Today software development is increasingly being outsourced by big and small companies alike. Organizations are realizing that as the complexity of building custom software increases, maintaining dedicated development teams in-house is becoming expensive and impractical. Outsourcing Software Development to experienced and reliable offsite teams can reduce cost and development times, and companies can stay focused on core functions of their business. Outsourcing Software Development has become a successful business strategy adopted by companies all over the world, but there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

In reality, custom software development is a communication exercise. Think about all the details that must be discussed, understood and translated into computer language. Almost all software projects will have thousands of details to address. Now consider the three major outsourcing models commonly used today:

Offshore Outsourcing

With an offshore outsourcing model, the entire team is located in another country (usually India or various Eastern European countries) . The major benefit of this model is cost, but as many companies are realizing, initial cost savings can be an illusion. The reason is poor communication, and the impact it has on the project. Expect to communicate mainly via email, Instant Message, and occasionally by voice. Voice call connection problems are common, as the infrastructure in many of these developing countries is not up to US standards.

Time zone differences also play a major part. With India, the time difference between the western US is approximately 12 hours. When you are getting started at 8am it is 8pm in India. When you are getting ready to leave around 5pm it is 5am. This leaves very little overlap time to discuss issues.

All of these factors combine to produce a failure rate currently estimated to be 70% for offshore software projects. This number is staggering, and it is causing many companies to rethink their offshore development plans.

Onshore Outsourcing

With an onshore outsourcing model, the entire team is located in the USA. If done correctly, this model can lead to the best solutions, but it comes at a cost. Hiring US developers can cost 3 to 4 times more than similar offshore resources. But the skill level and productivity of US programmers is usually higher, communication is clearly better, and the result in shorter delivery times.

Hybrid (Onshore + Offshore) Outsourcing

Increasingly, software development companies are recognizing the shortcomings of either entirely offshore or onshore models. A hybrid model has emerged that combines the best of both models. MyProgrammer employs this model. With a Hybrid model, the key design and project management functions are handled by highly skilled onshore personnel. The more routine aspects of the project (software coding and testing) are performed by offshore teams. This model has two main advantages:

- Superior communication and collaboration relative to a purely offshore model
- Significant cost savings relative to a purely onshore model

Once the software requirements and design are complete, coding and testing of the application becomes a straightforward process. Software Development Outsourcing Services provided by MyProgrammer consistently provide high quality results at a relatively low cost.

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