Software development doesn't stop until the product is part of the end user's life. The apps and platforms you are developing to enhance your business…
6,000 new apps released just for Android every day .
This pace makes it nearly impossible for a single company to take into account all the latest trends, threats and hotspots influencing consumers. As a result, software development outsourcing has become increasingly popular. The global market for outsourced services has almost doubled in the last decade , from US$45.6 billion in 2000 to US$85.6 billion in 2018.
Even major technology powerhouses like Google and Microsoft regularly employ third-party partners to meet the ongoing need for rapid deployment of quality updates, fixes, and new products.
The reasons they turn to outsourced software developers and IT services are many, including:
- Rapid production increases at peak times
- Integration domain experience
- Increasing staffing requirements for project management and maintenance
- Economic experience
- Incorporation of the latest tools, technologies and trends
The secret to maximizing the impact of outsourced services is the same secret to successful software delivery described above – integration.
5 software delivery best practices for your project
Outsourcing means working in partnership. The expert minds and engineering power you bring to deliver your project collaborate with your team, work toward your product's business objectives, and share responsibility for the quality of the end-user experience. Whether you are committed to providing an end-to-end software development solution or to increase your engineering power during specific peak periods, you should feel in complete control and at the same time fully supported.
This close collaboration allows for resource and time savings that lead to faster development of better products. By keeping the overall end-user experience in mind, you can work together to produce something that flows seamlessly from concept to customer.
Your expert partner can also guide you through the software delivery best practices that are the foundation of such a smooth transition.
1. Focus on your business goals
Your product must effectively solve the user’s need in the most engaging way possible. Ultimately, this is how you will be judged in the market. Delivering that product in a timely manner depends on incorporating that solution into everything you do along the production path.
You should begin your outsourcing partnership with a clear discussion of your business objectives and a shared understanding of how to achieve them.
Your business objectives are like a compass for you and your outsourcing partner, guiding you in making decisions and helping you eliminate excess features and design complexity, leaving you with an intuitive, enjoyable, and effective solution.
2. Adopt an agile approach
This process of continually referencing your key objectives is best achieved using an Agile approach to software development . This method is designed to incorporate constant product evolution, with testing and input from all internal stakeholders incorporated into the production cycle. Instead of leaving the team's marketing, business, and creativity out of the loop until the core code is complete, their ideas are used to shape that development.
The end result is a product that is ready for the consumer to go into operation from the moment final unit testing is completed.
3. Introduce testing early
Each test completed during the production cycle represents one less delay you will encounter at the end of the engineering phase. One of the biggest setbacks that can hit an outsourced partnership is the discovery of hidden and unexpected solutions late in the production cycle because the outsourced expert was not involved sooner.
It is much cheaper and more time-effective to perform QA and make small fixes along the way than to leave code and user testing until the end when major fixes may be necessary.
Just as your outsourcing partner should be incorporated into the team's daily activities, so should product testing. The Agile approach of continuous, circular build-test-refine iterations gets you customer-ready quickly.
4. Know your platforms
The digital market has brought companies and customers closer than ever, providing direct means of communication. However, the number of different ways customers can make these connections grows more and more every year.
To deliver your product effectively, on time and under affordable conditions, you need to know which platforms your customer uses. There may be many.
Your outsourcing partner should be an expert in how your industry reaches and serves your customers, so encourage them to build platform, operating system, device, and search engine compatibility and interactivity into each step of the design phase.
5. Target your launches
Finally, you must know what your customers need and expect to deliver your solution on time. Every product release, update, or fix must serve a clear purpose – or your customers will grow tired of you.
As we said above, there are literally thousands of apps competing for your customer's attention every day. Group your fixes and updates for more impactful releases, deliver new features at regular and expected intervals, and provide specific explanations about how your release relates to and will improve your customer's lives.
Achieve software delivery success with a Nearshore outsourcing partner
Each of the software delivery best practices described above depends on clear and regular communication. This is why it can be an advantage to look for a nearshore development partner. Partners who share time zones and business patterns with U.S.-based companies while offering resource savings comparable to more distant alternatives are often better equipped to handle the back-and-forth of healthy communication.
Close collaboration within an agile, integrated software development methodology puts the critical product delivery phase of your project at the center of your daily workflow. By keeping the end user in mind at all times, you eliminate the need for a break between creating your product and serving your customers.
The faster you can get your product to customers, the faster you can start impressing them.
If you liked this article, be sure to check out some more articles about outsourcing.
- Ensuring disaster recovery and business continuity in software outsourcing
- Leveraging Big Data to Boost Your Outsourcing Model
- Ensuring long-term success with post-project support in software outsourcing
- Drafting comprehensive service level agreements for software outsourcing
Source: BairesDev
