In our daily activity, we all use phones and computers to have fun, to work or to study. To be able to do so, we use different types of software. Of course, not all of us know how this software is created and, actually, we don’t need to. With an intuitive user interface, even people who are far from tech can figure out which button to use to get something done. Meanwhile, the software development industry is constantly evolving and the number of technologies and programming languages is also increasing. Thus, the same kind of software can be created in many different ways using different approaches.
The are many software development companies, some of them are worldwide popular, some are small startups. To build any software, you’d have to set up a whole team of designers, programmers, managers, and Q&As (testers). Also, you’d have to set up an office space, buy hardware and software. Thus, it’s obvious that building software is pretty expensive. This is exactly why companies tend to choose software outsourcing services to cut the software development costs. The whole thing started back in the 1990s and since then, a lot has changed, for the better.
Outsourcing Statistics
For starters, the annual global revenue from IT outsourcing was estimated to be between 60 and 70 billion U.S. dollars. Wow, these are some serious figures. In the U.S., almost half of software development is outsourced. Thus, jobs lost to outsourcing statistics would show that technology jobs have the biggest share. Among industries that use outsourcing the most are:
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IT
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Human Resources
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Sales and Marketing
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Finance
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Administrative
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All others
Top Most Popular Outsourcing Destinations
The popularity of remote tech jobs is increasing and companies more often choose to hire a remote specialist instead of an in-house one. An important question here is how to choose the best outsourcing location. When you take a closer look at the top 10 countries to outsource software development, you can see that among the most important things to consider are the talent pool, salary rates, education, language skills and cultural factors. So, here is a list of the most popular destinations:
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India
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Ukraine
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Bulgaria
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China
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Argentina
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Belarus
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Brazil
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Indonesia
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Chile
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Thailand
Each of these countries covers a wide range of remote IT jobs. Also, each of them has a different correlation between salary rate, tech talent pool, and other factors. Thus, the best solution for a particular business depends on its location, capabilities, and requirements.
Outsourcing Trends to Watch for in 2018
Before we get into the future of outsourcing and current trends, let’s take a look at what was popular in 2017.
Since we now know what was growing in popularity before, let’s find out what is getting popular today.
1. Cloud Technology Increasing Popularity
While working with remote teams, it’s much better to use cloud services. This gives you the access to the shared data from any location. Cloud services are also more secure and cost-effective. It also gives us the ability to provide more customized solutions. Big IT enterprises like Amazon and IBM would probably face more competition from smaller companies.
2. Machine Learning Integration
ML (machine learning) is one of the most innovative technologies. Basically, it uses complicated algorithms and neural networks to automate and optimize processes. It is the core technology for creating artificial intelligence. This technology is now more often combined with others like IoT, Big Data and such, which leads to more opportunities and better solutions.
3. Mobile First
Everybody uses phones on a daily basis. Any business needs a website but these days, the website has to be mobile-friendly as well. The fact that U.S. consumers spend over 5 hours per day on mobile devices means that without an optimized website or a mobile app, you would probably lose a lot of customers. Even Google likes mobile-friendly websites more and gives them better positions in the search. It’s also a great benefit for a business to have a mobile app.
4. Automate Everything That Can Be Automated
Any user wants to get a fast and effective solution. People don’t tolerate websites or apps that don’t load and work fast. All processes should be automated and optimized so the end user could get everything done quick and easy. Moreover, automation would let you eliminate routine human work and reduce costs by increasing productivity. Thus, you not only save your money but also make the client more satisfied.
5. Internet of Things
Internet of things (IoT) is aimed to connect devices, processes, people via the Internet to make sure they work together and communicate. You have probably heard of smart devices, smart homes, and smart cities. There’s also IIoT (industrial internet of things) which has the same goal but only on the industrial level. This technology should make people’s lives much easier by creating a synergy between all the devices around us.
Conclusion
Software outsourcing has always been popular and, these days, it’s still increasing in popularity. With the popularity of remote work and use of modern technologies, the best remote jobs are outsourced. Besides software outsourcing, there’s a newer model called offshore software development. This model provides you with more reliable and less stressful services. With the use of it, you can get a remote developer or a whole crew and you don’t even need to know how to manage remote teams. Software outsourcing trends show that every product you make should be mobile-friendly, optimized, automated, use machine learning algorithms and be able to use IoT platforms.
