5 benefits to outsourcing development with local consultants

5 Benefits

To Outsourcing Development With Local Consultants

(952) 960-2220 | ilmservice.com

OverviewApplication Development Is An InvestmentApplication development is expensive. Depending on the scale and scope of your initiative, a development project can easily run into the six-digit range, if not higher. Offshore development firms charge a fraction of the hourly rate of US-based developers, so it’s easy to see the appeal of hiring an offshore firm.

Application development is an investment, and a good investment can help your company grow. A poor investment can incur additional costs for several years.

Because the long-term success of your company depends on making good investments, it is important to understand why offshore firms do not deliver the same ROI as local firms.


TopicsNot All Code Is Created EqualThere are a variety of reasons why offshore developers do not deliver a similar ROI to US-based consultants.

Here are 5 reasons why hiring local development consultants is a better long-term investment for your company:

1 Better, Scalable Code

2 “Been There, Done That” Approach

3 Learning Opportunity For In-House Team

4 Lower Non-Development Impacts

5 Better ROI On Long-Term Investment

1Better, Scalable CodeEven under the best circumstances, with capable developers, excellent communication, and the latest tools, a great application is hard to pull off. When you start to trade off experience and depth of knowledge for cost savings, projects are even harder to get right.

Poor-quality code negatively impacts future projects because it is not scalable and is difficult to integrate with other systems. Eventually, the maintenance and update costs will surpass any initial savings.

So what does good-quality code look like?

• Scalable to grow with emerging technologies

• Uses the latest best practices

• Easy to read self-documenting code

• Clear comments

• Automated unit tests


2“Been There, Done That” ApproachLocal consultants have experience solving numerous problems for a variety of clients. Chances are they’ve already worked on a project that is similar to your business needs. They already know the best solution to meet your needs and how to resolve issues as they arise, because they’ve already “been there, done that.” This deep knowledge base means your project timeline is shorter and the finished product is better.


3Learning Opportunity For In-House TeamCompanies who outsource development with local consulting firms often cite the guidance provided to internal teams as an enormous benefit for hiring local developers. Your internal team is able to work side-by-side with the consultants creating the application, which means they are involved with developing the application architecture, learning the latest in best practices, and participating in agile meetings.

Developers, like all employees, learn from experience. Outsourcing development is a valuable tool for any company, but there are benefits to using a local firm. When you offshore application development, your team misses out on key collaborations and in-person meetings.


4Lower Non-Development ImpactsUsing a lower-cost offshore firm doesn’t lower the costs for your managers, designers, operations, product team, or the developers responsible for re-integrating the outsourced code into your primary code base. In fact, offshoring almost always increases these overhead costs, sometimes significantly.

It can be difficult to schedule meetings with people who work on the other side of the globe. Your local team will have to schedule conference calls early in the morning or late at night. Odd work hours are a strain on your employees, and the extra hours can lead to overtime pay at the least and often lead to additional recruitment costs to replace your employees who leave due to this additional strain.

If you partner with a local development firm, you are less likely to incur travel expenses, overtime pay, and additional recruitment costs.


5Better ROI On Long-Term InvestmentGreat developers love to build amazing applications. They want to build something that will shape a business, something that will continue to be used long after they finish a project. Highly-skilled consultants are thinking long-term when it comes to project design, which means your initial investment will go further.


Next StepsChoosing A Development Partner When you’re ready to outsource a development project, you should carefully review all of the short and long-term impacts for your company before choosing a partner. You will be working with the code for several years, so be sure you are happy with the finished product.

Let’s TalkILM Professional Services provides expert development advice to companies in Minnesota. We can help you with a variety of development initiatives, from an architectural review to a full strategy design and application launch. Visit ilmservice.com or call (952) 960-2220 to learn how we use development to drive business innovation.


5 benefits to outsourcing development with local consultants

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