The increasing cases of Coronavirus in every country have made governments worldwide shut down cities and towns. IT organizations are preparing more of their workforce to work from home as COVID-19 is spreading exponentially in countries like the USA and UK. Several companies including Cargill, EY, Apple, and Amazon, have curtailed all the essential business travel. IT companies in Tier-1 cities around the globe are following work from guidance to prevent the spread of disease. Therefore, the demand for hiring Remote Developers is increasing.

To prevent Corona from hindering its product development, companies are going remote. And, this has given a boost to already trending remote working. More and more employees are working in remote positions full-time. Companies are also embracing this new work culture, increasingly using flexible work options to entice employees.

But, the question here is what the solution is if you want all your remote developers to work together at the same time to avoid communication issues. This is difficult to achieve if you are hiring your Python Developer from India and Quality Analysts from some other part of the world. To make sure your team has a clear understanding of the project and working in sync, it is better to outsource your web development requirement to the offshore development team.

Should I outsource software development projects or hire in-house developers, this has been an old and global faced by startups and big businesses globally.

Here, we are bringing you reasons why it is better to work with a software house located remotely.

1. Cost Savings:

Whether it is nearshoring or hiring developers offshore, every type of outsourcing is financially attractive. In a recent survey, it has been found that business that outsources development experience cost-cutting of approximately 20%. This is because of the different labor costs in different countries. 

When you decide to hire in-house developers, you have to handle acquisition and retaining costs as well. In the end, they can always quit, and you have to start the whole process again from hiring to training the persona about undergoing projects.

Savings are not only limited to labor costs in each country but by hiring a remote development team, you can also save the expenses related to the whole recruitment process and hardware that he would need to perform his work.

2. Significant Time Savings:

By hiring remote developers, you can save crucial time and focus on the core of your business. What’s more, you would need not spend this time worrying about the project and take some appropriate steps of course. To make sure that your cooperation with the outsourcing partner is effective it is important that you should mutually agree on:

• The methodology of the work
• The overall flow of the work and external tools that would be used for communication
• Project Timeline
• Project milestones

Hiring remote developers gives you time to meet other deadlines which you need to juggle. By outsourcing, you would not need to bounce between tasks and bend your schedule to fit into short timeframes. 

Moreover, partnering with an offshore software development company means you don’t have to invest time in training the in-house developers. If you lack expertise in a particular domain, hire an outsourcing team that can quickly deliver the product. This is the reason why world-known companies such as Google go this route to cope with their tasks

3. Developers’ Personal Development:

When it comes to hiring in-house developers, you have to take care of the personal growth of web development. And, again this will lead to an increase in your budget. Developers in remote software houses have to remain up-to-date. 

Your offshore development company will invest in conferences, workshops, courses, and books to keep the developers and project managers aligned with the latest technology.

4. Shared Working Hours:

The time difference is another advantage of outsourcing your software development project. It is actually a blessing for businesses as it lets your team be available for the clients for maximum hours of the day. While your in-house employees are in their deep slumber, developers across the ocean can ensure an uninterrupted workflow. 

India is the only nation in the world with a single time zone over the entire country. Also, India shares a friendly time difference with all the major countries of the world. The country is 3 and a half hours ahead of Europe, 9 and a half hours ahead of the USA. Also, the country shares quite a good time zone with Singapore and Australia as the former is 2 hours and 30 minutes ahead of India, and the latter is 4 hours and 30 minutes ahead of IST.

The advantageous time zone of the country lets development companies in India provide clients with round-the-clock support.

5. Access to Global Talent:

Outsourcing allows businesses to reach professionals who are in short supply of projects. When hiring an outsourcing agency, you get access to a wide number of experienced developers.

Her experience means not only the seniority level or how much knowledge programmers hold of coding. The experience here also means how people work together, manage the project, and contribute to the success of the project.

Outsourcing can fit into any phase of the project and in this way, you will get all the required resources for the project such as developers, project managers, UI/UX designers, content writers, and marketing specialists, all in one place. Building this type of team online would consume a lot of time.

Apart from this, there are also other benefits of hiring dedicated developers such as better risk management, staffing flexibility, and more. The importance of choosing the right remote developers cannot be overstated. Working with well-regarded and experienced software outsourcing companies has helped many companies to expand beyond their initial startup stage. However, to make sure that you are building a team that helps you to grow, rather than wreaking havoc, it is important to know what are the common problems associated with outsourcing as well as their solutions.

Here are the 5 most common outsourcing problems, along with the solutions:

1. Quality of Service:

Most businesses fear quality services when hiring remote developers in another part of the world. This can be manifested in the coding abilities, quality of outsourced talent, or the final product itself. Inexperienced outsourcing companies focus on savings at the cost of hiring the most qualified engineers. These newbie programmers often make silly mistakes that hinder the overall performance of the software.

