Hiring an off-shore software or app development company has its drawbacks.

There’s no denying that app development has become increasingly popular in recent years, and demand is higher than ever. In today’s competitive industry, there are numerous businesses that have jumped on the application bandwagon. Because of the widespread usage of mobile apps across industries, businesses must adapt in order to remain competitive.

Today, we’ll talk about the problems and hidden costs that come with offshore app development, as well as the things to think about before hiring a team from another country.

Before we go any further, we’d like to provide some important statistics on app development and its impact on today’s world.

• The app development industry is expected to become a trillion-dollar phenomenon by 2023.
• The pandemic has created a massive demand for apps, with over 218 billion downloads in 2020.
• Mobile users spend an average of 4 hours each day using applications.
• At least 60% of smartphone users have used contact buttons for business inquiries within applications.

The popularity of the web and mobile app development has skyrocketed in recent years, making it imperative for anybody to consider developing a mobile or web app. Having said that, you must ensure that you hire the best team possible for your investment.

Let us now turn our attention to the difficulties that come with offshore app development.

Quality issues with the final product

High-quality work is available all over the world, but the definition of quality varies from place to place due to a variety of factors. When working with offshore developers, you may encounter a team that measures quality based on their local standards or requirements.

The main issue here is that most discrepancies will arise as a result of different expectations between the parties, and the process of fine-tuning the final product to increase its quality to meet your expectations is extremely time-consuming, resulting in lost time and additional costs. Keep this in mind when selecting your development partner, as it will be critical for you to achieve the best results.

Legal issues

The possibility of encountering a legal issue is a scenario that most people fail to anticipate, but there are numerous scenarios in which people could end up in a legal battle with the development firm.

It is always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the laws of the country in which your offshore development team is based. This research process may take valuable time away from your project schedule, but it is necessary to prepare for the worst-case scenario in case you end up in a squabble with your offshore development team.

Communication challenges

Most of the time, people hire offshore developers who do not speak English well. This can be a serious problem when working on a project as an app development because it involves several rounds of discussions and iterations, making it difficult to convey ideas, thoughts, or features. One of the most common reasons why offshore development can become complicated is this.

This is why you should find out how fluent the developers are in the language of your choice. Perhaps a quick video conference call would be a good way to reveal this and see if communication between you and their team is smooth.

Infrastructure deficiencies

It is entirely possible that an offshore team will handle your project with obsolete equipment. This could lead to a slew of problems and setbacks that could be avoided if you hired a team that can show you the type of hardware and work environment they will be using while developing your project.

One of the major issues that can cause a project to be delayed is a lack of quality hardware for development and testing. As a result, it is important to work with a team that has updated hardware, but this may come at a higher cost than expected.

Travel expenses

Some projects may be too large to handle solely through video conferencing. When dealing with a significant investment, you will discover that travel expenses are also included in the course. This could entail several trips to meet with the developers, which could cost thousands of dollars more.

There may be times when video conferences and online meetings are sufficient. Nonetheless, most large projects would necessitate face-to-face meetings to finalize and conclude the work. There may be details and conversations that cannot be expressing or conveyed via online conferences.

Further expenses and complications with updates and upgrades

To ensure a flawless experience for users, even the most experienced development teams would have to adapt their application code via numerous rounds of issue detecting and repair. When an app is releasing, there may still be bugs in the code (new iOS/ Android versions, updates/ upgrades from third-party vendors, different screen resolutions, etc.) that require immediate attention, and it is expecting that the development team will fix the bugs as soon as possible and release frequent patches/ updates to ensure a consistent experience for your customers/ users.

Working with an offshore app development service will make this process more difficult than working with a local team. Another consideration when hiring a development team from a foreign region or continent is the language barrier.

One of the most important things to remember is that offshore developers will not provide the same level of clarity, engagement, communication, or process as a local mobile app development business.

As a result, it is advising that you take your time with this process to ensure that you get the most bang for your buck. When choosing the ideal team for your project, keep these challenges in mind.