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What better: a remote developer or outstaff company?

An eternal question: What is a better selection for my outsourcing needs- remote developer or outstaff company? Each option has its pros and cons and depends on the projects you are going to implement. In this article, we are comparing two popular strategies and try to help you in choosing the one that suits your purposes better.

Why do you need to hire a remote developers team?

Outstaffing and outsourcing in the software industry are getting more popular. Many companies are starting to experience the convenience of hiring a remote development team as it brings a collaboration of best development engineers from across the globe. Of course there are plenty of other benefits like integrating different points of view, using less workplace bias, covering more working hours, and increasing productivity. All you need to understand is how to go about hiring and managing a remote team.

If the results are needed as soon as possible or it’s essential to save some budget, a hired remote team is the best choice. It allows business owners to hire great professionals while maintaining a full control over the development process as a whole and the specific work of any of the team members. IT outstaffing, on the other hand, fits companies that already have an in-house development team but still need extra resources to maintain tasks and projects (developers, designers, QAs, etc.). In this model, the company provides people with management, tasks, and quality control procedures. This creates a great competitive advantage and brings additional profit.

Remote developer or outstaff company. Pros and cons.

Another big decision you will need to make is whether to hire an outstaff team or full-time developers to work on your project. The choice can depend on the scope and complexity of your project. You can hire an outstaff company by contract to work on a project for a short period. While remote full-time developers don’t have to choose between multiple projects and clients. Your project is their main focus, so the success of the product depends on your management process.

The benefits of hiring remote developers for business owners are the following:

1. They save their money for hiring HRs, office rental, computers, furniture, and other associated costs like coffee, lunches, paper for the printer, etc.
2. They have a wide selection of professionals from different countries. It usually allows them to choose among the best and create a great developers team.
3. They can control the process from anywhere in the world.
4. The work can start from the first day — in most cases the specialists are ready to start their work and all processes are in place.

Possible drawbacks of hiring remote developers:

1. Hiring a remote developer can take lots of time and energy.
2. Finding the right developer is a process that if maintained inefficiently can cost you and your business time and money.
3. Even when you eventually found a remote developer, you can’t be sure if they are the right choice until after they start working.

Outstaffing means that you hire a dedicated team of qualified professionals who work remotely on your project under your guidance. In most cases, the team works alongside your internal programmers to strengthen your project.

The benefits of hiring outstaff team for business owners are the following:

1. Fast response to your business needs. Developer salaries in the United States are much higher than in other countries, but with outstaff companies, you can find excellent specialists for a reasonable price.
2. Efficiency. With highly qualified specialists, your project will go faster.
3. Flexibility. You manage your team and add or reduce the number of specialists working on your project as needed.
4. Reduced costs. You don’t spend additional costs on recruiting, staff maintenance, tax insurance, etc.
5. Adjustability. You can manage your team, set, and adjust tasks according to the priorities of your project, just as you are working with an in-house team.

Possible drawbacks of hiring an outstaff team:

1. Information materials. Since outstaffing team members work elsewhere (overseas or overboard), sometimes there is a lack of communication between them and the internal managers and developers.
2. Motivation. An outstaffing team needs additional communication to stay engaged, updated, and focused on the project.

What is better: a remote developer or outstaff company?

So, we can conclude that every option has its pros and cons and here you need to thoroughly research your business’ needs first. Choosing to hire remote developers can be cheaper than outstaff but can bring some risks. People who work remotely, don’t usually are part of the staff, so there is always uncertainty, whether they get their job done properly. There is always a risk that remote developers can disappear and leave the project they were responsible for, they can steal code or developments, or work in parallel for several companies. On the other hand, if you know how to maintain the process correctly, spend some money on management and organize everything meticulously, especially selecting and hiring remote experts, you’ll get more chances that everything will work great. Today, this model is gaining popularity and more companies chose to work remotely, most often small startups. But if you are afraid of starting working with remote developers, choosing outstaff can be a good option for a start. Outstaff eliminates all of the above risks, as you pay money to prevent all of this from happening and are able to control the developer at all stages of work and interactions.

If you are hiring the candidates for your projects, we can recommend you read more about the right questions for the interview and how to choose a developer team for customization of Acumatica ERP.