Solution: Performing adequate due diligence before signing a contract with an outsourcing firm can make you prevent such issues. Any potential vendor should be thoroughly researched and you can also go through the work they have delivered earlier.

2. Cost Overruns:

Handing off-key development responsibilities to the novice team can lead to cost overruns, along with other problems. The inexpensive hourly rate that is appealing might exceed your budget if developers are taking too long to complete ordinary tasks.

Solution: The easiest way to avoid cost overruns is to work with a well-respected outsourcing firm that is known for providing quality services. They can bring in experienced managers to help you with the planning process. The company that already has developers working as a remote team can deliver your services in a stipulated period of time.

3. Mismatched Expectations:

It can be frustrating to spend your time and money and get an unsatisfying final product. Unclear goals and a lack of understanding of the process can make outsourcing partners believe that they have grasped the client’s ideas, even if they have a different interpretation of the project.

Solution: The way to avoid mismatched expectations is to insist on clear and regular communication from the beginning of the process. Go for the company that is over-communicating and putting on a lot of questions to be on the same page as you. Also, it is better to set key milestones throughout the project to solicit feedback.

4. Communication:

The language barrier is one of the common challenges that are associated with hiring a software outsourcing service. The hurdle in communication can lead to a decrease in product quality, misaligned expectations, and frustration from both sides.

Solution: There are several ways to avoid this problem. You can consider setting up your remote development team in south-east Asian countries like India where the workforce is educated as well as possess the required English skills to communicate flawlessly with the client. 

5. Time Zone Issues:

The time zone is also one of the major concerns that the company faces while setting up a remote development team. A huge difference in time zone can lead to communication issues and you might have to sacrifice your sleep to learn the current status of the project.

Solution: To avoid time zone-related issues, consider hiring remote developers in a country with a favorable time zone. Setting up a development team in India is one of the widely preferred as India is a country with a single time zone all over the country. Also, as mentioned above, India has a favorable time zone, which overlaps with the working hours of many other countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, and other Asian regions.

In addition to this, there are tech companies in India that handle client queries 24*7. The project managers working with the tech companies in India assist the client and provide project updates around the clock.

Are Remote Developers as Effective as In-House Developers?

The effectiveness of remote developers compared to in-house developers depends on various factors. It’s important to note that remote work has become increasingly common and accepted in recent years, and many successful projects have been delivered by remote teams. However, there are both advantages and challenges associated with remote development work.

Advantages of remote developers:

1. Global talent pool: Hiring remote developers allows access to a larger pool of talent from different geographical locations, potentially giving you access to specialized skills that might be harder to find locally.

2. Cost savings: Remote developers can help save on office space, infrastructure, and other related expenses. This can be particularly beneficial for smaller companies or startups with limited resources.

3. Flexibility and productivity: Some developers thrive in remote environments, as they can work during their most productive hours and maintain a healthier work-life balance.

4. Diverse perspectives: A remote team can bring in diverse perspectives and ideas due to their varied backgrounds and experiences.

Challenges of remote developers:

1. Communication and collaboration: Remote teams may face communication challenges due to differences in time zones, potential language barriers, and lack of face-to-face interactions, which can impact collaboration.

2. Cultural differences: Working with remote developers from different countries can introduce cultural differences that need to be navigated effectively to foster a cohesive team.

3. Accountability and management: Monitoring the progress and ensuring accountability can be more challenging with remote developers. It requires robust project management tools and processes.

4. Security and data protection: Remote work can introduce potential security risks, especially if proper measures are not taken to protect sensitive information.

5. Company culture: Remote developers may not fully integrate into the company culture, which can affect their sense of belonging and alignment with company values.

In conclusion, both remote and in-house developers can be highly effective if the right strategies and processes are in place. The success of a remote development team largely depends on the organization’s ability to adapt to remote work practices, implement effective communication and collaboration tools, and create a supportive work environment for remote employees.

Real-Life Success Stories of Companies That Have Benefitted From Hiring Remote Developers

There were several real-life success stories of companies that have benefitted from hiring remote developers. Given that my knowledge is not up-to-date beyond that point, I can share some examples from that time:

1. Automattic (The company behind WordPress): Automattic is known for having a fully distributed team of remote workers. They have over 1,200 employees spread across different countries. This remote work culture has allowed them to tap into a global talent pool, foster a diverse workforce, and maintain a strong company culture.

2. GitLab: GitLab is a well-known collaboration and version control platform for developers. The company is fully remote, and its team consists of more than 1,300 employees located in various parts of the world. Their remote setup has enabled them to attract top talent from different regions and time zones, leading to continuous product development and innovation.

3. Buffer: Buffer is a social media management platform that started as a remote-first company from day one. With team members working remotely across the globe, Buffer has been able to scale efficiently and deliver a high-quality product while fostering a healthy work-life balance for its employees.

