cost than at home.

The crucial difference is that this offshore team is a part of the organization in every sense. They share the vision of the company, are fully integrated into the business, and work under the same management – this makes them as useful and reliable as your existing in-house team.

2. Offshore Software Development is all about reducing costs

A popular myth is that the primary focus of offshoring is to save as much money as physically possible.

Offshoring to countries like India and Ukraine is undeniably cost-effective: the cost of living in these countries is significantly lower than in the west, and this is the primary factor in determining the salary of the developer.

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