5 Don’ts While Outsourcing App Development

In today’s world, mobile apps are the best tool to access a consumer. There are also entire business models which are designed an app. Case in point- Uber. Today in the post dot com world, and where the game is mostly about data, apps are the biggest and most effective tool. Hence, it is no surprise that the mobile app developer is one of the most sought after professionals of the times we live in. If you any business for which direct customer interaction is crucial and whose target audience is below mostly below 40(late millennials and post millennials), at some point of time you are going to have to hire a mobile app developer to develop and design your app. Now countless articles have been written on the “DOS” when you hire mobile app developer; scarce few have touched on the “DONTS”; precisely why we are going to look into this area today. Below, I have tried to list down, what I think are, five crucial “don’ts.” 1. CHEAP…CHEAPER…CHEAPEST - A dangerous mentality to when you are looking for a mobile app developer for hire. It’s a very technical profile and skill levels differ widely, thanks to the demand and supply being skewed. In such a scenario, if you try and go for the cheapest available alte ative, then you are bound to run into issues. Not every developer has the requisite experience or skillset to deliver what you might be looking for. So by all means outsource, since the benefits are manifold, but chose value addition over price. 2. HIRE ONLY LOCALLY - Many chose to outsource, but refuse to do so outside geographical boundaries. Not only are they leaving themselves vulnerable to excessive costs but to talent shortage as well. Locally, it’s next to impossible for a small or new setup to hire a developer, be it North America, Europe or Australia. You must look east and look India, which is the hub for work like this, being one of the largest consumers of mobile technology locally too. When you hire a mobile app developer in India, you are not only getting him/her cheap (almost 75 percent cheap) you are also able to access India’s abundant talent pool. 3. Go Sherlock! - Yup! A thorough background check is absolutely critical if you want to avoid running around in circles and fail, with a bad taste in your mouth to boot. Look, outsourcing is great and all; however it does have its pitfalls. And the biggest one is the trust quotient. You are often trusting a web presence to work for you. Any fool can create a website and pose. So it is important to do a thorough background check. Check out the customer testimonials. Check if the companies mentioned there are actually genuine. Check to see how the company has been rated in third party forums or groups online (there are many). And most importantly, see if they have done work similar to what you ask for before. Experience is a huge plus here. 4. Going for speed at the cost of perfection - I know, you just cannot wait to be out in the stormy waters. But tarry a while mate! The waters be choppy and the schooner might have holes too big to plug on the high seas! App development is a delicate and technical job. And ask any mobile app developer for hire , speed kills! A hurried incomplete version of your app, even if it pulls downloads thanks to opportune timing, will harm you more than you care to know in the long run. Your very first customers will become your biggest critics. It’s better to launch late, but do so with an app without any glitches and one which has had a proper dry run. 5. Coughing up for every little fix - That’s a scam! Nope! Nothing you say will convince me otherwise. It’s unprofessional and poor if a company forces you to go through this. Make sure you take safeguards at the very start. Take a package deal, with penal clauses if required. Remember, when you hire mobile app developers from an established firm, they will ensure that there is minimum back and forth and that as a client, you don’t have to pay for little fixes, which anyways are the outsourcing partners’ liability. So, I have tried to lay down five pointers which I think one should keep in mind while trying to hire a mobile app developer. Remember in a fast changing scenario, value addition has primacy over pricing which anyways is a given.