In-House vs Remote Software Development Team: What Should You Choose?
If you have a software idea, the reasonable question is how you will turn it into a reality. In many scenarios, it’s not even a question of how you will develop but who is going to work on it.
The concept of a remote software development team
In today’s world, we are all familiar with the concept of working remotely, but working remotely and having an actual remote team can be vastly different things. Our model at Duty Ventures aims to build a remote center that will act as an extension of your in-house development unit, as in being fully dedicated to your project, following your company’s workflow, and communicating with you directly. At the same time, you’ll stay in control of the remote development process.
The remote team model is defined as a type of IT outsourcing in which enterprises hire a dedicated team or individual developers to create a remote group of them. These are skilled specialists with a lot of experience which are available at an affordable price. They work remotely and are designed for a client or business based on long-term contracts.
The model is preferred by clients who have a well-analyzed project scope and progress with a clear investment vision. In addition to cost benefits, the remote team model provides a proportional list of business benefits.
Many companies delegate the task of building a remote team to providers that specialize in setting up teams in a particular region. For example, we build remote teams of Western European software developers.
Whether you go with our model or decide to build an in-house team yourself, we want to show you the benefits and downsides of this solution.
Benefits of remote teams
Budget optimization.
The question of an offshore development center vs. an in-house department often comes down to cost. Although building a remote team requires a lot of effort, especially if you do it on your own, that effort can be warranted by affordability. It’s common knowledge that a remote workforce is cheaper than hiring in-house development staff, as you can save on overhead. If you choose our model, you’ll get even more coverage, given that we as a provider take care of IT infrastructure, office space, insurance, HR support, employee motivation, team building, and more. By seeking outsourced development talent, you can take advantage of the fact that many countries have low costs of living, and thus you can hire qualified developers for less than you would pay in your own country.
A vast talent pool.
This one is one of the biggest benefits of a remote team: It allows companies to access a variety of skills, both general and niche ones. More so, many remote developers are on par or exceed many companies’ local markets in terms of skills. Another significant benefit that comes with it is that it takes less time to bump into seasoned specialists. This way, you can build a remote center on short notice. The pool of talent we rely on exceeds 1 million software engineers available in Western Europe, which lets us source skilled engineers quickly.
Scalability.
Another benefit is that working with a partner like us gives you the flexibility to add, remove and replace staff at will, so you can be more pragmatic and never compromise when it comes to your project needs. Compared to an in-house software development unit, it’s much easier to move resources around in a remote team and even build a team faster. For example, at Duty Ventures we set up a typical tech team in 2-4 weeks for an offshore development center vs. in-house which takes less time than building a home-based squad.
Simple hiring.
Going for a remote team allows you to forget about the hassle of vying for the top talent with tech giants in your home market. More so, if you partner with a vendor who has expertise in building a tech unit (similar to what we do at Duty Ventures), they will pre-select employees according to your ideal candidate profile, so you don’t have to wade through tons of resumes each time you need to backfill a vacancy.
Increased productivity.
One of the most common fears among employers is that remote workers will be “lazy” and less productive. It’s very far from the truth – remote workers simply don’t stretch their jobs to the traditional 9-15 interval, but do all the work much faster in most cases. At least, their attention is not distracted by too chatty colleagues. A remote team can increase productivity by 13% compared to an in-house team.
Disadvantages of remote teams
Cultural differences.
Remote specialists from different regions, different time zones, and without a direct link to the internal team demonstrate the intercultural gap. However, the culture of enterprises is more linked to shared values and goals. In any case, we are humans, history shows that the mix of cultures brings success to the common cause through the exchange of experiences.
Management difficulties.
Although your remote employees know they work for you (and your brand), it can be problematic to gauge their commitment and loyalty. Let’s be honest: it’s hard to know how your workers feel when you’re separated by distance. Thus, the question of personal engagement of a team member may arise, which can be rectified by regular surveys and one-on-one meetings, just as you do with your in-house software development specialists.
Pros of in-house development
Team spirit.
Although it takes a lot of effort to build a strong company culture, in-house software development teams exhibit a sense of camaraderie, which can be put to good use in building strong communication, mentorship, and day-to-day work. As a result of strong chemistry, employees can remain creative, passionate, and productive.
Face-to-face communication.
When everyone is inundated with emails and chats, which is typical for distributed communication, there is a chance your staff might miss something important. As such, the benefit of face-to-face communication definitely speaks in favor of in-house development teams.
Cons of in-house development
Talent scarcity.
Gathering all the needed experts in one place can be challenging. The demand for good developers is at an all-time high, making it much harder to find the needed skills locally. You can overcome this difficulty with a remote team. If you choose to partner with a provider that builds such centers (for example, Duty Ventures), the weight of recruitment will be carried by the partnering company of your choice. You will only need to interview and approve the pre-selected candidates.
High cost.
Remote teams have the upper hand over in-house development teams in terms of cost-effectiveness. Running a local unit, the employer covers health insurance, days off, IT infrastructure, severance pay, and other benefits. Moreover, when a project is at a standstill, having a team of full-time employees can also strain your budget.
Huge investment.
It takes time and resources to keep people happy. In light of high demand, software developers tend to change the working place quite often. Finding new developers is always time-consuming when a dozen other companies are vying for tech talent. As a result, you may face some challenges with finding replacements and therefore lose precious time.
Summary
If you’re still weighing remote software teams vs. in-house, we should admit that both models have their benefits and shortcomings, but at the end of the day, the choice depends on your company’s needs. Before diving in, you might want to consider deadlines, budget, and your management experience. To sum it up, here are the typical scenarios for the two options.
When to go with a remote software team:
- You are looking for ways to optimize your budget by trimming unnecessary expenses.
- You need to add a set of rare skills to your unit you can’t find locally.
- You want to scale the team up and down, depending on your project needs.
- You want to speed up the recruitment process.
- You lack experience in remote software development and management.
When to go with in-house software development:
- Building a close-knit team and a one-of-a-kind company culture is crucial for you.
- It’s key to keeping all expertise in-house.
- You want face-to-face communication with your team.
If you’re interested in building a remote team or if you want a piece of advice from professionals, please contact us directly and we are happy to jump on a FREE consulting call.
Just go to dutyventures.com/meet and schedule a FREE call with us!
Always on duty,
Duty Team