12 advantages of outsourcing web development you should know

Outsourcing web development is one of the possible solutions while building a website or web application. Whether you can't afford to hire your team or don't want to do it yet, it gives you access to experienced developers.

In addition, outsourcing may be beneficial to you regardless of your business size. Whether you are a solo founder, a small business owner, or a CEO of a large company, the main advantages of outsourcing are almost the same.

But if you haven't outsourced an IT project before, you may ask yourself questions like: "Why should I outsource web development?" Or: "Would it be a good idea to outsource website development or to hire a team of developers?" The good news is: you're not alone.

Many Quora threads ask the same question: whether to outsource the work or hire an in-house team. In this post, we want to show you the advantages of outsourcing web development over building your team of developers. Here's one thing we want you to think about…

It's often easier to build a website by outsourcing web development

Outsourcing web development may pay off in many ways, including cutting costs, reducing the time-to-market, or making it easier to access top IT specialists. Based on the experience we've gained helping our clients bring their projects to life, We've put together this list of advantages of web development outsourcing.

1. Cost

From startups to corporations, every project has its budget. And the budgets have limits. So outsourcing is a good idea if you need to cut some expenses to reach your business goals. After all, both nearshore and offshore agencies are financially attractive options. It just depends on where you look.

First, the differences in hourly rates of developers in various locations can be significant.

For example, you can pay $150 per hour in the US, while for the same job in Eastern Europe, you'd pay only $35-$50 per hour. And that's without losses on the quality. Did you know that Polish developers are among the best in the world?

According to DistantJob research, they are now number 3 globally, right after the programmers from Ukraine and China.

Source: HackerRank

Second, When hiring someone in-house, you can't forget the acquisition and retaining costs. Plus, the time spent on finding high-quality web developers. Moreover, the hired person always can quit, often unexpectedly, and you'll have to start the process all over again.

It can be easily overlooked but hiring an in-house team, you have to take into account a series of expenses:

• buying the equipment
• renting an office space
• employee benefits and training

With an outsourced team, you can forget about this problem: they comapny you hired should make sure to provide resources and deliver your web product. All you pay for is the time spent developing your project. It's especially crucial if you're starting an online business when every penny matters. In addition, outsourcing helps you to keep the burn rate under control.

2. Access to top talents

Online outsourcing gives you access to programmers, UX/UI designers, project managers and creatives worldwide that can contribute to your project's success.

To build a team like that, you'd need to dedicate lots of time and money to recruit the right people, onboard them and create an actual team out of individuals who had never worked together.

According to Glassdoor, recruiting IT specialists may take up to 48 days, and the average length of recruitment processes worldwide is trending up.

3. Years of experience

By experience, we don't mean just the programmer's seniority level. It's how the team works together, based on the projects they've done in the past. It's also the experience in developing IT projects - knowing what works and what doesn't.

Building software is not only about learning how to code it but also understanding how to manage the process. Outsourcing web development, you hire developers and project managers experienced in managing software development.

4. Higher scalability

It's easier to scale your project with a remote team of developers. Starting, you may want to develop an MVP of your web application, then collect feedback and scale or pivot.

For example, when a lot of work is being done at the beginning of the development, you may need designers, developers and project managers. In contrast, during the maintenance, you need just a couple of programmers.

‍Then, if you'd need to pivot, more workforce is necessary again. If you develop the product in-house, adjusting the staffing to work capacity would be more challenging.

Custom eCommerce development is a perfect example where this approach can be applied. It's a process where a team of designers, developers, and project managers work together to create a unique eCommerce platform that meets the specific needs of a business.

By using a remote team, you can easily adjust the staffing to work capacity and pivot as needed, making it much easier to scale your project over time.

5. Broader skill set

Web development outsourcing allows companies to hire proficient experts who are in high demand. In addition, hiring an outsourcing company gives you access to a broader range of skilled pros who know how to handle specific processes and add value to your business.

And doing so enhances the skillset that you currently have. This way, you can learn from their ways and adapt your work processes to improve. Programming these days relies on many technologies, frameworks or libraries. And one doesn't have to know them all to be a good frontend or backend developer.

Outsourcing gives you access to all kinds of specialists who are experts in their field. So whether you're looking for a PHP or Python developer, or a frontend one experienced in React-based projects, it's much easier (and quicker) to hire them as an outsourced, remote team.

6. Less time

Time is very often one of the crucial factors when developing a project. Whether you plan to build new software or redo the existing one, a strict timeline is something you must consider.

