When it comes to building a product, many ask this question - In house or outsource? With the level of expertise and skill required to develop an app, some businesses prefer to outsource the job and collaborate with the best in the industry, whereas others may prefer to make use of their internal pool of talent, impart the requisite training and skill development to them to execute the work in-house. To make your decision easier, let us break down the pros and cons of both approaches to see what works for you.
Why should you develop in-house?
In-house app development is a test of skill, expertise, and knowledge for the company or a startup. If done right, this would work with the most optimum use of resources for the company. Here are some of the pros of in-house app development:
Flexibility - In-house allows the team to build with flexible manpower and time duration.
Clarity of objectives - As your in-house team knows the workings of the company and the objective behind developing the app, there will not be any confusion as to what direction the whole process needs to take.
Accessibility - As the app development takes place in-house, free flow of communication and easy accessibility of resources can be ensured in an uninterrupted manner.
However, there are a few cons to undertaking in house app development as entailed below:
Time - since building a new team requires hiring developers, it is time-consuming to find and get the right talent
Finding the right talent - Your in-house human resource may not be fully equipped to handle a big project like app development if they do not have the requisite skill or experience.
High costs - Recruiting and onboarding staff and providing the requisite training for them for in-house app development involves significant costs to the company.
High staff turnover - Software and app developers are in high demand all around the world in this era and age. In such a scenario, staff turnover and retention may prove to be the biggest hurdle in executing projects such as app development successfully.
Why should you outsource app development?
Finding the right mix of skill, expertise, and experience in the field of mobile app development is of vital importance. Outsourcing the job to proven experts in the field can go a long way in successfully implementing the project. Let us take a look at the pros of outsourcing app development:
Assured quality and delivery - Outsourcing the job of app development to skilled experts in the field ensures that a minimum level of quality and perfection can be expected.
More focus on key areas - By outsourcing the work of app development, the business can focus on more important jobs at hand.
The Lower cost involved - Recruiting and onboarding staff for executing the work involves huge costs. This can be eliminated by outsourcing the work for a much lesser rate.
Before taking a call on outsourcing, the cons have also to be kept in mind:
Lack of control - In outsourcing, there is a lack of control and ownership over the project which may risk leakage of sensitive information and difficulties in coordination. To make it easier, the team can hire dedicated developers from software development companies which gives them greater control over the development process.
Accessibility and communication issues - If the outsourcing work is done by a company or startup situated in a different time zone, there may arise difficulties in a free flow of communication as well as access to timely and updated information.
Determining the best method is subjective and would depend on the core expertise of the founders. If the founding team has expertise in business/sales/ or any other non-development area, it is always better to outsource. This will allow the founders to focus on the business aspect of the product. If the product requires deep technical expertise and research, it will be better to hire an in-house team.