In-house vs. outsourcing mobile app development is the most common quandary that businesses face when they plan to build their mobile app. With digital transformation governing the eCommerce industry, businesses are competing to offer their customers seamless experiences with the help of the latest tech innovation. However, building a mobile app is not easy as it looks. A mobile app needs to be scalable and powerful enough to meet the expectations of a customer. To execute the mobile app development process, some companies prefer to hire in-house resources, where they train them and start working towards their goals. On the other side, some major companies and startups believe in hiring services from top talents across the globe to envision the product.
Choosing between in-house and outsourcing is not an easy decision for companies; they need to check the resources in their company, and as per the available resources, enterprises should choose the best suitable option. It is also true that both carry some advantages and disadvantages too. To clear your doubt, we will throw some lights on both in-house and outsourcing mobile app development because it is important to monitor before you arrive at the final decision.
Outsourcing mobile app development is the current business trend, and it is in high demand. Not only startups, even multinational companies are preferring outsourcing over in-house mobile app development. Nowadays, companies want quick action, and they aren’t likely to spend ample time building an in-house team because it is a time-consuming process. Secondly, the in-house practice would cost them high.
On the other side, there are also some advantages of an in-house mobile app development team and some disadvantages of outsourcing, to cover all the details- kindly read till the end, because today you will get an answer to this question: Is it better to build an in-house development team or hire an external one?
When you finish the article, you will see the most important advantages and drawbacks of each approach, and we are sure you will reach the conclusion that will support and help to achieve your business goals.
So without any delay, let’s begin:
In-house mobile app development – Pros and Cons
Indeed, companies who want to develop a mobile app can also build internally with experienced and trained developers. This involves the process of attracting, sourcing, recruiting app developers and other experienced professionals required for building a successful and outstanding mobile app. After this all you need a technical leader who can guide you and implement all the necessary inputs to his team so that the team can work towards the goals.
3 primary benefits of building your app in-house
1. Engagement and cultural fit
App developers who have been working in the company for a long time know the demand and expectations of the company. They know why they are working and what needs to be fulfilled; in short, they are more engaging and highly motivated to achieve the best results and deliver value to the company.
2. Effective communication
Working from the same office helps to rationalize the communication process, making it clear and comfortable for the entire team. It also gives less scope of misunderstanding, and direct communication helps to save a lot of time, which eventually helps to accelerate the development process.
3. Increased agility
An in-house team of app developers can rapidly change the project’s features, add new ones, and closely monitor their technical background. In-house teams also deal with bugs and errors faster when compared to the outsourcing agency.
3 crucial drawbacks of building your in-house app development team
1. It involves high costs
In-house development is much more expensive because it requires some sessions and training to train your in-house mobile app developer; not only this, there are many other things you need to spend on like office rent, taxes, overhead costs, benefits, and much more. Therefore these are some factors that make the in-house practice much costlier than taking services from the outsourcing company.
2. Difficulty in finding skilled app developers
If you want to hire a specialist, it might take some time to hire a professional app developer because you can’t always find him or her from the same city you operate. As a recruiter, you need to source candidates and assess their technical skills accurately (or pay someone who knows how to do it and will do it for you, which might generate some costs).
3. High staff turnover
App developers know their skills are always in demand, and due to this, they tend to change their workplace. Finding a new developer for your project is a bit difficult as you need it to match the quality of the existing developer; therefore, it also impacts the speed of the project and slows down your app development process significantly.
When to develop your app in-house?
- If you’re planning a long-term development project – this is where it makes some sense to build and continuously maintain an in-house development team that will take care of your product for the maximum time period. But you can also team up with the outsourcing partner for long-term collaboration.
- If an entrepreneur has a lot of money and if he/she wants to build his team for the app development process- if you allow your team to make mistakes, optimize their process, and not look for an immediate app launch, then an in-house team is a solution for you.
Outsourcing Mobile App development – pros and cons
Outsourcing app development simply means developing an app and providing service to another company. Such companies prefer to hire outsourcing companies that have top specialists on board with a good reputation in the market. Outsourcing mobile app development agencies provide a lot of flexibility and opportunities, providing companies with committed development teams.
4 key advantages of outsourcing mobile app development
1. Cost reduction
When you approach outsourcing agencies, you know your budget, and you know what kind of work you’re expecting from the agency. Therefore by outsourcing the development of your mobile app, you save a good amount of money that inhouse companies generally spend on recruiting and maintaining full-time employees.
2. Easy scalability
Your provider can easily change the outsourced teams if they do not match. This generally happens because sometimes companies need to match the changing needs of their product. So companies get the flexibility to change the requirement only if there is an outsourced agency.
Accomplishing the same level of flexibility with an in-house app development team is next to impossible – recruiting new team members usually takes a lot of time, and firing them could ruin your team’s morale and reputation.
