Understanding the Industry: What Is a Software Outsourcing Company?

Software development as an industry can be pretty challenging to understand if that’s not the core of what you do. Here at Baytech Consulting, a web application development company, software development is the core of our business, and we want to help you better understand the way this industry works.

One fairly foundational question that we hear from time to time is “what is a software outsourcing company?” Usually this question is asked by leaders at a company that isn’t focused on software development but nevertheless needs some software developed. Usually they are looking for a solution that’s cost effective as well as efficient. Those leaders have heard that outsourcing is an option, and they want to learn more.

Are you asking the same or similar questions? Then you’ve come to the right place!

What Is a Software Outsourcing Company?

The simplest answer is that a software outsourcing development company is any software development company that contracts to develop software solutions for other companies. Of course, that’s most of the software development companies out there, since very few are exclusively creating their own first-party software, independent of a larger organization (like Microsoft or Adobe).

On the surface, that’s simple enough. But you’re probably looking for a little more information than just that simple definition. Allow us to illustrate.

Meet Sam. Sam runs an artisanal bakery in the Bay Area. She’s built her business from the ground up, and now she has an amazing team. Sam is great at baking and at running a business. Someone on her team had the skills to build a basic website, and they’ve even implemented an online ordering function. Online orders are rolling in, and she’s about to open a second location.

But Sam has a problem. She’s been tracking too much of her business manually, and her customer relationship management (CRM) is a mess. She’s sure that software could solve a lot of her headaches and empower her to scale her business, but she has no idea where to start. Developing custom software for her business is far beyond the skill set of anyone on her team, and it doesn’t seem feasible for her small business to staff up a software development department.

The answer is simple: Sam needs a partner. She needs a software development company like us.

A Software Outsourcing Company Is Your Partner for Software Development

If you’re anything like Sam, then you, too, need help. Whenever software needs arise in your business, you need a software outsourcing company. You need a software development company that can partner with you to understand your business needs and then build a cost effective custom software solution to meet those needs.

Since you’re here (and since this is our blog), we hope you’ll allow a shameless plug: software development is our bread and butter here at Baytech Consulting. It’s what we exist to do. We’re an onshore only software development company that takes the time to truly get to know your company and its needs. We know that only once we’ve accomplished this will we be able to craft a truly elegant solution to your business needs.

If you already know that outsourcing to a software development company is what you need, why wait? Let’s chat today. We’ll help you understand how partnering with us is a smart, cost effective way to fulfill your software needs.

Either way, there’s more to learn. Keep reading to understand further.

Outsourcing Software Development to a Software Development Company: How It Works

If you’re considering outsourcing software development for the first time, it helps to have an idea what to expect. Of course you want to come to the table as prepared as you can. Knowing what to expect will help you to do that.

Now, we can’t speak for every software development company out there. There are differing philosophies and approaches, and not every company shares our level of care, effort and skill. But here at Baytech, this is how it works when clients outsource software development to us.

1. The Initial Inspiration

It all starts with a deep, detailed conversation with you, the client. We want your business (and this software project) to succeed. To do that, we need to understand exactly what problems you need solved. We need to know your vision for how to solve it, as much as you have one. (Obviously, we don’t expect you to have every solution developed. That’s our job!)

Baytech has a consulting background (it’s in our name, after all), which sets us apart from the competition. We meet with you and truly learn your business process, inside and out.

2. The Innovation Game Plan

Once we understand the problems you need solved, your vision for solving them, and your business processes, we work with you to establish clear goals for the software project. Before we build an innovative software solution that meets your needs, we build a detailed road map of exactly how we’ll get to the end goal.

This way, software development outsourcing isn’t a black box, where you can’t know what’s happening until it’s finished. We provide transparency and accountability so that you’ll know exactly where we are in the process at all times.

We can do this because our team is 100% in-house and onshore. There’s no confusing division of labor that we’re trying to conceal in our process. All the work is done by our in-house, US-based team.

3. The Meat and Potatoes

Once we’ve established and agreed upon a game plan, it’s time for us to get to work building your software. We generally follow a process that includes frequent deliverables and demonstrations of the work in progress. We use an online project management portal so that you and we can both track the project’s progress, and we maintain open communication with clients as we work.

