arrow
Back to blog

How to Avoid IT Outsourcing Failures

clock

6 min read

Outsourcing may be extremely beneficial when handled correctly and with a solid foundation in the planning process. It may help your organization enhance its vision, encourage organizational success, increase employee agility, improve risk management, and cut expenditures, among other things.

The issue is that outsourcing is frequently done inappropriately. In this article, we’ll go over a couple of the top cases of outsourcing failures from which you can learn and make recommendations on minimizing mistakes.

Why Does Outsourcing Fail?

Along with incorporating emerging technology, it is increasingly difficult for businesses to build the full range of creative software solutions in-house. As a result, businesses attempt to design an effective plan for employing a dedicated team of software engineers through outsourcing.

This signifies that you must not only deploy this technology but also take advantage of its performance while effectively resolving any difficulties that may arise. For example, among the most common outsourcing fails are:

  • communication breakdowns between the corporation and its outsourced providers;
  • a lack of faith in outsourcing partner;
  • poor optimization and enhancement expertise;
  • insufficient risk assessment and the incorrect development approach;
  • the lack of responsibility of outsourced employees.

Let’s take a deeper look at the various IT outsourcing failures that your organization must be conscious of to prosper.

Common Outsourcing Failures

After we understand why outsourcing may flop, let’s look at the challenges your company can face when hiring remote teams.

Ignoring Your Client’s Needs

Current software engineering focuses on providing the greatest technological solutions, far exceeding user expectations. As a result, every type of product should be user-friendly and offer the essential variables that answer significant issues for your intended audience. Alternatively, you risk not recouping your financial investments.

This IT outsourcing disaster may be prevented if the customer-centric fundamentals are deeply integrated into the task, continuously focused before and during the planning stages, and well documented.

In this manner, you may not only increase the value and efficiency of your IT solution but also clarify what you want from it and why it is vital.

Poor Communication

The next step is to determine the communication channel you’ll use to contact the IT outsourcing companies. In reality, ineffective communication can have a substantial impact on the performance of the completed software product and produce a list of difficulties that require extra inputs, resulting in higher IT service costs.

That is why simply using outsourcing services in your organization is insufficient. It is necessary to constantly track progress and implement adjustments in the development process on time.

To avoid outsourcing failures, identify the communication routes and timing of the QA meetings ahead of time. Define the individual responsible for the design and development process, which will be a mediator between your organization and the outsourcing team.

Absence of Clarity

Keep in mind that the outsourced team will concentrate on project documentation when developing the new product. And, if the plan lacks specific criteria and guidelines for what you want as the end result, you’re likely to obtain an item that necessitates additional work.

To avoid outsourcing failure, it’s best to spell out the specific criteria, objectives, and capabilities your product should have. This method can help reduce mistakes and enhance the process of developing software.

Insufficient Planning

Another prominent cause of outsourcing failures is poor planning, which is a more widespread issue than team misunderstanding. Poor planning can influence both the tasks allocated to your engineers and the whole process of collaborating with an outsourced team.

For example, to avoid IT outsourcing failures, you may begin by defining the time periods, who will monitor development, and the different workflow management features such as building tools, particular needs, and methodologies employed in the process.

Insufficient Outsourcing Costs and Poor Quality

Before beginning any outsourced project, it is critical to learn more about the experience of the offshore development team. If this is ignored, you will lose the time, effort, and money required to onboard this team, and when you ultimately realize that this is not the company you really want to deal with, you will have to restart the full procedure.

Examine the feedback from previous clients and the technical instructions your developers will be working with before partnering with them. Furthermore, in order to ensure that you hire skilled tech experts for your project, it is critical to investigate suppliers at a reasonable price and test-launched products before entering into a contract.

7 Ways to Avoid Outsourcing Mistakes

Knowing what may go wrong when beginning outsourcing might save you money and prevent stress. Here is our guide with tips on how to avoid outsourcing failures and protect yourself from bad IT outsourcing selections.

1. Begin Developing a Product as an MVP

It normally takes a long time and a lot of energy to move from a concept to the complete version of a project. Building and testing an MVP is one guaranteed method to avoid wasting valuable time and money. Even with rudimentary features, an MVP will illustrate the worth of your product. In response, feedback will provide knowledge of what needs to be redone, altered, or changed.

We strongly advise creating a completely new product, including an MVP, to save time and money.

2. Take the Time to Make Comparisons and Select the Best Vendor

A vendor is your friend who will help you get through the positive and negative moments of the project’s development. A really important factor that can save you money and effort is selecting the correct partner. With competent employees, you can avoid endless changes and achieve success faster.

Thorough investigation and team evaluation are two things that can help you select the best companion.

Another suggestion is to divide the project into numerous stages and allocate the first milestone to many other companies to discover the best match. Yes, it will cost you more than before, but it will ultimately save you effort and funds in the long term.

3. Give a Thorough Grasp of the Product

It’s quite attractive to plunge into outsourcing software development as soon as you have a good team. However, keep in mind that you are more likely to recruit someone with a different background and culture. not to forget the fact that they’re total newcomers to the project.

As a result, it is critical to describe the project’s concept from the ground up. Explain every component of the product, including its unique characteristics, functionalities, and significance. Tell your team more about the issues the app addresses. Send the executive summary to the contracted team.

4. Consider the Team’s Ethnic and Organizational Differences

Distinct cultures have different relationships between the leader and the hired personnel. As a result, it’s critical to comprehend the characteristics of corporate communications in another culture.

Another critical factor is logistics. Because of the time factor, both development teams may experience delays and discomfort. As a result, prioritize companies with the same time zone. For instance, if you are headquartered in Europe, why not hire Ukrainian specialists? It is a rapidly expanding IT cluster with a tight culture, reasonable pricing, and work effectiveness that is recognized internationally.

Don’t forget about holidays and sick/leave days as well.

5. Make a Written Agreement

Contracts govern the vendor-buyer relationship and protect both sides. They include standards for quality, product characteristics, timelines, price, legal difficulties with property rights, and more.

6. Set Realistic Goals

When you outsource software developers, you entrust a large portion of your job to unknown people. It frequently results in production delays. To satisfy your client’s needs, you must buffer deadlines.

Create a reasonable project strategy and a feasible timetable first. Then double that by two. Finishing the job earlier than intended is preferable to doing it yesterday.

7. Value Over Money

Constant attempts to match within limited budgets can result in catastrophic outcomes. However, our experience indicates that conducting an extensive investigation at the outset and paying extra for higher-quality outsourcing services would save cash in the long run.

Wrapping up

As you can see, one of the most significant techniques for success in your organization is to analyze the primary IT outsourcing failures. When considering software service outsourcing, it is essential to find a specialized development team with extensive knowledge in product development, proven expertise, and a willingness to assist in achieving organizational goals.

The sad fact seems to be that outsourcing is only for the powerful. But the best part is that the partner you pick contributes over 70% of your victory. Where can you find one? You will never be disappointed if you contact DeshDevs professionals!

At DeshDevs, we perfectly grasp these fundamentals. We are constantly looking for the most advantageous project optimization options across numerous sectors to help your company stand out from the crowd!

Share article

Table of contents
FAQ
How to overcome outsourcing problems?
To tackle outsourcing challenges, keep organized records, establish direct communication, respect cultural differences, research thoroughly before hiring, clearly outline project needs, and choose a trustworthy vendors.
What are the risks of IT outsourcing?
Risks include poor project management, contract conflicts, hidden fees, wrong vendor selection, security threats, communication breakdowns, mismanaged teams, and cultural and language differences.