Outsourced software development team: key tools for effective communication

When you outsource software development, you can be sure that the work will get done, no matter the size of the project. And while that third party may be handling most (or all) of the development, you're not completely free of responsibility. There is one area that you should consider a priority: communication.

If you are unable to communicate effectively with your outsourced development company, you risk seeing your project languish or fail to deploy. Such a failure would not only be a waste of time but also a waste of money. All because you didn't communicate with your South American software development company (or onshore development company).

Fortunately, there are many effective communication tools to make communicating with your outsourced development team easier.

Email #1

While many may scoff at the idea of ​​returning to the tried-and-true method of email communication, there's a good reason you might want to make this your first choice. When communicating by email, you keep a record of each exchange (as long as you do not delete said email). This electronic paper trail can be very useful if a project goes off track. If this happens, you can always return to the email threads to find out exactly what happened.

Email is also a very important communication tool when you are dealing with offshore outsourced software development. With offshore outsourcing, you work in a completely different time zone, so phone calls, SMS and other real-time chat solutions will not be the best options. With email, you can send a communication at any time, knowing that the other party can respond during business hours.

The only downside to email is that it is not as immediate as real-time communication tools.

#2Skype

Skype is a great tool for communicating with your outsourced software development team because it offers VOIP and chat options. If you try to make a Skype call with your outsourced development team and they don't answer, you can text them from the same app. It's a simple solution.

The only caveat to Skype is that when dealing with nearby or offshore solutions, there will likely be a cost associated with these calls.

#3 Time off

Where Skype is a good solution for one-on-one communication or VoIP calls, Slack is the de facto standard for team communication. Slack's effectiveness doesn't end with team messaging, as it also adds powerful collaboration tools to the mix. Share files, images and links with your third-party developers. Slack also lets you make VoIP calls, send direct messages, work across multiple workspaces, follow threads, and pin items.

Slack also includes a plugin system where you can integrate various third-party services and features, so you can take your collaboration efforts to the next level.

#4 Next Cloud

Next Cloud is an on-premises cloud solution. You may not think that such a tool would be an effective means of communicating with your outsourced development team. However, you would be wrong. Nextcloud includes media via text, audio and video. And since this is a complete cloud solution, you can also share files, folders and links.

Nextcloud includes a wide variety of installable applications, so you can extend the feature set to include virtually any type of collaboration tool you need. And because Nextcloud is open source, you (or your outsourced development team) can build apps and features in the tool specific to your communications needs.

#5 Riot

Rebellion is a free and open source communications solution that uses the federated Matrix Protocol, so you can select the server to connect to. Being able to select a server can be an important option for your business as it will allow you to select a server that you can trust.

Riot supports end-to-end encryption, groups, channels, and file sharing between users, so it's not just a communication tool, but a collaboration solution. Since Riot is open source, you can even install a Riot server in your data center and allow access only to your development teams. So if you're looking for a secure communication solution, Riot might be what you want.

#6 Corner

Chanty is an AI-powered team chat tool that offers similar features to most team chat tools. However, there is one feature that might make you consider this option for your outsourced software development collaboration. Said option is the ability to turn any message into a task and assign that task to a team member.

And when you add public, private, and one-on-one conversations into the mix (with text, voice, and video), Chanty starts to look like a winner. Chanty also allows you to share files, links and even screens with your collaborators. This option also includes a unique feature called “Teambooks” that allows you to organize everything into teams for even more powerful and effective collaboration.

#7 Proofhub

Proofhub is an all-in-one solution where your team can enjoy all the tools they need for effective collaboration and communication. With Proofhub, you'll have all the features you need for planning, collaboration, organization, and delivery. You will find project management tools, discussion threads, task assignment, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, calendars, custom roles, time tracking, multi-language support, and discussion tools.

In other words, if you want a single tool to meet all your software development outsourcing communication needs, Proofhub could be exactly what you're looking for.

#8 Zoom

And, of course, there's always Magnification . Zoom is the ideal tool for video chats around the world. Make no mistake, Zoom isn't just about basic video calls. You can share screens, create meeting rooms and workspaces, schedule chats, work with a powerful search feature, direct messaging, and video/audio recording.

If your teams prefer to use video for communication, you can't go wrong with Zoom.

The software outsourcing journey

And here you probably thought that communication was limited to chat, phone and video. There is a whole world of communication tools available to help empower your onshore, nearshore or offshore software development team to collaborate. Try one (or more) of these options and see if it makes your outsourced development efforts considerably easier.

Of course, if you haven't outsourced your project yet, you might want to read about how to outsource your project to South America or the best locations for offshore web development outsourcing. Perhaps you are interested in nearshore outsourcing? If so, here's what you need to know.