Hiring Software Development Company Vs Remote Freelancers/Staff: Asking These Killer Questions Will Help You Decide

Tony Zhu, is a well-informed banker from Singapore. I have been following up with him for 2 months for a FinTech SaaS Application product. During our initial discussions, he was unsure to [choose  a software development company] or [hire a remote freelancer] or employee.

I shared our company profile, our developer resumes and some of the products we have done for start ups and enterprises.

His pulse settled down, but he needed more. It was difficult for me, But, I followed my gut feeling. I asked him to invite Inviamtic and the remote freelancer, you have chosen for an interview.

He was thrilled with the idea and set up a call, three days from our last email exchange. This time helped me prepare and answer some of the most crucial points when you decide to select a software development company.

The blog puts two diverse views in front of your table. If you are an influencer or a decision maker, you must hear both the voices before taking a business call.

IT Outsourcing Budget Increased YoY

A study conducted by Computer Economics ( IT Outsourcing Statistics 2017/2018), states that the IT outsourcing budget is highest in five years (2013-2017). The survey covered IT organizations based in USA and Canada. The report provides an analysis of outsourcing statistics for 10 IT functions (Application development, maintenance security,.disaster recovery and so on).

It is clear that most organizations have accepted outsourcing to be viable option, so that they can focus on core skills of their business.

Do you want to exercise the option of outsourcing your IT work or you are considering working with remote employees nearshore?

Or, your finance team has already decided that setting up a new division is not worth?

What are the Options Available Now

1. Outsource IT work 2. Hire a remote employee/staff

The Big Face Off: Software Development Company Vs Remote IT Freelancer

Mr Zhu visited India in mid 2018 and invited us to Mumbai. He had a Fintech conference.

We reached on time. Our opponent appeared a smart lady (Samantha Joseph)- high on attitude. I felt great, it will be worth testing our character. She had ten years experience in full stack web development.

We had 40 years of experience in building Microsoft and Java technologies! Does that sound for a confidence or attitude? I leave that to you to decide:)

We greeted each other and then went quiet. While Raghava and Samantha seemed anxious, I was busy secretly observing their demeanour.

Mt Zhu was spot on time and seemed a very healthy and jolly person. Not to label, how bankers are all about branded suits and paychecks.

[Client]: There are many points I must consider to choose the right fit.

Why Should I Outsource?

[Invimatic Team]:  If the task is not your core business offering, you may consider our team. This will help you focus on your expertise and devise strategies to scale your business.

[Remote Staff]: If the task is going to help you provide competitive advantage, you can consider my profile. I hold expertise in IT and marketing strategy. Together, we can formulate a winning plan for your business.

How do I Reduce Costs

[Invimatic Team]: If you give that SaaS Application development work to us, it will save you huge costs. First,we are located in a country where salaries and infrastructure costs are lesser.

Second, we will be charging you less than 18 USD/hour for a task that you hire locally will cost more than 40 USD/hour

[Remote Staff]: I respect the above points, you can hire me on contract. I can study the project need and give you a quote that is affordable and easy on your pocket.

That way, there is no fixed overhead for your company to bear. I get the payment, when I deliver the output.

We can start on a short term contract and as you see volume of work increasing, I can become a full time remote employee.

How can I Save Time

[Invimatic Team]: We take care of hiring and training employees. It is none of your headache.

Neither you have to advertise on social media or work with  recruitment consultant to hire IT experts. From onboarding to product development, we have defined teams to  get the work done.

Yes, work is not interrupted. We are a democratic nation and a democratic team.

[Remote Staff]: You need to invest your best to get the best. Nothing ordinary will ever suffice your standards.

Your problems will be taken care by your HR and Admin team. If you empower them to take strong decisions and leverage technology, you can ramp up a remote team in months.

How can Global Talent Pool Help

[Invimatic Team]: I was speaking to a client in Europe last week, they were considering hiring a team who can do database, user experience and digital marketing work. I told her, “you need five resources, we can help you get started in a week. Without any hassles of recruitment.

Our in house and trusted channel partners cater to wide range of IT verticals. I said, “we can take care of user experience and database work and sub-contract the digital marketing.

We have found remote engineers or freelancers focus on things they have known well for years. It can work well for you when your needs are tiny.

In your case, as a startup founder, you need support and assistance from an expert IT team. We want to ask one question- “ Can you let an individual to manage all aspects of the product development”?

[Remote Staff]: I am short of reasons. I stick to previous reply.