3. Fast time-to-market
Outsourcing mobile apps means you get the right direction to start building your apps with the developers. And with an outsourcing app development agency, you will always get a good quality of apps which they develop. Whereas, with an in-house team, chances are you will keep on changing your strategy, and you will try to keep improving the quality of the product. In-house, companies recruit a skilled professional, which generally takes 1-2 months. Doing that and then onboarding team members and giving them training is a time-consuming process. At the same time, outsourced teams help to accelerate the time-to-market of your app.
4. Reputable workflows and processes
Outsourcing providers offer experienced teams who have experienced working with many companies in the past. They know how to collaborate and work towards the goal. They know what a company is expecting and how things need to be done on time. Their experience and coordination boost productivity and deliver outstanding quality of code.
Moreover, an app development company can provide you with all the roles needed for development in your company – not only mobile app developers but also Quality Assurance Engineers and UX/UI designers. This way, you get a full team that grips the product holistically.
3 potential risks of outsourcing mobile app development
Naturally, outsourcing also comes with several risks; to avoid this, you should read the full contract before signing with the mobile app development company.
Before we move on to discuss these risks, here is a question for you: How do you avoid them? The answer is simple.
The best way to avoid the risk is by teaming up with an experienced, reliable, and trustworthy company.
1. Sudden business failure
Remember that the app development agency that acts as your outsourcing partner might face business failure, and in the business world, it is common. An outsourcing agency might be forced to minimize its operation due to staff shortages dramatically. And overall, this could pose a risk to your ongoing app development project.
2. Partial control over the development team
Outsourcing the important task of developing apps that carry a high business value might be risky because you have limited access to the development team. Still, don’t forget that such teams follow project management standards that enable frequent communication, so being left out of the process is highly unlikely.
3. Communication problems
When it comes to communication, another potential risk comes from partnering with an agency located in an entirely different time zone. However, providers know how to deliver optimal services regardless of their location. For example, if your outsourced agency is in the US and you’re sitting in Japan, there might be some problem with the different time zones; in this case, sometimes some communication barrier you can feel.
When to outsource your mobile app development?
- You lack a development team and experience in app development – by outsourcing the process of building your mobile app, you’ll get the advantage from the skills and experience of an app development company that has helped other business entrepreneurs to create great products that are ruling in the market currently.
- You lack the specialists – if you’re a startup or a mid-sized company with an in-house development team, you might still need specific skills or expertise to develop your app. Hiring such experts full-time is costly. This is the reason why outsourcing makes sense in this case.
- You want to build an app in a limited time frame and at a reasonable price bracket – you have an internal development team but don’t want your employees to spend their time on a new app development project. This is where hiring an outsourced team for the job will help you save internal resources for mission-strategic tasks.
In-house vs. outsourcing mobile app development – Comparison
App quality | Outsourcing vs. in-house
App development companies have battle-tested Quality Assurance processes that guarantee the high quality of the apps. Moreover, such outsourcing partners employ many app developers who get to exchange their knowledge and experience with each other. If quality is important to you, then it’s best to rely on the expertise and skills of an outsourced team.
High productivity in limited time | Outsourcing vs. in-house
If you like to start developing your app as soon as possible, outsourcing is a better option.
By doing that, you won’t have to hire mobile app developers, deal with the formalities, onboard them, and train them before they start developing your app. Overall it is a time-consuming process, and if you want to deliver the best quality product in a limited time, then you should hire an outsourcing agency. Not only this, by outsourcing, you will get trained and highly qualified technicians who will follow battle-tested processes that accelerate the building of your mobile app.
Cost | Outsourcing vs. in-house
As we said above, outsourcing comes at a lower cost than building and maintaining an internal development team. Building an in-house team will cost employee salary, office maintenance cost, office rent, and spend huge costs on other necessities for employees, including salary hike.
In-house or outsourcing mobile app development – Conclusion
We hope that this article helps you decide which model is the right one for your mobile app development project.
Choosing between the in-house team and outsourcing partner is not easy because both solutions come with their own unique advantages. However, by carefully evaluating their drawbacks and considering short and long-term business requirements, we would suggest you go for an outsourcing agency; the reasons are:
- Less risk evolved
- No compromise on quality
- On-time work completion
- On-time app launch
- High productivity
Outsourcing companies like Cmile can do the needful for you. Years of experience have made us a pro in this field. Our developers have great technical knowledge and are highly qualified in developing mobile apps for both Android and iOS platforms.
Want to know more? Feel free to contact us, and we will revert at the earliest.
Founder of Cmile. Expert in mobile app📱 & web🌍 development. Passionate about technologies💻. On mission🚀 to digitally solve people’s problems. Love to use emojis✌🏼
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