When local pools of tech talent are tapped out, a remote software development center becomes a viable way to source software developers. One of the most significant benefits of this approach is that it comes with the overlapping coverage fostered by the cooperation of two teams operating in different time zones. Located in different regions, your remote and in-house units will clock in 8 hours per day each, which in many cases totals to 16 hours in a 24-hour timeline.
Another notable benefit of this model is its flexibility, especially when it comes to mid-term projects spanning 1-2 years. A remote software development center lets you work with a team for the project duration you need. This eliminates the expenses (and efforts) associated with HR processes that often arise when disbanding a team upon project completion.
Now, let’s review the steps to build your own remote software development center.
Before hiring remote software developers, you should define the scope of work for both your internal and remote software development teams. There are basically two approaches to dividing the scope of the project between your units. One approach involves the common work of both teams with full integration of your remote software development team. Alternatively, you can divide the project into components, which each team will independently deliver. The approach you take depends on your project as well as your management style. Regardless of the chosen approach, it’s essential to deconstruct the project into deliverables and set up time frames when you want each part to be delivered. That way, it’ll be easier for you to coordinate the teams, track progress, and measure success.
Another crucial thing is the budget. When you work with a provider of a software development remote team, your budget will be essential for finding employees for your remote unit.
So, the outcome of this step should include a defined set of deliverables for both teams, a timeline, and a budget. Based on this input, the provider will take care of sourcing relevant remote software developers that will meet your demands when it comes to skillset, experience, and rates.
Team composition varies for different scenarios. It may consist of several software engineers fully integrated into your workflows, working closely with your internal staff. In this setup, you can communicate with each team member. directly Alternatively, you might opt for a comprehensive dedicated team approach, akin to a “turn-key” remote software development center. Such a team would involve essential software development roles, including a UX/UI designer, developers, QA professionals, and a project manager who serves as a singular point of contact. Whichever scenario you choose, our remote software development company will help you build the right team.
The entire concept of a remote team for software development is that it allows you to bring in talent you lack on-site. Thus, after you’ve outlined the scope of work, you need to define who will be a part of your remote software development center. That is a necessary step because it will be impossible to start cooperation with a purveyor of tech talent without knowing the roles they need to source to complete your remote unit. The list of skillsets should be based on the type of product you want to build and your vision of the future product.
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At this step, it’s essential to define whether it is imperative for the team members to operate from a single location. This factor may be critical for hardware and IoT products. In this scenario, the pool of candidates may be more limited. On the other hand, you may opt for a remote distributed team, which lets you access a broader pool of talent without being tethered to a single location.
How does candidate selection for your remote software development center work? After you’ve chosen the provider of a remote software development team, they will familiarize themselves with your project and requirements for remote software developers and put their HR department to the task of sourcing candidates who are a good fit for your project. Selecting candidates, not only should your provider sift through the labor market for relevant candidates, but also pre-screen them for a variety of competencies, including English proficiency, culture fit, and tech skills. That way, we at nCube ensure that our clients speak only with relevant candidates.
If you decide to set up your remote software development center in Eastern Europe, chances are this step won’t be time-consuming, as the pool of tech talent in this region boasts nearly 1.3 M software developers. Many developers in Eastern Europe have years of experience being part of European and North American companies, which means they have solid communication skills and the needed expertise. To be sure of that, all remote software developers that we pre-select for you undergo our internal HR and tech screening process.
Our clients are always a part of the interviewing process, as it lets them make the right decision when it comes to choosing who they want to add to their team. With that in mind, our clients interview all candidates before they decide whether or not to hire them for their remote software development center. We are always here to coordinate the process of interviews and answer any questions you may have. If you end up approving a candidate, we officially inform them that they are offered a position as a member of your remote software developer team. Essentially, in our model, there are no down payments before you approve the first member of your remote department, as we want you to be sure this model suits you before you commit to it.
So, you hired remote software developers and are ready to put your remote unit to work. To officially launch your remote software development center, we prepare all the necessary paperwork, including signing a Service Level Agreement, Non-Disclosure Agreement, and contracts with your remote software developers. At this step, we aim to make the integration process as smooth as possible, so you can count on our assistance at any time. To that end, we assign a personal account manager to coordinate matters between you and your remote software development team. They will be available for you to contact 24/7.
The onboarding process holds the key to your remote team’s success. This step is crucial for fostering employee retention and ensuring high-quality software delivery. Thus, it’s essential to lay the foundations for remote employee integration, meticulous task planning, and setting up robust reporting mechanisms. We at nCube help our clients establish the right communications between their internal and remote units.
What do businesses seek when they partner with a remote software development company? Let’s break it down.
Cost reduction. Trimming unnecessary costs is one of the most expected outcomes of a remote software development center. For many companies, especially startups, building a local team of developers is beyond their means. Studies reveal that in-house hires tend to cost from 40% to 100% on top of their salary. The cost of local hiring is snowballing, as talent acquisition, onboarding, training, employee retention, and administration tend to factor in. Hiring remote software developers is a way to cut back on extra expenses. The vendor typically takes care of team administration, retention, and IT infrastructure.
Shorter time to hire. Launching a remote software development center lets you go outside your “four walls” and add talent from a diverse pool of technologists, for example, Eastern Europe or Latin America that have a total of 2 million ICT specialists combined. Thanks to this, your company can significantly reduce the time required to backfill vacancies.
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Simple scaling. If you err on the side of being risk-averse, a remote software development company is the way to go. Scaling your remote unit up and down is easy – you can start with one or two remote software developers to take the approach for a spin and then scale up as you see fit. You can hire more specialists or disband the team if you decide to close your remote software development center. Vendors typically offer flexible engagement models where you only pay for the hours your remote employees invested in your project.
Acceleration of processes. A remote software development center will help you get overlapping coverage where two teams invest 8 hours of work in a 24-hour timeline. That extra effort will speed up your development process and get you to market sooner. That way, hiring remote software developers help your business operate around the clock by uniting the efforts of team members from different time zones.
In a nutshell, it will be your own team of remote software developers who will work on your project as if they were team members of your internal staff. The team will work with you full-time, 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday. As a client and a leader of your remote software development team, you will have direct access to all team members. Alternatively, you can hire a project manager through us who will run your remote software development center on your behalf.
Our model allows you to have the benefit of managing the processes in your own unique way. Working under your management, your remote software developers will stick to your communication style and adopt your methods of software development. Thus, it can be your own Agile software development remote team if you’re a proponent of this approach.
READ ALSO: How to Build an Offshore Software Development Center
The peculiarity (and the biggest benefit) of our model, in our opinion, is that you’ll keep control over everything, from who is going to work on your project(s) to team management and processes. This model allows you to truly embrace Agile software development with remote teams, as you can scale up and down whenever your project needs it. On our side, we at nCube will have your back when it comes to team member retention, providing such services as team building, insurance, HR and tax support, motivation, help setting up IT infrastructure for your remote software developers, and more. Thanks to this, our remote software development company boasts an average retention rate of 3.5 years, which means most developers endure throughout the lifetime of the client’s project.
Let’s connect and discuss how we can help you build your remote software development center in 2023.
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