Common challenges faced in software outsourcing

• Hard to find competent and professional resource
• Language and cultural barriers affecting communication
• Inappropriate business documentation, lacking vision
• Unaware of business models (staff augmentation/dedicated team, fixed price or time and material)
• Project scope is incomplete
• Privacy risk, confidential data may leak
• Budget and timeline
• Management of outsourcing team, difference of timezones
• Keeping project quality issues in check

Client challenge #1 It’s hard to find a competent and professional development team.

Getting a professional team of developers for outsourcing that meets all of your expectations is rare. What’s the problem? Lack of communication from the pre-sales team, unclear project scope or improper business documentation.

PS solution – We at Phaedra In our pre-sales meetings we discuss the client’s budget, timeline, collaborative business model and the features/tasks at hand.

If anything is missing from the pre-requisites (budget, timeline, project scope, business model), we prepare a business document and clarify our questions. Yes, we spend time and want to deliver what our clients expect from us. Not any surprises.

Seek free consultation: sales@phaedrasolutions.com

Client challenge #2 I’m afraid of hiring a team from a different timezone and there may be a communication gap.

Communication is the key in effective delivery of a project. It could affect in many ways. To deal with it, choose your IT partner with a proficient English and check their level beforehand, talk with the company representative and team members individually.

PS solution – We at Phaedra choose the following tools for effective external communication, for instance, Google Meet, Zoom, Slack (text messages, video calls). We use InVision and Figma when visual representation is required.

Client challenge #3 The business proposal isn’t realistic, lacking vision, and inappropriate documentation.

The purpose of the business proposal is to establish a business focus, secure funding and attract investors for startups. Whereas for established companies, the business proposal must encircle all the realistic requirements or can say workable goals.

PS solution – you can simplify your business planning process by reaching out to us. We do our research and include vision, mission and values statements. Share your business idea and get a proposal documented plan from our business consultants.

Client challenge #4 Your sales team is strong, I don’t know about the project team if they can deliver? (unaware of business models)

Incertainities surround most of the clients and they want clear understanding. Clients often fall in love with the sales team whereas the project team fails to deliver. It’s the job of the sales team to attract clients but in work completion the project team must be skilled.

Also, clients are not well-aware of the business models for collaboration. For instance, if they hire a dedicated team they can literally hand over requirements and timeline, the rest of the team handles the quality and delivery.

PS solution – We arrange meetings with the project team and the resources who will be part of the project so that clients can assess the team structure and approach towards work.

Client challenge #5 My project scope is developing and incomplete. How would that affect my budget and timeline?

Market changes, incomplete product requirements, and other factors may lead to project failure. When the project scope is undefined, change management becomes crucial, the budget is overspent and project completion delays.  

PS solution – Delegating tasks, and setting boundaries around tasks our team is responsible for is an important part of project management here. A basic breakdown we recommend is: defining the project objective, defining potential roadblocks, identifying necessary resources/team, milestone schedule and list of stakeholders involved.

Client challenge #6 My dev team may not be able to support your code.

It isn’t possible that you get code which is bug-free, small bugs and unreachable code and poor architecture are some major concerns of the client. The root cause lies in the unclear project requirements.

PS solution – We formulate quality standards before the project kickoff and share the requirements with the team. Add them to contract and check work in routine. In our pre-sales meeting, we discuss the bug fixing period and its cost.

Client challenge #7 It may sound weird but I may lose control over my product development.

Clients when ask for dedicated teams or go for staff augmentation options, they fear losing control over the project. They want to keep tabs on project progress and see if they are getting value out of the service.

PS solution – We understand. We arrange regular calls and send regular project updates. This prevents communication gaps between the client and the product team.

Client challenge #8 It’s 9am for me when it’s 7pm in your zone. How can I manage team updates/work?

Many Phaedra clients are from the US which means when they wake up, probably we close our shifts. This is the primary challenge clients often feel not to work with time zone difference regions.

PS solution – We set the ground rules in the kickoff call. We define the timeslot of the resources working with the client and per the requirement. We stay online for text communication for at least 2 hours. PS do make an arrangement that when clients check the work and leave comments, get a reply in real-time.

Client challenge #9 I want my development team to speak the same language.

Well, this may fall into a communication gap challenge. However, some of our clients demand if the team is well versed with the English language in particular? Language and cultural barriers are common challenges in outsourcing.

PS solution – Set a meeting with the project team along with the sales team and see if the team is capable enough to understand your requirements. We get it that a successful product launch isn’t possible without people speaking the common language.

Client challenge #10 I am worried about intellectual property rights. How can I deal with it?

Issues related to intellectual property rights, compliance, NDA and confidentiality are also common in outsourcing software development. Such problems arise from ill-documented agreements and improper examination of the signed contract.

PS solution – Study the contract thoroughly, since you are the party that needs the success of the product. See what sort of collaboration model the IT service providing company is offering and if it suits your needs.

• Time and material business collaboration model
• Fixed price collaboration model
• Dedicated team collaboration model

Final verdict

Nobody can give an honest feedback about the company other than what they delivered to their previous clients. To obtain their reviews, go to Upwork, Clutch and GoodFirms and see what their clients are saying about them. Don’t hesitate to ask questions such as what is on budget? What features or services will you offer in particular price, ask for alternatives. Can I bring my own design or is it possible to amend scope during the product development? Etc.

If you want to know more about Phaedra Solutions outsourcing, check our profiles and portfolio. Else, schedule a quick discovery call +1 412 4759053

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