How to Validate Your Potential Outsourcing Partner: Lessons from Global Project Success

How to choose the right outsourcing company as your partner for software development is a critical question that companies need to answer. It all depends on how much of your project you are going to outsource. That is, are you outsourcing a part of the work to some other firm and rest will be done in-house, or you are going to outsource everything from start to finish. I would consider a few points in this process, assuming that you already have a few firms who can work with you.

1. First and foremost, think thoroughly about what your project is, what skillset you already have and where you need outside help. You must first clearly define your end goals in as much detail as you can. This is not as simple as it sounds because while you may be an expert in your domain, the developer team depends upon you for that domain knowledge. Most of the clients tend to overlook parts which seem very obvious to them, but they are not obvious to the software developers who do not know anything about your domain.
2. If you are going to outsource only a part of the work to an outside firm, think about the frequency and depth of collaboration needed between the firm’s team and your team to get the job done. If there are interdependencies in completing milestones on the two sides, then both teams should be aware of it and should communicate. A major point to look out for in this particular area is that the outsourced firm should be aligned with your timelines. Many times, the outside team will have other projects and other priorities which may not align with yours, so it is critical that this point is clarified and sorted before the project begins.
3. In the same vein as the above point, if you are outsourcing different parts of the same project to multiple firms, then this alignment in terms of milestones and timelines becomes even more critical.
4. If you are going to give the entire project to the outside firm with no involvement from your side apart from accepting the finished product, then determine what type of resources will be required, not necessarily in the numbers but in skillsets. For example, UI/UX expert, Software Architect, Backend Developer, Frontend Developers, Database Architects, mobile app developers, software testers etc. DO NOT skimp on software testing. Does the firm have all of these on their payroll and if not, who will they contract with to get the job done? Also don’t forget to ask about time commitments in terms of milestones completion even if you are interested only in the end result.
5. If there is any hardware dependency, meaning that their software needs to connect to your particular hardware system, which is necessary when working with industrial machinery, then the logistics of it needs to be figured out.
6. Finally, it is quite possible that all of the goals set out at the beginning of the project may not actually be met, so set out criteria for acceptance of the final product and the tests it must pass from your perspective.

Once you take all of these points to any outsourcing firm and have detailed discussions with them, you will be able to identify the firm which is best aligned with your own interests