Did you know that by the beginning of 2025, developers had created 8.93 million mobile apps, and they had already been downloaded more than 255 billion times? Isn't this an indicator that mobile apps are becoming a part of our everyday lives? Meanwhile, mobile development cannot be cheap, so the first and foremost option to save money without compromising app quality is outsourcing. Below, we, as an international IT company, will provide a detailed overview of all the aspects of mobile development outsourcing.
Why Businesses Outsource Mobile App Development
Although in most cases, businesses outsource app development due to the desire to find specialists with lower rates than local ones, this approach creates a number of other, equally significant advantages.
- Faster time-to-market. Fast product launch is an opportunity to minimize its budget, and vice versa: if you are late with the release, the niche will be occupied by competitors. In turn, the outsourced app development team already has required specialists and well-established processes, which means you won’t face hiring and purchasing licenses for software from the tech stack.
- Access to global tech talent. Outsourcing opens access to talents that are difficult to find when tied to one region. This is especially true for such specific niches as IoT development, blockchain development, development of AR/VR solutions, and so on. As for our pool, we have all the above-mentioned specialists, whom we can integrate into the project if necessary.
- Reduced hiring overhead. Hiring in the IT sector is an expensive process that requires a lot of effort in searching, interviewing, onboarding, and retention. In outsourcing, all these costs are taken on by the contractor. Moreover, if we talk about our experience, we have clients whose projects we join for only a few weeks per quarter, so they don’t have to keep in-house specialists, the need for which arises so rarely.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of collaborating with us, schedule a free consultation right now.
Common Outsourcing Models Explained
Each business makes a decision to resort to outsourcing, having its own individual requirements – actually, this determines which model ensures the most cost-effective app development.
Dedicated team
According to this model, you get a full-fledged team that will work remotely according to a pre-determined schedule only on your project. We recommend this model for long-term projects where it’s important to ensure proactivity and continuous development, as it provides you with maximum control over the project course and the high speed of the contractor’s response. Also, as the team accumulates expertise, it becomes part of your business.
Time and Material
This model implies that you pay for your contractor’s time and resources spent, which is optimal when the project requirements are not yet fully formed or can change along the course. Most often, it is chosen for PoS, MVP, pilot projects, or redesign. This model also works well in the format of refining an existing app. Its only drawback is the difficulty in predicting the final budget without a clear roadmap.
Fixed price
If you have the ability to clearly define the scope of work from the very beginning (including technical/non-technical requirements, design, feature list, etc.), this model will suit you best. In particular, it is often chosen for developing simple prototypes. An additional advantage is minimal involvement in the project on your part and clear implementation deadlines. At the same time, any changes after the initial approval will increase the budget and postpone the time to market.
Benefits of Mobile App Outsourcing
In conditions where the speed of product launch becomes its competitive advantage, businesses don’t have the opportunity to staff in-house teams for years. We often note how our clients benefit from outsourcing and, instead of spending months and money on hiring, onboarding, organizing workplaces, taxes, retention, etc., and ultimately launch an MVP in 2-3 months.
At the same time, you get at your disposal an agile app development outsourcing team that scales easily – the specialists join the project only when there’s a need for them. Thus, you can integrate QA, DevOps, business analysts, or additional developers in the active development phases and remove them at other stages.
So, if you have an idea that you want to test on the market, be sure – we won’t slow down the process. We’ll quickly select all the necessary experts, assemble the first version, and launch it, so you’ll be able to start collecting feedback ASAP, which is impossible with the conventional in-house hiring from scratch.
Risks and How to Mitigate Them
Despite all mobile outsourcing benefits, it is still not a one-size-fits-all solution. In particular, there are a number of risks that you may encounter, especially when choosing a contractor at random:
- Communication gaps. The most common problem is poor communication in outsourcing. We fix this through regular calls, demonstrations of prototypes and modules, as well as transparent task management. All project participants always keep in touch with each other, while our clients can access task statuses and ask questions whenever they need.