Do You Provide Any Trial Offer

[InvimaticTeam]: For any outsourcing work, we offer a paid evaluation for a week. This will help you gauge our work and to what extent we understood your needs.

The success of any software project relies on 2C’s- clarity and communication. We swear by those two words.

[Remote Staff]: Since, we are in the same city, I can work for a  week from your office. That way. I can get to know your company and work culture. You can test me on different skills. I am also open for a full day hands on with your IT head.

What are the Quality Checks In Place

[InvimaticTeam]: For every sprint, code reviews will be performed.

1. Developers perform unit testing
2. We use Git as our source code repositories
3. QA will be done before requirement of every sprint on SANDBOX environment.
4. We have UAT in place
5. Finally, we perform production environment setup and deployment

[Remote Staff]: Well, from a developer per se, I can perform my tasks. If you can hire a quality engineer we can work together, else, I do the development and basic testing and you perform the User acceptance testing.

I am sure, we can work on it and define what is the scope.

What About Morale and Accountability

[Invimatic Team]: We have grown to a strength of 25+ in last 2 years.

Our client success agenda and transparent policies have helped us grow fast. With advancement of technology, we invite clients to track the project daily. Our team sits down and creates the deliverable report.

We discuss the high priority items and follow an agile delivery method. In some of our projects, we have gone out of the way to do tasks, which was not defined in the agreement or scope.

However, if you recruit a remote employee, he/she work in silos and cannot be seen or heard for weeks. Unless they are mentally disciplined and motivated, you may have to do the runaround.

[Remote Staff]: I may be working remotely, but I am working for your success. If I am not available, I will update your HR and delivery manager. So far, I have been doing remote contracts for last three years. I have been able to manage my, kids and pet successfully.

You can put a clause of deferred payment if the output is not upto the mark.

Do You Know About Data Protection and Legal Accountability

[Invimatic Team]: We [sign software NDA] and a master consulting agreement that can be reviewed by your/our legal team. The agreement covers non-compete/non solicitation, conflict resolution and limited liability clauses.

All the code base/data we create is shared with you after the end of the agreement. We do take regular back ups to protect against any disaster event.

Our reputation and goodwill is successful client delivery. Your are our face vale. Our business have grown based on referrals and word of mouth coming to our favours.

We provide a cybersecurity plan before the product development. This approach protects us from vulnerabilities to system hack or failure .

We strictly adhere to your Intellectual property policies to avoid misunderstandings.

[Remote Staff]: I will be following the protocol of data protection and security outlined by your company. But, uh.. We can discuss.

Project Collaboration Techniques

[Outsourcing Team]: We use Slack and JIRA for [collaboration] and defect management.

Our team will work closely with you to understand your requests. We do not let time zones and culture differences come as an excuse.

We understand the challenges and have created a strong willed workforce who have their sight on client success. At times, we get emails from client, your team is not responding. We do not jump into conclusion and start blame game.

We take ownership for any shortcoming and work on improving. By doing this, we are growing as a company. If some of our practices can be replicated by your company, we feel mission accomplished.

We let our good habits flow around the environment.

We have a project manager or a tech lead associated with our developers who manage all accounts. This is done to ensure that knowledge is retain with top hierarchy too. In case an employee leaves, he does not go alone with the knowledge.

For us, communication is the life line and we often teach our employees on our monthly training sessions.

[Remote Staff]: I am flexible with timings. I also have other work commitments. So, I will need to know your work timings and update you. For collaboration, I keep things simple. I use Skype for daily communication and have had lot of success working remotely with Asana. What is your preferred method?

What Led to Our Winning The Software Project

Our answers (me and our CTO) hit Tony straight between the eye. I got a feeling, when it came to data protection and project management techniques, we broke the gate.

Tony Zhu realized the importance of working with a team with strong Angular development portfolio and the level of diversity, it brings to the table.

No doubt, Kelly did a splendid job in answering questions. But, on the day, we were superior, I can say that with raising my collar. Ha ha : Yeah, we did it

Now, You Need to Decide

You can read from the conversation that an outsourcing team will give you access to strong team, set processes,  while remote staff can be reached easily. Organizations worldwide have received success with outsourcing

Now, it is for you to do a thorough check and ask these questions. Surely, if you follow the advice, you will be padding on your back for hiring a trusted software development team.

If you are looking for a team that values discipline, innovation, accountability and delivery, your choice is clear – Invimatic Solutions. Invimatic offers IT outsourcing and product development services to suit your needs. Our senior product consultants understand the domain and devise a plan to bring your idea or MVP to the market.