Advantages of Not Outsourcing iOS Development
When a company decides to pursue an iOS app development project, there are two general ways to develop it. First, the company has the option of developing
The advantages of outsourcing iOS development may seem obvious, but a lot of the costs are hidden.
internally. Second, the company can outsource the project to an iOS app development company. Typically, a business choosing to outsource its iOS app development needs might choose an offshore company to outsource the project to. There are several prospects that cause companies to consider these non-domestic companies. Businesses interested in developing an iOS app should fully consider the consequences of outsourcing.
One of the largest lures about outsourcing iOS app development is the cost savings. Companies rationalize that they can save money by hiring someone else to do the work. This is especially true in the case of offshore outsourcing, in which labor is generally much cheaper than in the United States. As far as upfront costs are concerned, offshore outsourcing is much cheaper than keeping the project domestic.
Companies should be aware, though, that there are more costs beyond the upfront cost. When outsourcing to an offshore companies, there may be discrepancies between how the two firms view acceptable quality. An outsourced iOS app development company is more likely to have lower quality standards than the firm contracting the work. Even though the labor is cheaper when outsourcing, companies will more than likely have to contract for more hours than they would if the project wasn’t outsourced. Additionally, a company taking on an outsourced project won’t have the exact same ideals as the company in need of iOS development. They won’t have the same standards and will likely take extra time to understand the vision of the project. It’s likely that extra time will be wasted in trying to conceptualize the project for the contracted company. In the end, the result may never match what the company hiring for development was hoping to achieve.
In addition to this, many offshore iOS development companies do not provide support for the app. You pay them, and once the project is released, that’s the end of the business relationship. What happens a month later when a bug is discovered? Or what if you decide to add a new feature to the app? The majority of the time, you’re left on your own. You can take the project to a local iOS developer who then might update it, but it will cost far more than if you had developed domestically to begin with. This is because it is very difficult for iOS developers to go through someone else’s code, especially when it’s of the low quality found in outsourced developers. Many local iOS developers would be unwilling to provide fixes, and you’re left with a buggy or unfinished product.
Another important thing to keep in mind with offshore outsourcing is the communication barriers. Real-time communication can be virtually impossible with these companies. For example, the time difference between New York and Beijing, China is 12 hours. Instead of being able to give the iOS developer a call or email and discuss issues immediately, communication is staggered. Language barriers can also be a hindrance, as you’ll need someone who is bilingual to facilitate communication or you’ll have to do with poor quality online translations. Because of all of these communication issues, a conversation that might taken ten minutes with a domestic developer can take days or even weeks with an offshore iOS developer.
When this is taken into consideration, it becomes clear that there are fiscal as well as non-fiscal advantages of not outsourcing iOS app development. When companies opt for outsourcing, the hidden costs typically add up. While the stated costs of a non-outsourced project may be higher than those for outsourced companies, the total costs are usually higher when outsourcing. Because of this, it’s advisable that companies not outsource their iOS app development projects.
EcomSoulutions is a New York based iOS development company with a dedicated team of iOS developers.