For many technical leadership teams, the time comes that they have to decide whether they have enough resources to build a product in house or outsource the development of the product. Outsourcing product development has become essential for many companies around the world. Most of these companies outsource so they can focus on the core of their businesses as well as focusing on the other essential parts of the products, including marketing, financing, and customer feedback. Software development outsourcing is a growing trend from startups to some of the biggest companies in the world. But how do you decide what is the right time for your business? What parts of the development should you outsource?

It can be challenging deciding whether or not to outsource some, or all, of your engineering development efforts. Here are some of the essential factors to consider while figuring out what is right for you and your company.

Tech product outsourcing helps you:

Deal with skill challenges.

Sometimes the skills of your engineers don’t match the skills needed for a particular project. If this is a one-off project, hiring a new in-house engineer or paying to train your current team in that single skill doesn’t make financial sense. Instead, find a qualified, remote engineer with the specific skills you need. Likewise, if the project is not core to your business (like internal admin tools), hiring a less expensive remote engineer is a quick and cost-effective solution. Moreso, hiring a remote engineer that fits the skills you require creates an environment for new ideas that can help the success and longevity of your product lifecycle.

Focus on other parts of the product strategy

Outsourcing product development allows you to perfect the other essential elements of a product, especially when you don’t have significant experience managing technical projects. Working with outsourcing firms enables you to control the direction of the product, while still focusing on the parts of the business where your skills are most valuable.

Fix staffing challenges.

Hiring in-house talent is tough. In some cases, the process of finding, connecting with, interviewing, and hiring a single qualified developer can take months. You don’t have that kind of time on your hands. You need your projects completed yesterday, and finding a skilled engineer in your area can be stressful, time-consuming, and adds risk to your timetables. Similarly, your need for increased staff may change with the requirements of specific customers or even the seasons. It can be a waste of money to pay a year’s salary for a full-time team member if you only have 3-6 months worth of work for them. In these cases, outsourcing is an inexpensive, flexible option. Find a partner you trust, be upfront about your current and potential needs, and strike a deal that suits you both.

Allow your team to learn new skills.

When you outsource development due to lack of internal expertise, your team has the opportunity to learn from the outsourced engineer or engineers as the case may be. A great strategy to ensure skill growth of some of your in house engineers is outsourcing some development activities on the product backlog and have an engineer understudy with the outsourced engineer. Like they say, using one stone to kill two birds.

Manage time challenges.

The projects that pass through your department vary greatly, and so do their timelines. When planning for new projects, be sure you’re making the best use of your team’s time. You may have a highly skilled team, but not every project requires highly skilled talent and training. For example, repetitive or tedious work, like multiple API integrations, is ideal to outsource. You save money on the project cost, and your in-house engineers are available to tackle the more complex and challenging projects that are core to your business.

In summary: outsourcing your software development is an efficient way of utilizing your organization’s resources while maximizing your product development velocity.

Click here for more information on how to use outsourcing to increase the success of your tech product.