4. Zapier: Zapier is a tool that connects different apps and automates workflows. The company is entirely remote and operates with a distributed team of more than 300 employees. This remote approach has allowed them to be agile, hire from a diverse talent pool, and maintain low overhead costs.

5. Basecamp: Basecamp is a project management and team collaboration software company. They have embraced remote work for many years, and their employees are spread across different locations. This has enabled Basecamp to operate efficiently while giving its team members the freedom to work from anywhere they choose.

6. InVision: InVision is a digital product design platform that has embraced remote work and has team members across the globe. Their remote setup has allowed them to attract talented designers and developers from various backgrounds, fostering creativity and innovation.

It’s important to note that the success of these companies in hiring remote developers is not solely due to the remote work model. Several factors contribute to their achievements, including effective communication, strong leadership, the right tools and technologies, and a supportive company culture that encourages collaboration and productivity.

How can I ensure the security of my project or company’s data when working with remote developers?

Ensuring the security of your project or company’s data when working with remote developers is crucial to protect sensitive information and maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of your data. Here are some best practices to help you achieve a higher level of security:

1. NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement): Before sharing any sensitive information with remote developers, ensure that they sign a comprehensive NDA that outlines the responsibilities and penalties for disclosing confidential data.

2. Background checks: Conduct thorough background checks on remote developers to ensure they have a good reputation and no history of security breaches.

3. Secure communication channels: Use encrypted communication channels for all interactions, including emails, chat apps, and file transfers. End-to-end encryption adds an extra layer of protection.

4. Access control and privileges: Limit access to sensitive data only to those remote developers who require it to perform their tasks. Use the principle of least privilege to ensure they have the minimum access necessary.

5. Secure development environment: Require remote developers to work in a secure environment, such as a virtual private network (VPN) or a secure development platform.

6. Secure coding practices: Emphasize secure coding practices to the remote developers, such as input validation, preventing SQL injection, and avoiding common security vulnerabilities.

7. Regular security training: Organize regular security training sessions for all developers to keep them updated on the latest security threats and best practices.

8. Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Enforce MFA for accessing any critical systems or repositories containing sensitive data.

9. Version control: Use version control systems to track changes to the codebase and ensure that only authorized changes are accepted.

10. Code reviews: Implement a code review process to catch potential security flaws early in the development cycle.

11. Third-party libraries and dependencies: Regularly update and patch third-party libraries and dependencies to avoid known vulnerabilities.

12. Secure hosting and cloud services: Choose reputable hosting and cloud service providers that prioritize security and compliance.

13. Regular security audits: Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments to identify and address potential weaknesses.

14. Data encryption: Ensure that sensitive data is stored and transmitted in an encrypted format to protect against unauthorized access.

15. Data backups and disaster recovery: Implement a robust backup and disaster recovery plan to safeguard against data loss and ensure business continuity.

16. Exit procedures: When a remote developer leaves the project or company, promptly revoke their access to all sensitive data and systems.

17. Monitor and log activities: Implement monitoring and logging systems to track user activities and detect any suspicious behavior.

18. Incident response plan: Have a well-defined incident response plan in place to handle any security breaches effectively.

19. Compliance with regulations: Ensure that your remote development team complies with all relevant data protection and privacy regulations.

By following these best practices, you can significantly enhance the security of your project or company’s data when working with remote developers. It’s essential to maintain a proactive and vigilant approach to security to safeguard your valuable information.

4 Ways to Prepare Before Reaching Out to a Developer

The time before starting your own company or launching your product is the most exciting time. Here you spend hours doing research, you keep reading about the competitors, have a lot of new ideas, there is motivational content all around you, and you feel all ready to start building your website or mobile application. You want to get your idea developed, become the next Steve Jobs, and build a brand like Apple. And you very well shall become that if you plan it properly and avoid the cliche mistakes.

One such mistake is made by the founders while they are getting their applications made. It is being unprepared and keeping the scope of assumption on what you want to get built. What may be an assumption for you may not be such an obvious assumption for your technical partner. Hence things can get nasty. At Graffersid, we spend the initial 14 days only researching and documenting the client’s market’s tech domain and finalizing the features.

Don’t Wear Sneakers For a Morning Walk; The Difference between Development Preparation and Business Preparations

Your market research, competitor analysis, business model planning, and launch planning are the preparation for how you would run your startup. But your product preparations are different, the same amount of effort goes into finalizing how your needs are to be built. Although, it is your tech partner’s role to guide you, however, companies in today’s highly competitive market may not dedicate so much time. Therefore, it is better to spend some extra days making a written document of everything that you desire.

