Outsourcing for any imaginable type of business work or project has never been new: in fact, many large companies we know and love nowadays also thrive in the ever-growing industry of remote workers. For instance, you can imagine how a multinational company outsources some of its talents remotely from other places, such as in Asia or ANZ.
According to Statista, the global outsourcing market in 2019 has amounted to US$ 92.5B, despite the uncertainty of the market itself.
The very concept of outsourcing is now highlighted as the world battles around the restrictions brought by the global pandemic. As work has shifted from personal spaces to work-from-home, remote workers are given the spotlight and are trying their best to accentuate their portfolios amid the growing number of businesses, whether big or small, looking forward in finding the next talent outside of their workspace.
This is especially true in the sense of technology development, as more and more businesses are migrating their business online. With consumer demand shifted due to the pandemic, digital channels have become more relevant, hence businesses are in great need to strategize what technological migrations they should need, whether it could be coding their upcoming software, or migrating their old database into a new one.
Despite the growing trend of outsourcing technology development teams, businesses often find themselves at crossroads of whether outsourcing ‘tech dev’ teams is worth their investment and resources.
Let’s weigh the options then:
The ‘yay’ things of ‘tech dev’ outsourcing
Diversity of Talent: Primarily, one could see the benefit of outsourcing tech dev teams would be the rich talent businesses could find upon hiring one. The majority of remote tech dev teams don’t just go themselves out in the wild to be a ‘random fish out of the water’ but rather have spent in self-learning and training to be a full-on go-to guy for tech development.
Saving Up Time and Resources: Businesses can save time and resources in hiring tech dev teams, since the team you’re hiring, albeit working for you, doesn’t have the same commitment and drive as those within the company’s space. Despite the initial thought, remote tech dev teams are committed to their projects and always look forward to diversifying their work experience across various industries.
Building Up Connections: Businesses who look forward to hiring remote tech dev teams can act as springboards to potentially aid them to grow their network of clients and at the same time creating more opportunities for them. As stated previously, tech dev teams dedicate their time in not only diversifying their knowledge but also their clientele base. In an age where businesses need the helping hand they can, remote tech dev teams can come in, and businesses do their favor of touching base to a larger network.
The ‘nays’ of ‘tech dev’ outsourcing
Potential ‘Ghost’ Teams: The paradoxical thing about remote tech devs is that there is a rising concern of teams who might not be able to do the job properly, or the skills presented don’t represent the output they deliver. Businesses should be wary of such instances, and always look forward in competitive pitches the reputation of such teams.
Communication Barriers: The concept of remote working itself poses a large issue in terms of communicating deliverables and the like. As not all locations are equal, there is room for loopholes in terms of the tech dev team and their clients. External factors such as internet bandwidth and remote locations of the team may affect the speed and outputs released by the team.
Cybersecurity Concerns: Lastly, as remote tech dev teams will deal with business clients online, cybersecurity concerns will be a thing of concern between the two parties. Attacks including phishing, malware attacks, identity theft, and SSL hacking are a major concern lately not just to large organizations but small businesses as well who are just recently starting online.
In response, businesses looking forward to outsourcing remote teams should create stringent measures in testing the skills of particular tech dev teams. Just like how agencies go under pitches to convince companies to pick them or contractors submitting proposals, tech dev teams can send their proposals to businesses on what they aim to bring value to the company.
In regards to communication, businesses should resort to online tools that are both lightweight and accessible for remote teams. With an abundance of tools available, from GitHub to allow the creation of software in the platform and convene the team into one project, Stack Overflow for coding knowledge exchange, and Confluence for general project collaborations, businesses can convince their remote teams to convene to one common virtual workplace.
As work has shifted online, businesses would need to convince their remote tech dev teams to also amp up their security measures online. From using reputable password managers to practicing 2FA, businesses and tech dev teams must practice such measures in order to not being subjected to cyber hacks.
So, what’s in it for me as a business?
Looking back, there is a good amount of pros and cons on the concept of hiring remote tech dev teams. It might seem baffling at first but once you know the perfect fit, remote tech devs are worth it in enriching your business and improving your overall service.
Outsourcing tech dev teams may be a hitch, considering the diversity of rates and talents out there, but remote workers could be the next team the business really wants in touching new bases with their customers, maintaining a good relationship with them, and further releasing new services and developments.
Until then, keep at the back of one’s head the constraints remote working poses, and how tech dev teams aim to circumvent their way around it and build a healthy relationship with their clients.
After all, with the tides of business shifting online, it takes a matter of time when demand surges once again, and your business may be totally overwhelmed. Take some time to think about which remote tech dev team suits you.
The author is Adam Eastburn, CEO & Founder of Adaptis.
Adaptis is a global technology development company with presence in Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company offers experience design, digital development, and team solutions. Kempinski Hotels, Toyota, and Johnnie Walker are some of its global clients.
