There are several phases a software goes through in its SDLC (software development lifecycle). For example, there’s a phase of planning and requirement gathering. Then the software goes through its development stage; where you might need some consultations (which is a form of outsourcing BTW). Finally, there’s post-development support as well.
So, you might be wondering when is the right time to outsource software development?
Well, the answer lies in the expertise of your in-house team.
Why Should You Outsource In The Development Stage?
If you are lacking in coding expertise (and a few other development-related expertise, which we will see ahead), or you have a reduced in-house team of developers, outsourcing in the development phase is perfect for you.
In this article, we’ll be exploring why outsourcing in the development stage is the right time for you. And how software development outsourcing looks like in the development phase.
1. Requirements Gathering
Although this step is performed separately before the development phase, it is also conducted in the development phase as well.
In this stage, the outsourcing partner gathers project goals, objectives, and requirements. With this information, they can come up with a detailed project plan that includes project scope, timeline, milestones, resources and how to allocate them, and strategies to execute the plan.
2. Designing
The designing part of the development phase consists of constructing wireframes and mockups along with an expectation of what the final user interface (UI) might look like.
The design needs to be great as it is the view the end user sees and is therefore the heart of your successful product.
It needs to be modern enough while matching the theme of your company as well as the preferences of your users.
Additionally, it needs to be intuitive enough, so every functionality is easy to use.
3. Development And Coding
Now, the integral part of software development – writing the code itself. For this, you can hire an outsource partner to develop the entire software, or you can hire them for specific modules while your internal team works on the core components.
In this phase, logics are defined, and code is written for the frontend as well as the backend.
Frontend is everything that has to do with what the end user will see on their screen when they use the software.
The backend is the calculations, exchange of data, and the logics for everything that should happen when the user does something on the frontend. And the entire process of returning appropriate results back to the front end.
Read also: https://www.themillandthecross.com/what-is-the-validation-phase-in-software-development/
4. QA And Testing
This stage is one of itself and should be performed independent of development. However, it is essential to perform quality assurance (QA) and testing coherently with the development stage, so there are no bugs and the software has proper functionality, usability, and performance.
Additionally, security testing is also performed so no sensitive data breaches are possible which can cause losses of millions of dollars.
5. Deployment
Finally, the conclusive stage of software development is its deployment – i.e., to make it available to its users. The software can either be deployed on local servers or on remote servers.
With the first approach, you will need to maintain expensive and gigantic servers yourself, which is difficult and very expensive.
This is where deploying on remote servers maintained by Amazon (AWS), Google (Azure), Microsoft, or any other server providers.
Deploying onto remote servers goes into the realm of Cloud Computing – which in very simple terms, is the art of maintaining software availability for remote access.
Final Thoughts
If you’re lacking the resources for developing your software, either in the expertise department or in terms of manpower, outsourcing in the development phase is the right choice for you.
While the development stage consists of actual coding itself, there are other phases involved, as well, which might require conducting customer surveys for project planning, bug fixing, and issuing security patches.
There are other phases in software development that you can outsource such as post-launch support and consultations for an effective marketing strategy. Stay tuned to learn more about them.
The article was written in cooperation with the experts of SoftKraft – Software Development Company
