离岸开发
Offshore software development has become a popular practice for businesses worldwide. It allows entrepreneurs to save costs, time, and resources while delivering high-quality software for their companies at the same time. It implies hiring remote professionals to build software products for your future successful operations while you may continue to be focused on the core activities at your company.
Øffshore软件开发已经成为全球企业流行的做法。 它使企业家可以节省成本,时间和资源,同时为公司提供高质量的软件。 这意味着雇用远程专业人员来为您将来的成功运营构建软件产品,同时您可能会继续专注于公司的核心活动。
However, finding a reliable and experienced software development partner may be challenging and time-consuming for business owners and key executive managers. It requires considering a large range of factors and specific details you should be aware of choosing the right team for your project. To help you make a better-informed decision, we have prepared this guide to hiring the best offshore software development company.
但是,对于企业所有者和主要执行经理而言,找到可靠且经验丰富的软件开发合作伙伴可能是一项挑战,而且很耗时。 它需要考虑各种各样的因素和特定的细节,您应该了解这些因素为您的项目选择合适的团队。 为了帮助您做出更明智的决定,我们准备了本指南,以雇用最佳的离岸软件开发公司。
设定目标:明确定义公司的真正需求 (Goal-setting: Clearly Define What Your Company Really Needs)
Before you start looking for an offshore software development company, you must clearly define your business goals and individual requirements to your technology provider.
在开始寻找离岸软件开发公司之前,您必须为技术提供商明确定义您的业务目标和个人要求。
It’s a cornerstone of an offshore software outsourcing bible. Think of what domain knowledge and niche expertise a partner company should have.
这是离岸软件外包圣经的基石。 想一想合作伙伴公司应该具备哪些领域知识和利基专业知识。
Consider your growth targets and strategies you’re aiming at. It’s also highly recommended to create a written outline of your goals, KPIs, expected results, and a type of the project you’re going to outsource. Your company’s HR representative can attach this document to let candidates see if they correspond to these requirements at a glance; it also helps you better understand whom your company should look for. It will enable your team to filter candidates and save time searching for the best service provider.
考虑您的增长目标和目标策略。 强烈建议您为目标,KPI,预期结果以及要外包的项目类型创建书面大纲。 您公司的人力资源代表可以附上此文件,以使应聘者一目了然地查看他们是否符合这些要求; 它还可以帮助您更好地了解公司应寻找的人。 这将使您的团队能够筛选候选人并节省寻找最佳服务提供商的时间。
调查管理能力 (Investigate Management Capabilities)
The main peculiarity of the collaboration with an offshore software development company is that you should constantly keep in mind that it is located in another country. It automatically implies plenty of factors you must evaluate before you decide on your future tech partner. They include a time zone, language, cultural fit, and some local standards applied to software products and services. However, the most different factors may be matched and smoothen up if there is excellent management.
与离岸软件开发公司合作的主要特点是,您应始终牢记它位于另一个国家。 它会自动暗示您在决定未来的技术合作伙伴之前必须评估的众多因素。 它们包括时区,语言,文化适应性以及适用于软件产品和服务的一些本地标准。 但是,如果有出色的管理,则可以匹配并平滑大多数差异因素。
The number one thing you must pay particular attention to is the level of responsibility of project managers and leaders. Most often, the first contact with a company allows you to clearly see whether an offshore software development team fits your communication requirements.
您必须特别注意的第一件事是项目经理和领导者的责任等级。 通常,与公司的第一次联系使您可以清楚地看到离岸软件开发团队是否符合您的沟通要求。
Have they responded to your message timely? What digital tools for messaging, videoconferencing, storing and sharing information, and other collaboration channels they use to set successful communication with clients? Do their project managers have a high English literacy level as it’s claimed on the company’s website? Do they understand your requests?
他们是否及时回复了您的消息? 他们使用什么数字工具来进行消息传递,视频会议,存储和共享信息以及其他协作渠道来与客户建立成功的通信? 他们的项目经理是否具有在公司网站上宣称的很高的英语素养水平? 他们了解您的要求吗?
These tips may seem very obvious and straightforward. However, they are crucial for effective communication between your teams and overall project success. To determine if there may appear any communication issues, it’s also advisable to check feedback about it from previous clients.
这些技巧似乎非常明显和直接。 但是,它们对于团队之间的有效沟通和整个项目的成功至关重要。 为了确定是否可能出现任何通信问题,建议检查以前的客户对此的反馈意见。
考虑文化契合度 (Consider Cultural Fit)
Pay special attention to purely cultural factors like the religion, local beliefs, mindset, political opinions/preferences of this country, and cultural sensitivity of a particular offshore development team. You might be surprised, but they also may impact the workflow and communication process. If there is any cultural misunderstanding between managers, it may influence the team’s mood, attitude, and productivity. So, be attentive when considering these factors and try to choose the outsourcing company located in a geographical destination that feels closer to your team’s mindset from a cultural perspective.
特别注意纯粹的文化因素,例如该国的宗教,当地信仰,思维方式,政治观点/偏爱以及特定离岸开发团队的文化敏感性。 您可能会感到惊讶,但是它们也会影响工作流程和沟通过程。 如果经理之间存在文化误解,则可能会影响团队的情绪,态度和生产力。 因此,在考虑这些因素时要专心,并尝试选择位于某个地理位置的外包公司,该外包公司从文化角度来看更接近团队的思维方式。
评估成本效益,而不只是评估成本 (Evaluate Cost-Effectiveness, But Not Only the Cost)
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Before hiring the company, try to objectively assess the cost-quality ratio and consider that the “good” price doesn’t also mean the good quality of services. As widely known, one of the biggest benefits of offshore software development services is low prices.
