In the business of software development, the importance of delivering the software at the right time and in the agreed format cannot be undervalued. Delivering the software has a much broader scope than most of us think. It consists of the entire process of getting the software to the customers starting from product conceptualization, prototyping, development, testing, installation, and licensing. These multiple stages demand multiple resources, and the needs are specific to the software.
Choosing a suitable model is always a challenge faced by organisations. Some of the most common challenges faced when selecting delivering models are administrative issues, budget constraints, availability of expertise, stringent deadlines, security needs, motivation, process compliance, and quality assurance. This is because different software products come with different requirements and have constraints associated with them. For instance, software related to banking and finance need extra layers of security embedded in the UX. An organisation may not be able to deliver such customised products within the given time constraints with their internal resources. In such cases, they will have to look for alternatives like the extended team model or outsourcing model while ensuring the legal and security requirements. In this article, we will see the three models used for software development delivery to help you decide the best for you.
A. In-house Delivery team
An In-house delivery team is a dedicated resource for software delivery that can act immediately on the project requirements by freeing up internal resources. There are no external resources involved, and the delivery team works autonomously towards delivery. With an in-house delivery team, you have everyone you need to ship the product to the customer in a single team, making you agile to work independently and act fast on the requirements.
A software in-house delivery team usually consists of a product manager, designer, developer, and quality assurance team. With their expertise, the in-house delivery team acts as an autonomous group that can understand the needs of the project, design the architecture, code the program, troubleshoot the issues, and deliver a quality product to the customer.
In-house delivery teams shifts the focus from individual functions to a common goal of delivering the product to the customer, thus improving the delivery process’s effectiveness and efficiency. In-house delivery team ensures flexibility and fast delivery. Since everyone in the team is well aware of the product and its features, a lot of time can be saved in switching from one team member to another. However, this can have some managerial issues like heavy workload, missing deadlines, etc. The cost of hiring an in-house delivery team is higher as one has to ensure the availability of all the resources and expertise to meet on-time software demands.
B. Extended team
As the name suggests, the Extended team is an additional arm integrated with your in-house software team. The extended team model is a practice of hiring professionals/ experts for the roles on-demand basis to work alongside the team. Sometimes, a customer comes with specific requirements that need different expertise. If such requirements are rare, employing a full-time professional with the acquired proficiency is not economical. In such cases, extended teams can be used. An extended team helps you reduce the cost of software development by contracting a tech partner to serve the need of the product. It provides you the flexibility to develop a new feature or scale up the operations without hiring a full-time expert. An extended team is a good option for companies that already have a small team of software developers but lack the expertise to see the project through to completion.
Extended teams are becoming a popular and economical model in the IT industry. Organisations can hire a small group or individual to meet the project requirements. It helps them fasten the process and secure confidential information, which can be a significant risk in outsourcing. With the extended team, you save a lot of effort on the lengthy hiring process. You have to ensure that the company you hire is aligned with your vision, has the required expertise, proven and sound record, and agrees to the confidentiality agreement. The extended team provides higher control on the delivery process and reduces the chances of poor-quality delivery. For example, a software developer hired as an elongated member of the team has to work within the team’s structure and follow all the compliances in practice.
An extended team comes with a hoard of benefits. It helps you fill the gap in your team and meet the business needs. It enables you to scale the software delivery based on the demand. It allows you to have better control of the process and high-speed delivery than outsourcing. All these benefits come with reduced costs compared to the cost involved in the delivery team model.
C. Software outsourcing
Software outsourcing is using external resources to develop and deliver the software. Here, companies don’t need to have their delivery team. They can leverage their pre-developed platform to get orders from customers and deliver the product through outsourcing. Thus, they don’t need to invest in human capital and can deliver the software at a relatively lower cost than the delivery team and extended team.
Outsourcing takes away management concerns like salaries, incentives, team organisation and structure, people management, etc. Software outsourcing, though highly cost-effective, comes with certain drawbacks. For outsourcing your software for delivery, you have to rely entirely on an external team and trust their conduct. This puts confidentiality and serviceability at risk. With no internal member, you cannot gauge how the progress is going at any time. You can only review the software when it is made available by the third party you have outsourced.
Software outsourcing should be used whenever there are considerable cost constraints. Companies looking for additional R&D opportunities for business development can opt for software outsourcing to help them reduce the burden and meet the time-to-market targets.
Having the right set of talents is critical for successful software delivery. The hiring process in the delivery team is lengthy and involves much detailed assessment of candidates; however, in the extended team and outsourcing models, time constraint does not allow in-depth evaluation. The following things should be considered while choosing an extended team/ outsourcing.
- Partnering firms/individuals should have a good partner portfolio.
- There should be step-by-step process establishment like legal procedure, financial declaration, etc.
- Professionals producing promising results should be selected through careful consideration.
Comparison between the three models that will summarise the content of the article
Conclusion
All three modes of software delivery come with pros and cons, and no one is perfect for all the scenarios. However, with globalisation and a competitive business environment, the focus is on cost-effective delivery, which is promised by the extended team and outsourcing models. The in-house delivery model, though highly reliable, does not offer a low-cost solution. Organisations need to ensure the availability of all the resources and expertise within the team, which is near to impossible in the highly dynamic world of technological advancement. Even if they manage to gather all the experts on one ground, justifying their utilisation in all the projects is very difficult owing to the diverse types of software demanded by the customers. One software may entirely focus on cost-effective solutions, while the other may look for a highly advanced user interface with 3D technology. Hence, the managerial difficulties are higher in the case of the in-house delivery model. The outsourced team will do everything for you, while you will be responsible for doing everything in the in-house delivery model. An extended team is a hybrid approach that compromises traditional outsourcing and in-house delivery teams.
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