4. The Expertise Deployment

Development isn’t the end of the process for us. We also work with our clients through the deployment phase. Using modular development techniques, we’re able to develop and even deploy portions of your software solution before the entire package is complete.

We use modern development techniques that minimize the need for customized deployments and training, easing the burden on your in-house IT staff.

In short, we make deployment as simple and pain-free as possible by following modern best practices and developing smaller, more nimble services concurrently with one another.

5. The Winning Relationship

Even when deployment is complete, we don’t consider the project completely finished. We maintain ongoing relationships with our clients, supporting their custom software for years after launch. Technology keeps changing, and with that change some adjustments to your software may be necessary. And hopefully your business is growing and changing, too. You may need new functionality that you didn’t foresee during the Initial Inspiration phase. In many cases we can add functionality down the road.

This ongoing winning relationship has another benefit. Most companies don’t outsource development of just a single piece of software. They have ongoing needs. Once you find a reliable partner you can trust for your development needs, future projects are likely to go even smoother than the first one, because you already have a baseline relationship and understanding in place. In this way, future projects become more and more cost effective for a given client the longer we work with that client.

To recap the Baytech Consulting process for software development outsourcing, it looks like this. First we meet with you to establish an Initial Inspiration. Next, we build an Innovation Game Plan that shows you, transparently, how we get from point A to point Z. We then get to work building your software, with frequent deliverables and demonstrations. Next, we guide you in an easy, simplified deployment. Finally, we work to maintain strong relationships through quality support for years to come.

The Core Benefits of Software Development Outsourcing

Now that we’ve covered what software outsourcing to a software development company is, some of you may already be sold. You can see that this is what you need, and you’re ready to get started. If that’s you, let’s chat!

But some of you may still be wondering about the value of working with a software development outsourcing company. Let’s look at several of the core benefits of software development outsourcing and see whether any of them would provide value to your business.

Gain Access to Expertise

Far and away, the greatest core benefit to outsourcing your software development needs is gaining access to expertise that’s both deep and broad. Remember Sam, the baker from earlier? There is no way it could ever make sense for a business the size of that one to hire in deep expertise in software development. The only way for her to get this kind of expertise is to bring it in from outside through outsourcing.

Whatever the size and scope of your business and whatever talent you have in-house, you’re likely to need access to expertise that you don’t have on your payroll. That’s where outsourcing software development shines. Software development companies focus their energies in this area, and many of them do have the depth and breadth needed for your project.

Solve Resource Constraints

It hardly matters the nature of your business, you’re dealing with resource constraints of some kind. If you have no software engineers on payroll and can’t justify hiring any, that’s a resource constraint that outsourcing can solve.

Perhaps you do have a fairly robust IT staff. You’ll still run into resource constraints. Your staffers can only work so many hours in a week, and they are likely pulled in a million different directions. Burdensome technical work like software development can eat up a lot of time. Removing software development from their already-full plates can ease up a resource constraint (even more so if your in-house staff isn’t strong in this area).

Focus on Your Core Business

Third, outsourcing software development to a quality software development company like Baytech allows you to focus on your core business. Maybe you’re a large corporation that’s well staffed and flush with cash. Unless you’re going to have a near constant stream of software development projects, it probably still doesn’t make sense to staff up internally for software development because it’s not the core of what you do. And even if you do have a steady stream of work, you still might not want to handle it internally if it isn’t core to your business.

Think about what else you’ve outsourced. You probably don’t do your own custodial work, right? Why? Because it distracts from the core. It’s not what makes your company unique. Others are bound to be more efficient and less distracted doing it.

Outsourcing your software development needs is a good choice along the same lines for many businesses. Doing it in house can be inefficient and distracting. It’s often substantially more resource-intensive for you to do it yourself than for us to do it for you.

So do yourself a favor. Focus on your core, and let us handle this aspect of your periphery.

Wrapping Up

In today’s post, we’ve given you a high-level understanding of what a software outsourcing company (really, a software development company) is, what they do, and how you can benefit from working with a software development company like us. By this point, you should be pretty well convinced whether outsourcing software development sounds like a good idea for your business or not.

If not, we wish you all the best! Keep striving to make your business the best it can be!

If so, we’re ready to partner with you to achieve your goals for cost-effective software development, solving the business problems you’re facing, whether simple or complex. Get in touch with us today to get a conversation started.

Let us help you succeed with innovative custom software solutions to your toughest business problems.