- Time zone coordination. We work with clients from different time zones and know how to build a process without “time windows” and inconsistency in mentality. Such time zone and cultural compatibility is achieved through thoughtful distribution of teams and overlapping hours, with optional adaptation of work schedules to an individual client’s request.
- Quality assurance & testing. Quality control in outsourced projects is often overlooked. To avoid this, our QA specialists join the project from the very beginning, and not at later stages. This approach allows us to detect bugs as early as possible, saving our clients' time and budget. Whenever possible, we also implement automated testing to speed up product launches and test as many end-user behavior options as possible.
- NDA and IP protection. Finally, we indicate all intellectual property issues in contracts; moreover, all code written within the project always belongs to the client. We also form an NDA specifying the conditions for storing and transferring data. This is how we ensure absolute legal protection for our clients.
As you can see, all risks can be avoided – the main thing is to have experience in this. And this is what our mobile outsourcing company can offer you, thanks to our 25+ years of expertise and cooperation with clients from different regions.
Best Practices for Successful Outsourcing
There are a few rules to follow, especially if this is your first experience in offshore mobile app development.
Start with a clear brief and scope
The more detailed your understanding of what you want to get as a result, the faster and more efficient the outsourced app development process will be. However, we understand perfectly well that this is a utopia, and, therefore, we often help our clients transform their ideas into well-structured technical specifications. This is achieved through an audit, analysis of business goals, marketing research, and other methods. Ultimately, at the output, you will receive a document that your technical team can work on.
Define communication cadence
We always agree on who communicates, how often, and in what format – this can be daily/weekly calls, demonstrations of prototypes at the end of sprints, etc. This will protect both parties from misunderstanding what is being done and what is ready at the moment, and will allow you to adjust the development course in time.
Use agile methodology
Agile development methodology is considered the gold standard today. It involves teamwork in sprints, at the end of each of which, you can evaluate the result. This will allow you to add new requirements without missing deadlines.
Set measurable KPIs
To be able to evaluate real project progress, and not just watch how often tasks are closed in Zoho Projects, you will need to agree on productivity metrics with the contractor. Typically, this is the number of features in a sprint, the time it takes for the product to move to the testing stage, and the result of demonstrating it to you or focus groups.
How to Choose the Right Mobile App Development Partner
A reliable contractor is a must-have. At the same time, you should know what criteria are usually used to determine their reliability:
- Portfolio and clients’ reviews. Start with the most detailed analysis of the portfolio – it’s important to make sure that the contractor has both experience in your niche and the technologies that you are going to use in the project. Also, ask the contractor if it is possible to contact any of the clients personally and get a review. We are always open to such offers, because we want to make you confident in our experience.
- Cultural compatibility. Your contractor should offer you a convenient format of interaction, whether it is your minimal involvement in the development process or, on the contrary, your constant supervision. As for WEZOM, we always adapt to the client's requirements.
- Transparent pricing. All cost calculations and reporting should be discussed at the beginning of the project so that you understand where each expense comes from and what the risks are of exceeding the budget. This will protect you from hidden costs and allow you to plan your budget wisely.
If you are tired of endless app development partner selection, feel free to contact us, and we’ll make an excellent offer both in terms of budget and implementation.
Why Businesses Choose WEZOM for Outsourced Mobile Development
We are not just the executors of your idea; we are always interested in what you will get as a result and how it will affect your business. To date, we have collaborated with over 3,500 clients from the USA, Canada, Germany, Australia, and EU countries.
We have a well-established pipeline, always clearly define roles and areas of responsibility, and also use proven tools. This allows us to quickly start work on the project, without wasting a lot of time on clarifications and approvals. And yes, we’ll stay with you after the release. Many of our projects have been with us for over 5 years, and this is the best indicator of trust.
Conclusion
As we can see, with the right approach, mobile app development outsourcing allows you to save money and also launch your product on the market without delays, ensuring its further scaling. The main thing is to choose the right tech partner and organize the interaction. And this is why you can turn to WEZOM.