With outsourcing, you save time on recruiting and onboarding programmers. It all cuts the time needed to develop your website, including the time-to-market.

Additionally, if you outsource web development, you do not have to worry about juggling multiple tasks or scrambling to meet deadlines. Working with an offshore development partner saves you from the burden of training in-house staff or recruiting specialists who share your skill set.

Outsourcing allows you to focus on what matters most - your business. Thus, by outsourcing, you can save a lot of time for business-important matters.

Many world-known businesses take this route to cope. A bright example is Google, as they've been outsourcing for years. Google delegates their side projects to the remote workers so their in-house team can devote more time to the main tasks.

7. Risk management

One of the most common fears regarding outsourcing is not having control over the project. But in reality, outsourcing gives you more control over the project: If you follow these 5 steps to safe web development outsourcing, you can successfully reduce the risks of working with a remote team.

By choosing a company with good organizational and communication standards, you'll be updated immediately. Moreover, by hiring a remote team, you'll work with project managers experienced in developing many projects. This cuts the risks of creating a website, too.

8. Work around the clock 

The time difference is one of the advantages of outsourced web development. Contrary to what people think, this is not only a good thing but also a blessing. When your in-house employees are about to go home, remote developers can take care of your project without interruptions.

During office hours, your local staff is busy working on something else. Then, when they come back after a long day, these talented individuals can focus on their tasks again.

For example, the 7-hour time difference between the east coast of the USA and eastern Europe is beneficial. In addition to providing opportunities for shared working hours, it also offers opportunities to work remotely with clients who may not be able to travel to your location.

9. Business support

An experienced tech partner can not only be your software vendor. You can also use their product development experience to evaluate your idea. At Apptension, we offer kick-off workshops during which you and our team focus on understanding the project's goals and business objectives.

We can then map user flows and suggest how to translate everything into a user interface, test assumptions and hypotheses, validate them and prototype how the product may look. Ultimately, we can develop a product that fits your idea and answers your audience's needs.

10. Reducing burn rate

Although hiring your team may be tempting, it comes with some costs, including:

• expensive hiring processes
• onboarding
• equipment lease
• office space
• back-office costs.

Since you may not have a steady income yet, as you're just trying to build your product, these costs will affect your burn rate. We get that it sounds like you're going to spent excessive amounts on your application. However, in reality web development outsourcing allows you to control your spending, as you pay only for team members you need at the moment.

11. More time for you to focus on business operations

If done in-house, software development will most likely consume much of your attention. It's a process that has to be carefully monitored. You can focus on core business tasks that you might have neglected otherwise by outsourcing your software development to a team of experienced programmers, QA specialists and project managers. As your tech partner will manage the development and update you about the progress, you can dedicate your time to other essential efforts like:

• Customer care
• Sales (e.g., preparing mailing lists, product pitches, outreach)
• Marketing (e.g., creating copy for landing pages, promotional materials such as ebooks and whitepapers, launch campaigns, etc.)

This way, when your product is finally developed, you're better prepared for the launch and running of sales and marketing campaigns.

12. Better flexibility

Your website can be scaled much faster with outsourced web development. When you've got a good plan, you need to execute it. You can collect user feedback, launch a campaign, and iterate as needed. All this requires a lot of work that your team alone will find challenging to handle.

In the early stages, a lot of work is involved in getting your site off the ground. It would help if you had developers, designers, project managers, etc. In line with all the points mentioned above, your team will be able to work more flexibly and grow faster. You don't need to worry about hiring juniors and training them.

Another advantage is that outsourcing jobs allows you to be more versatile in your services. For example, a unique project out of your in-house team's scope can be precisely what an outsourced team will do for you on a budget with professional skills.

13. Enhanced security measures

Web development companies often have robust security measures in place to protect sensitive data and prevent cybersecurity threats. They stay updated with the latest security practices and implement measures to safeguard your website from potential vulnerabilities.

By outsourcing web development, you can leverage their expertise in security and minimize the risks associated with website breaches or data leaks.

Web development outsourcing? We can make your project happen

At Apptension, we're experienced in working for clients ranging from startups to digital production studios. We know what it takes to deliver great software - just take a look at all the content we produced to help you understand the what is web development and how to safely outsource web development projects.

We have also developed our own SaaS tool, Teamdeck. So if you care about the quality of code, want complete control over the project, communicate frequently, or even visit us at our office - estimate your project with us. Our professional web development team can make your project happen.