Software Development: In-House vs Outsource vs Freelancing

When companies set out to develop software, one of the most critical questions they struggle to answer is how they will go about the development process. You see, the world has plenty of options to offer — there’s an in-house development, outsourcing, and freelancing. The best option, then, is to pick what suits your project’s requirements and the company’s expectations.

To help you make an informed choice, here is an overview of the available options and their pros and cons.

In-house software development: This involves executing the project using the company’s own development team, i.e. their permanent employees.

Pros:

• More focused: Since the team is the company’s own, the developers’ only focus is their needs.
• Ability to train based on project requirements: In case of a project for which the company doesn’t have the requisite skills in-house, it has the option to introduce its employees for the required skills.

Cons:

• Finding requisite skills: A company may not always have the required experts in its development team. This problem is further compounded by the fact that the local talent pool can often be limited, making it difficult to access the necessary skills.
• Expensive: It is costly to set up one’s development and quite a strenuous and prolonged process.

Outsourcing software development: Under the purview of this option, companies hand over the responsibility of developing the required software to an external team.

Pros:

• Time and cost savings: Since you don’t have to set up your own and maintain an in-house team, you stand to save significantly in the context of both time and money. This is especially true for short-term projects.
• No training: Since you are outsourcing to an external team, you gain access to the required talent and don’t have to worry about finding or training developers.

Cons:

• Risk to data: One of the most significant issues with outsourcing is that the software becomes prone to security risks and leaks of proprietary data.

Freelancing: With this option, one engages the services of an individual, typically on a project-to-project basis.

Pros:

• More affordable than outsourcing: Among the biggest USPs of hiring freelancers is that they are a much more affordable option than even external teams to whom projects are outsourced.
• Ideal for short-term projects: Freelancers are a terrific option when the development project involves a short timeline. They can even be hired to develop certain functions for the software.

Cons:

• Unavailability: Since freelancers offer their services to various projects at the same time, they tend to have tight schedules and can be unavailable in case of emergencies.
• Commitment issues: Since they are not full-time employees and generally work on various projects simultaneously, they may not always prioritize your project.

As you can see, there is no right answer here and the best way to figure out if you should opt for a freelancer, software partner program, or stick to your in-house team is to gain a firm grasp on the project’s specific requirements.