Tips to Help You Succeed with Offshore Product Development Partner

Over the years, several startups as well large enterprises have gained tremendously from partnering with outsourced product development companies in India and other such countries.

According to Statista, in 2018, the global outsourcing market amounted to 85.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Access to top-notch technical expertise, domain knowledge, and the know-how of product development and product management helps tech startups leverage the benefits of outsourcing. However, working with an offshore partner is not the same as working with an in-house team. With offshoring, you are working with a new team that is in a different part of the world, comes with its own experience of executing projects, and possibly, works in a different time zone.

If you are considering partnering with an offshore software product development company in the coming year, here is a blog that enlists some practical tips to help you make the relationship a success.

Research and Hire a Reputable Partner

First things first. You need to do your research and select the right Outsourced Product Development Partner. Ensure that the partner that you choose has a strong industry and technical knowledge you need to develop your product. The partner should follow the latest product development and management processes such as DevOps, Agile, and have transparent, flexible, and well-set processes. Do check out the work done by the company in the past. If required, speak to their existing clientele to understand their working models, communication, and proactiveness. After all, you need a partner who will work as your extended team and show commitment towards shared goals.

Discuss Long-Term and Short-Term Project Goals

Assigning a project to an offshore team without telling them the goal behind it is going to turn into a catastrophic disaster. The developed product, in all possibility, will not be as per the expectations of the stakeholders. The way to go about this is to discuss long-term and short-term goals with your outsourced development partner. It can be the vision about your product, a clear roadmap of how you want the product to succeed, and what you want to achieve through the product. This will help them think and work innovatively and effectively to help you get to your goals.

Clearly Specify Your Requirements

More often than not, we want to achieve perfection in the projects and want the offshore development teams to understand and follow suit. For this to happen, you need to get the offshore development team on the same page. This includes specifying what exactly you are looking forward to, the specific areas that you can or can’t compromise, and so on. The requirements can be in terms of what are the tasks that the product needs to solve, the functionalities and the features that need to go in making the product, and the platform for which the product needs to be developed. This will help the team to prepare a clear path for getting the product ready within the stipulated time frame. The ideal offshore development partner would also like to understand your target audience, their needs, and preferences and then they will guide you on making the right choices.

Clarify Your Company’s Culture, Ethos, and Values

When you want to hire an offshore product development partner, one of the mainstays is to make sure that the outsourced team is in-sync with your company’s culture, ethos, and values. This is especially important because the offshore teams will be located in different countries and will have a different perspective on various aspects. If you don’t take this into consideration, then it can affect the progress of your project in the long run. Therefore, it is crucial that you clarify your company’s core culture, ethos, and values to the partner beforehand.

Communicate Effectively and Often

Communication is the cornerstone when you want to work with an outsourced product development team. Make it a point to communicate with them as effectively and as often as you can. This will be crucial during critical projects when you have to communicate back and forth a number of times. Holding daily meetings or asking for weekly status reports can be a few ways to help you stay updated on the status and also get an opportunity to put your points across. This will help you both to be on the same page. There are several communication tools that can help you in keeping them in the loop. Do check with your partner on their communication processes and see how those align with your needs.

Set Realistic Expectations

The next point on our list is to set realistic expectations. Understand that they are your partners, and you need to work together towards the success of your project(s). For instance, sometimes the offshoring partners will need more time to learn the ropes or to understand your business in the initial stages. By giving them the time, you can expect them to reach a certain level of work quality.