And NO, I don’t mean you become a geek or a coder, all you need to do is make a detailed document on how things will work on your website or mobile application, a couple of documents mentioning the list of features with the URLs, and a list of competitors. Now let’s discuss this in detail to understand how it can be useful and what things should you take care of while creating it. Below I will also explain how is your competitor analysis different than your Technical Competitor analysis.

When you prepare for a WAR, it is better to know your enemy

This list will be the foundation of your preparation and will act as the backbone for your other documents. Let’s say you are making a grocery application for the Indian Market, and try to find out other competitors in this domain. In this case, the Competitors could include Groffers, BigBasket, and Nature’s Basket, all of which are your Indian competitors in the e-commerce segment. While creating a market competitor analysis you might also include, Kirana Stores, Walmart, etc. which are your offline competitors, however, they may not be required for the Technical Competitor analysis.

Break your competitors into 3 to 4 segments:

• • Local competitors:

Local competitors are the other startups in your city or state that haven’t expanded much in other parts of the country. For example OnDoors (Bhopal-based e-store), O2Onow (Hyderabad-based e-store), and ShopKirana (Indore-based e-store).

• • Across country competitors,

There are the famous startups that you know of like Groffers, BigBasket, Beelivery, etc.

• • International competitors,

International competitors could be startups that are operating in multiple countries or could simply be successful starts in any specific country. Example: InstaCart, Shipt

• • Unspecific Competitors

Their competitors are the once who are more diversified. They operate in multiple domains including your domain. Examples: Amazon, UberEats, Flipkart.

This particular document will come in handy for gathering new ideas in which mobile apps could be used to generate additional business and attract more customers. If technology is used properly it could save you 30% of the marketing cost. Let’s see what information can get out of a list of competitors that we have just created.

The finalizing feature is like a girl in a mall buying 1 dress (Sounds easy ?):

Features are the most important part of the application, it could be the deciding factor on how users would use your product. Even if you make the most beautiful product in the world but the user does not have the required functionality to reach his end result, it is very likely that he won’t use your product twice. Moreover, it is better to discover all the required features beforehand because adding a new feature in the development phase or after the product is built could take significant effort and delay the release of your product.

Make a list of all the features:

The most common features are the most likely ones to be missed out. It could prove to be disastrous in the later stages of development. Hence, list down everything you see in any of the competitor’s applications. Things even as small as the login button, cart option on the left top corner, etc. There are 2 reasons for doing such tedious work.

a. Discovery and Finalisation of Features:

When you have a detailed list of all the features that currently exist in a particular domain, it becomes easier to discover new features that could help your end users. You can find interesting combinations of features that could dramatically improve the UX.

a.Ease of explaining:

When you share this document with your IT partner, it will be easier for them to understand your idea in depth. Moreover, it would also reduce the chances of confusion and assumptions.  This would help you in reducing the time for getting the work started. And, ensuring that the development goes smoothly without any surprises.

Your product is like your health and your documents are like the gym:

If you don’t go to the gym you won’t die, at least not immediately, but if you do go to the gym you surely live more healthy and longer. Once your list of features is ready, you can start to analyze which are absolutely necessary and which features are just overheads. As a new product in the market, you don’t want to be too bulky or tough to understand. So try to keep the UI very simple and self-explanatory. Have only those features that are necessary and highlight your USP maximum.

Create a flow diagram for all types of users, as the last step, create a separate Excel sheet document with all the types of user roles written on top and all the final features on the left. While noting the feature make sure you write them down in the flow they occur. Like,

1. Signup
2. Login
3. OTP
4. Profile
5. Product Discovery
6. Categories
7. Search, etc.

The reason to write it in a flow is so that you don’t miss any points and the reader of the document can understand your mindset towards the application.

Beneath each user role writes in detail about the information required and the next possible actions he could take from his current stance. Mention it in as detail as possible, to a level that you never have to use “ETC.” in the complete document. Moreover, try to also depict how an action of one user role affects the other user roles. For ex: if the delivery boy is out for delivery then all the other users will receive a notification about the same.

Do this and you will reduce the chances of entering into a dispute by 80%. For all future reference, you can refer to this document as the agreed deliverables. It does take some time and a lot of effort but then again the startup is your dream it is completely worth every second invested. Wish you all the best, hope you have a great experience and build some beautiful products. Achieve all the success you deserve.

Benefits of Remote Hiring from India During Economic Uncertainty

Conclusion

Working with a remote team online is not much different than working with a team in person. Follow the work procedures that you have decided on and show enthusiasm for the progress of development. Try to remain genuinely involved with your team and create goals to make sure everything is going according to the plan. The overall success of the project will depend upon the response you provide to your team.

Now, you must be thinking about which countries can be your best bet for remote developers amid Corona times. Don’t worry; we will be coming up with the answer soon.

Till then, make sure you are safe and prevent the spread of Corona at your workplace.