在雇用该公司之前,请尝试客观地评估成本质量比率,并认为“好”价格并不意味着服务质量就好。 众所周知,离岸软件开发服务的最大好处之一就是价格低廉。
Since the cost of living in countries like Vietnam, Poland, China, and the Philippines are lower than in the US or western Europe, the cost of software services is significantly more attractive for business owners too. However, the key point of assessing the possible outcome for your business also includes the outsourcing team’s capability to deliver the best quality and value to your project. For instance, the imaginative company A may charge 50% more than company B, but it also ships 3 times better results that are expected to pay off to your business in a longer perspective.
由于越南,波兰,中国和菲律宾等国家/地区的生活费用低于美国或西欧,因此软件服务的费用也对企业主更具吸引力。 但是,评估您的业务可能产生的结果的关键还包括外包团队为您的项目提供最佳质量和价值的能力。 例如,富有想象力的公司A的收费可能会比公司B的收费高出50%,但它也带来了3倍更好的结果,从更长远的角度来看,这有望为您的业务带来回报。
检查投资组合和客户推荐 (Check a Portfolio and Customer Testimonials)
To determine the team’s skillset, you may check the team’s expertise, customer reviews, and the key clients on the company’s profiles on B2B directories. You can also view its portfolio on a corporate website or platforms like Behance, Dribble, GoodFirms, etc. If the quality of the work delivered by a team for previous clients doesn’t meet your standards, probably it’s worth looking for another service provider.
要确定团队的技能,您可以在B2B目录的公司资料中检查团队的专业知识,客户评论和主要客户。 您也可以在公司网站或Behance,Dribble,GoodFirms等平台上查看其投资组合。如果团队为以前的客户提供的工作质量不符合您的标准,可能值得寻找其他服务提供商。
了解如何签订双赢合同 (Be Well-Informed on How to Sign a Win-Win Contract)
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So, you have found a software company that addresses all your needs and requirements. Let’s move to the next stage — negotiation and signing the contract. There are several types of contracts based on three models of collaboration with an offshore outsourcing software development company: a dedicated development team, time & material, and fixed price.
因此,您找到了可以满足您所有需求的软件公司。 让我们进入下一步-谈判和签订合同。 基于与离岸外包软件开发公司的三种合作模式,合同有几种类型:专门的开发团队,时间和材料以及固定价格。
合约类型 (Types of contract)
Fixed-price contracts are the optimal option for small and medium-sized projects. If you have a relatively little task, it’s easier to set a fixed price to get it done by an outsourcing team than run a complex change-approval process.
固定价格合同是中小型项目的最佳选择。 如果您的任务比较少,那么设定固定价格由外包团队来完成,比运行复杂的变更批准流程要容易得多。
A dedicated team of developers. This model implies hiring a software team that fully dedicates itself to your project. Usually, this model is highly flexible and applied to larger-scale projects.
专门的开发团队。 这种模型意味着要雇用一个完全致力于您的项目的软件团队。 通常,此模型具有很高的灵活性,可应用于大型项目。
Time & material model (T&M). It’s the best option when you need an expert for your project temporarily.
时间和物料模型(T&M) 。 当您临时需要项目专家时,这是最佳选择。
检查重要方面,以避免与合同有关的风险 (Check vital aspects to avoid contract-related risks)
Regardless of the type of contract you select, there are standard elements and obligatory requirements that every agreement with a software development company should include. These are the following:
与选择的合同类型无关,与软件开发公司的每个协议都应包含标准要素和强制性要求。 这些是以下内容:
- Determined deadlines for issuing an invoice and invoice payment as well as clearly defined the consequences for missing payments on the client’s side; 确定开具发票和发票付款的截止日期,并明确定义客户一方未付款的后果;
- Liability clauses which determine clear limits of responsibility for both parties; 责任条款,确定对双方的明确责任范围;
- Warranty clauses which guarantee the quality of provided services; 保证提供的服务质量的保修条款;
- Notice periods — time frames associated with the project kick-off, scaling up and scaling down a team; 通知期–与项目启动,扩大规模和缩小规模有关的时间范围;
- Data protection rules (the deidentification, reidentification, and anonymization of data); 数据保护规则(数据的取消标识,重新标识和匿名化);
- The client’s ownership of the code, when it is delivered and paid for; 交付和付款时客户对代码的所有权;
- Agreeing on the law of which country will be governed if the contract is international. 如果合同是国际性的,就将管辖哪个国家的法律达成一致。
结论 (Conclusion)
Software development is a complex process that includes many stages and factors you, as the client, must be aware of to receive the best outcome for your business. In this article, we have considered the top six strategies usually applied to find a trusted software service provider, even in other countries. We hope that this brief guide will help you navigate the offshore software development market and make the best decision on a technology partner for your next project.
软件开发是一个复杂的过程,其中包含许多阶段和因素,作为客户,您必须了解这些阶段和因素才能为您的业务取得最佳成果。 在本文中,即使在其他国家/地区,我们也考虑了通常用于寻找可信赖的软件服务提供商的六大策略。 我们希望该简要指南将帮助您导航离岸软件开发市场,并为下一个项目的技术合作伙伴做出最佳决策。
离岸开发