Mobile App Development – Should You Outsource or Not

Since the IT departments of even large companies do not normally have the expertise or resources required to undertake mobile app development, invariably the work is entrusted to a professional agency. There are some who believe that the development is best done in-house because it can be monitored more closely while others prefer to outsource for superior execution and lower costs. Whatever be the decision, it should be taken only after proper evaluation. Some useful pointers:

Outsourcing Means Cheaper Development

While typically, you will need to add fresh infrastructure and manpower to develop apps in-house as it is not the main function of the IT department; a professional agency has all the necessary infrastructure and human resources in place. Projects are undertaken simultaneously and this helps to keep the project development cost lower than required for developing it in-house. Among the most popular countries is India that has a well-developed IT infrastructure and skill base with development cost being a tiny fraction of what it entails in the US or Europe. The cost advantage becomes even more with mobile app development in Mumbai. The low wage structure in most third-world countries permits development to be extremely cheap. It is possible for an application to be developed offshore at 10-25% of what it would have cost in the US.

Better Quality of App Development with Outsourcing

Another significant advantage of outsourcing mobile app development is that you get better quality. Typically, the outsourcing partner is a specialist in this area and has the necessary infrastructure as well as the human resources with the desired expertise and experience. Most outsourced agencies are motivated more to deliver projects on time and of the desired quality as they thrive on the work volume and not on very high margins. When you outsource you pay only for the result and not for the resources that need to be employed, which is a great advantage over developing the app in-house where you need to invest in everything without any certainty of the result. With outsourcing, you are able to transfer all the risk of development; the app has to work according to specifications else, the agency does not get paid.

Faster Development Cycle

Many companies prefer to outsource the app development as the time taken to develop, test, debug, and launch it is considerably shorter. This is made possible as the outsourcing partner has a larger infrastructure and talent pool with cross-functional expertise. The sheer experience of the human resources and familiarity with the latest technologies makes the learning curve less steep and the development time can be reduced significantly. With faster development, you can launch the app quickly and reap the benefit of increased customer loyalty and revenue generation.

Conclusion

While the outsourcing of mobile app development has a number of advantages, you will run the risk of sensitive data leakage when you partner with someone who will need to have deep access to your organization. If the selection process is not thorough, there could be a mismatch between expectations and the delivery.