Extended Team vs. Dedicated Team Model: Which Works Best for Your Project
Useful Tips to Manage ODC Team
The newest tendencies show that modern software development customers are gradually moving from the building of their own in-house development teams to the services of an offshore development center. In fact, it is a new type of remote work, which slightly differs from the standard outsourcing. This method helps to save costs while keeping own remote team.
What Is Offshore Development Center?
An offshore software development center is a department of the programmers working for your company. They can be located in any part of the world: just choose a country you would like to cooperate with.
Offshore development center consists of all kinds of specialists needed for the software-related project:
- programmers;
- testers;
- designers;
- UX/UI specialists;
- project managers;
- copywriters.
The foreign “department” also covers such tasks as taxing, bookkeeping, HR management, and all the other additional problems, which may arise in the work process. As a result, the headquarter has fewer tasks to cover.
Dedicated offshore development center works according to 2 main models:
- Contractor model. Is more convenient for small companies. An ODC creates a full team according to the needs and goals of the project. The team covers a wide range of tasks: expanding and updating of the old software, support, creation of the new code, expanding it to other platforms and so on.
- Customer model. This variant is better for the big companies or those ones which are working in a narrow field of knowledge. The model requires many tasks, management, design and analysis to be made by the customer. The ODC team provides the company with the specialists required by the customer.
Remote Team vs in Office: What Is the Difference
The obvious difference between these two models is the location of the team members: in the first case, they are not sitting in your office. However, there are other small peculiarities, which make cooperation significantly differ. And if you ignore these peculiarities, you may face more difficulties during the work.
Among the important things there are:
- Meetings. They are not always face-to-face, but it is important not to neglect them. Even if it is just a Skype talk, do it regularly to keep in touch with the developers. It will also help to feel like a single team, even if you are separated by the ocean.
- Workplaces. The main challenge of the traditional team vs remote team is the time difference. Make locations and time zones your friends: try to organize the teamwork in a way that everyone is engaged in a comfortable time.
- Culture. The team members can have different cultures. It is the chance to celebrate differences in action and try to make international friends.
- Relations. It may be challenging to make the remote developers into a team because team members usually have different tastes, behaviors, and styles, but not enough time for informal chatting.
- Communication. You may find it difficult to communicate without seeing each other: gestures, expressions of the face, and the body language really help us a lot.
- Scalability. How to scale remote team? Easily. If you need one more specialist with specific skills, ask your offshore development center to reinforce the team. Usually, you don’t have to do it, because the development center controls the workflow and upgrades the team on time.
The differences between these two models of work may seem to be drastic but as soon as you start work, you will see – software development outsourcing is simple as a piece of cake. The thing is to find a professional and reliable service provider.
How Popular Is the Idea of the Dedicated Offshore Development Center
It is impossible to tell how many ODCs we have in the world or even in one country, cause IT companies to open and close every day. But the industry of offshore development grows and becomes more popular. Many companies are looking for an ODC team to hire.
According to the information from DOU, in 2018 the amount of Ukrainian specialists has raised to 160,000. 16.6% of this amount is working in companies with more than 1,000 employees. During the last 2 years, the IT industry in Ukraine grew by 60%.
The number of vacancies by year:
Such growth happens due to the tendencies in business: every company needs a website for connection with the customers. Many of them want to have mobile applications to reach the target audience and search for an ODC company to hire. As an answer to the growing demand, the supply also raises.
Benefits of the ODC Team for Your Business
The ODC – offshore development center is a highly cost-effective decision, which helps companies to complete large projects within the shortest possible period of time. The main offshore development center benefits are:
- Creating a legal entity in a foreign country. It is a possibility for the large company to become physically present on the foreign target market.
- Cost-cutting. ODC meaning in IT companies is hard to overestimate. It is usually located in the country with lower costs of development and office maintenance.
- Hiring a large team of various professionals. For the needs of the company, you can establish a separate office with any number of specialists.
- Security. A separate office for your team is a nice option when you want the information about the project to stay private.
The Specific Offshore Development Center Requirements and Tips for the Successful Work
If you haven’t launched a project with the dedicated offshore development center before, we have a list of tips for the successful management of this work:
- Choose the right company for running the ODC.
- Check their references and track records.
- Establish a new organizational structure including your new remote team, distribute roles and tasks.
- Organize research and development processes: R&D meaning in the ODC center is immeasurable.
- Create job descriptions for all the needed specialists, pay attention to the soft skills as well.
- The offshore development center requirements should include the security measures: decide who is going to have access to which parts of the project.
- Start managing: decide on the methodology, outlines, and the way of reporting.
- Decide on the process-tracking and management services (like Asana or Jira).
- If you have several teams, distribute the responsibility areas.
Although the establishment of an ODC is a popular and effective decision for the business, it has two main drawbacks you should remember about:
- The price. Although it is still cheaper than the hiring of the in-house team, offshore development center costs are higher than those spent for traditional outsourcing. Compare the prices of different companies before hiring.
- Long term commitment. It is quite a complicated process to organize long-term cooperation with a big remote team. To solve this problem try to put all your eggs in one basket, use new technologies in the existing projects, and do your best for effective management.
How to Count the Offshore Development Center Costs
It is difficult to tell, how much does the ODC cost: the pricing depends on the specialists you need, their qualification, and number. To get an image of the expenses, decide on which specialists do you need and how many of them you are ready to hire. Offshore development center costs also include the expenses for the office maintenance – add them to the list.
We compared the average annual offshore development center salary for different countries, so you can imagine, how much will you pay for this kind of work:
| USA | UK | Germany | Switzerland | Ukraine | |
| IT business analyst | $82,134 | $46,164 | $54,400 | $98,088 | $24,271 |
| Project manager | $88,143 | $60,531 | $68,124 | $112,533 | $27,000 |
| Senior web developer | $104,918 | $49,398 | $59,886 | $72,715 | $24,652 |
| Graphic designer | $43,417 | $28,610 | $33,724 | $59,542 | $12,335 |
If you want your ODC team to be the most cost-effective, choose the destination country with the lowest prices.
Mobilunity – the Best ODC in Ukraine for Your Business
Even if you have the highest offshore development center requirements, we know how to meet all your needs. Choosing the team from Mobilunity you get only the best-dedicated specialists. We are located in Kyiv, so if you will have no problem with visiting us if you would like to meet face-to-face.
Be ready to minimize the offshore development center costs and downsides of this variant of cooperation, because we offer the cutting-edge technologies and the products of outstanding quality. Contact us now to start the IT project you’ve dreamed about.
Get your reliable offshore development center here and now!
Disclaimer: All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.
