Having applications for smartphones can elevate your business to an entirely new level. However, developing an app in the United States, Western Europe, or Japan requires a lot of money. On the other hand, outsourcing the development process to developing countries allows you to get a high service for a fraction of the cost.

Nevertheless, you need to find a company that will be skilled enough to provide high-end services. In this article, we will give you a list of tips that will be useful for you during your search for an outsourcing company. 

Have a Clear Vision

Thinking about the prospects of developing an app and having a complete vision are two completely different situations. Yeah, the project managers and other people from the outsourcing company can help you with the idea for your application. However, we recommend taking the time to work out a detailed vision for the app to provide precise requirements to the developers.

Start your development process by analyzing other applications in your niche. Having clear information about your competitors' apps will help you set a goal for your app.

You can start by answering the following questions:

• What is the purpose of your application? It is essential to have a clear image of problems that your app will help solve.
• Choose the platform and type of product. If you want to create an app for smartphones, you need to decide if it will be on Android or iOS. Maybe you want to have an app for both. This is one of the most crucial decisions. Take your time thinking it over. 
• The features. What specific qualities should your app have? Write down a complete list of features for your future app. This list can change during the development process, but it helps to have the initial idea when starting this project. 

Have Clear and Cohesive Criteria for an Outsourcing Company

Having clear criteria for the company you will hire to develop your app will save you thousands of dollars and considerable time. These are the most important criteria:

Previous Experience

Finding a company that employs professionals will be challenging, but we strongly recommend spending some time researching the market. Developing modern applications is a long and difficult task. It takes years to become a senior developer. Ask the company about past projects that will showcase their experience.

See if the company already has experience developing applications that have features similar to your projects. It’s true that a professional team can charge more than other companies on the market. However, they highly encourage you to spend a little more on hiring senior developers instead of having an enormous amount of headache dealing with junior specialists.

Have a Quick Communication Channel

Having a clear and quick communication channel is utterly essential during the development of the product. It will be a good idea to ask the company to provide you with weekly updates on the development process. A good software development company should have a dedicated person that will be providing you with the latest updates.

The developers are going to discuss some questions with you. It is better for everyone if you give feedback and explain your requirements in the process instead of fixing the already created app.

How to Choose the Right Outsourcing Company?

We have already established the most essential criteria for the company. In this section, we have a list of questions to ask during the interview with the team.

Portfolio is Key

In the previous chapter, we told you that it is essential to hire a professional. Taking a look at the company's portfolio is the fastest way to assess their level of expertise. When analyzing the portfolio, make sure to look at the tech that the team uses to create different products.

Have a Proper Interview

Although the portfolio and technical expertise are significant factors in choosing an outsourcing company, you also need to have a formal interview with the representatives. If meeting in real life is impossible, you can conduct an interview via Google Meet, Zoom, Discord, or Skype.

Establish Important Milestones

The last factor in hiring the company to outsource your app development to is a cohesive list of milestones. The milestones are the time frames when the outsourcing company needs to accomplish specific tasks. Additionally, it will be a great idea to negotiate pay per milestone.

We already mentioned how important it is to have a clear understanding of the development process. Milestones will help you understand how the process is going and know when you will get your application.

Outsourcing Pricing Models

If you are looking for developers to maintain your already created product, you will need to pay them a monthly salary. However, during the development process, there are two different pricing models:

Fixed-Price Approach

The fixed-price approach is an old-school pricing model. This type of payment will be effective only if you have a list of specific requirements for your project and you are one hundred percent sure that there will be no changes during the development. You will need to have a strict deadline.

However, we do not recommend this pricing model. The main reason is that having a precise time frame forces the developers to ignore possible technical issues to deliver the code on time.

Time-and-Resources Approach

The time-and-resources approach is a much more flexible pricing model. In this case, you are paying for consumed resources and time instead of strict deadlines. Hence, the developers will have much more time to develop and refine the product. Additionally, you can respond to the market trends and add changes to different features during the development process.

Admittedly, this approach can cost you more than having a fixed price on the project. However, it is flexible and allows you to respond to market changes. Additionally, the development team will conduct proper testing and get rid of different bugs.

There are a massive amount of factors that affect what model will suit you best. Our team highly encourages you to stick to the time-and-resources model because it allows you to get an application with little to no bugs. However, remember to keep a close eye on the process of development.

Conclusion

Many companies are outsourcing their software development to get the highest quality for a low cost. The amount of money saved hugely depends on which countries you are outsourcing your development to. We recommend taking a closer look at companies from Ukraine, Latvia, or India. These countries have high-end specialists and low prices.

While you will need to invest some time into researching the software development company, you will cut a considerable amount of cost by outsourcing your development.