APP DEVELOPMENT: Outsourcing Vs In-House App Development

Posted by xperge

Okay so let’s face the reality, businesses these days go through a lot of pressure to be the best. The compete for a large chunk of business & fight constantly to beat their competition by growing to the next level. Technology has become an ambitious cornerstone for most of the businesses these days. The main reason for this can be the advancement of the web & mobile technology by leaps, and the organizations are having a hard time coming up with them!

Businesses these days try to do things by every hook or crook way possible. Irrespective of the manner they perform the tasks, they want them to be very inexpensive, more productive & very much in a speedy manner! Because of this thing, most of the companies end up getting part of their work outsourced – especially when it comes to the technology end. But can’t they get it done by their in-house developers?

So what is better?

Outsourcing the app development or In-House app development?

The first question which popped into the mind after reading the above line is – what are you looking for to be developed? This is because this thought forces us to take into consideration various factors, where costing is the primary one.

Let’s have a look at how both ways of mobile application development work, turn-by-turn.

IN-HOUSE APP DEVELOPMENT

This can be the perfect option for you if you have a large organization or if you are planning to make mobile the core aspect of a long-term strategy. This is because here the businesses can segregate + keep aside the vital resources such as manpower, time, knowledge, money. Here they are up for an extra investment that is crucial for the future development.

Advantages Of in-House App Development:

The in-House App Development gives the business a complete control over the venture & the important decisions related to technology to be used, team management, timeline and much more. Some of them are:
The business is better known to the In-House team and therefore making a cut out of the much-needed learning curve which an external Company will surely go through. But this is also applicable in the case if you already have a team of the mobile app development team.
In most of the cases they this method has a faster sign-off cycle because of factors like all the required departments in one place.
The best aspect of this method is building a special tech specialist team. It will add to a long-term strategy of the business through an internal use of mobile technology.
The flexibility of the project is very high as there are unlimited revisions when it comes to design, scope etc.

Disadvantages:

One of the major problems with the entire setup is high cost. The cost if the team recruitment, infrastructure costing and also permanent over-heads gets very high.
This entire process is also very time consuming as well. This is because of the lack of know-how in what to look for while recruiting people for the in-house team, which makes you go through the hiring by an external consultant which increases both the time consumption & the cost.
There are chances when a leading member of the team leaves or the team does not match up to the pace of the project delivery – then the entire project will be affected heavily.
Hiring a right mix of mobile application development experts and knowledgeable talent is not an easy task. After hiring them, allowing a proper bonding, process, and leadership by the hired managers.
Most of the times the in-house teams have a long list of negotiations to be made. In most of the cases those negotiations like the internal politics and this in-turn that can hamper the momentum of the task & the creativity of the team up to a great extent.
The flexibility in terms of revisions that ban in-house app development allows could at times mean endless modifications to the scope of the project which may many times cause a delay, abandonment of the project and waste time/ money of the organization.

OUTSOURCING MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT

Well, getting the app developed from the people by the company who specializes in app development can be the right thing for most of the people. This is the righteous thing to do if you have a limited time to spare & a decent budget which is not enough to develop an in-house team. If you have the business value expertise which these app development agencies provide and looking for the best-of-the-apps, that too in a short time span.

Advantages:

One of the best thing about outsourcing the projects is it ensures that a minimum amount of time is spent when it comes to client briefing and implementation.
The second thing about it is – the control of budget becomes entirely the headache of the client because once fixed and decided it’s the agency’s responsibility to complete it within the given budget.
The risk associated with Outsourcing the complete app development is extremely low. This is because the project variables are already agreed in the start.
Another major benefit is you get the access to a highly knowledgeable team of app development team. And that well-established process leads to a faster, highly cost-effective and a remarkable quality.
Outsourcing the app development provide an end-to-end- starting from the idea generation to app support by the development team. This allows the clients to explore the world of mobile applications conducive & expert environment, while also keeping their heads on the core competencies.

Disadvantages:

The first drawback of outsourcing is – customers lose the complete control of the project and have to rely on an external team to create anything, even if it is the core of their business operations.
This process of outsourcing is time-consuming at times. It takes the external team to understand your needs properly and your Company’s ethics, vision, brand and customer expectations.
Limitations in the number of revisions in the package price can be really high at times.
In most of the cases, even the slightest change or change in the last hour will add up the cost based on the pricing agreed. Mostly the initial specifications given by the client are not up to the mark. Because of that, the complete project costing escalates.
At clients at times in the case of outsourcing application development may require the use of software and technical things which they don’t have any clue about. Thus it lets the external Company have an upper hand.

All this being said, we advise you to give a nice long thought to all the above pros and cons of mobile software development from any source. We’d suggest you go for the options that suit your organization the best.