Choosing a Team for Web Development: In-house vs. Outsource 

Usually, those who initiate a software product development project associate their business success with the web development project’s prosperity. It means that the development team a person hires has direct relevance to business prosperity. In this post, we’re going to shed some light on options a person has when choosing a development team, the pros and cons of each approach. 

Option 1. In-house development team 

The in-house development team is a type of cooperation when you employ a team and take all the responsibility for the organizational process. Such responsibilities entail worker’s employment according to the local laws (salaries, employment benefits), workspace equipment, and more. 

It’s worth mentioning that offshoring is also a type of in-house employment. Offshoring requires you to employ workers legally and make them a part of your company even if the tey are located in a different country. 

When you create an in-house team, you get the following benefits and drawbacks:

Pros of an in-house team 

• Deep in-house expertise. The development team that works on your project from the very beginning knows its every nook and cranny. When there’s a need to tweak something in a product or add a feature, developers already know how the system will react, what other components will be influenced, and how to mitigate risks of failures and bugs. More than that, the in-house team usually has no problems when onboarding new workers because they can easily explain how everything works and why each solution was chosen. 
• Higher motivation. When people work in one office side-by-side, talk to each other, and know what stage the project is in, they are more motivated to complete it successfully and see the great results of their common effort. 
• Better control. Despite the recent events caused by the worldwide pandemic, there are still companies whose policies prohibit remote work. For some bosses, it’s difficult to imagine the effective management of a remote team. These bosses feel more comfortable when they can see every worker and check what they are doing at any time. Although it may seem reasonable, the success of such office-free companies as Basecamp, Automattic Inc., Buffer, and GitHub proves that remote teams can work the same or even better than the in-house teams. Yet, a team’s physical presence inside an office provides bosses with better control (not better management) than when dealing with a remote team. 

Cons of an in-house team 

• Larger expenses. Usually, development companies prefer to open their offices in large cities where they can find the required specialists more easily. In such cities, the competition is fierce, and companies have to literally fight for offices that cost much more compared to smaller cities. However, not only high rental charges make in-house cooperation much less affordable but also all the expenditures caused by the legal employment and a need to hire additional personnel, like accountant and lawyer. 
• Talent limitation. The physical location also creates limitations for those who want to build an in-house team. It’s much more difficult to find all the necessary workers within one city, especially if the project requires some innovative tools and technologies. 
• Requires great management skills. To build a great team, you’ll need to recruit each person one by one and then manage all these workers as a team. Suppose you have no experience in custom website development. In that case, it will be challenging to set up an efficient workflow between people and departments and deliver a working product on time and within the budget. 

Option 2.Outsourcing 

When we say outsourcing, we mean hiring a remote team that already has all the necessary specialists. When working with an outsourcing development company, you totally rely on it, which can bring benefits and drawbacks as well.

Pros of outsourcing 

• Shorter time-to-market. When hiring a remote company, you get a well-established team with all the required specialists onboard. All they need to do to start your project is to elicit all the requirements. Apart from fast onboarding, an experienced team knows each other well and has a well-tuned workflow that allows it to deliver the product faster. 
• No management experience required. You can hire a team with a project manager who will work as an intermediary between you and the team. You won’t need to manage people if you don’t want to. On the other hand, you can always communicate with team members if you feel like it. 
• Budget-friendly solution. Hiring a remote development team gives you a chance to choose specialists with lower hourly rates than local specialists and save your money on office expenses and legal employment. 

Cons of outsourcing 

• Time-consuming search process. It takes time to find a really reliable technology partner with nice reviews and a great reputation. Besides, you may also need some help from a lawyer when you’re signing an agreement with the team. 
• Vendor lock-in. Another potential risk that emerges when working with an outsourcing team may be a so-called vendor lock-in when a vendor creates such conditions that changing it is unfavorable and, in some cases, impossible. To avoid

such consequences, you’ll need to spend some time looking for a really reliable and reputable team. 

Wrapping up 

There’s never a one-size-fits-all solution, meaning there’s no winner in our review. That is why, before choosing your approach, think about your company’s needs and objectives and opt for a solution that will bring you more benefits than drawbacks.