It is common to hear about companies that try to get all their applications developed by their own IT departments. Part of the reason why companies prefer getting apps developed by in-house teams is they feel safer and more secure. What one feels however is not really a reflection of truth. Companies often feel insecure because of the seeming lack of control they may have over outsourced projects.
The reality is very far from this. Most companies which outsource their app development projects, save money by increasing efficiency and productivity. The root of this belief lies in a rather unreasonable skepticism towards outsourcing. Fear mongering has often caused companies to end up spending and investing money unnecessarily on in-house development teams.
Empirical research suggests that outsourced IT and app development projects do better than in-house ones because of the availability of technology, access to superior workforce and the ability of vendors to pool in all their talent together to arrive at solutions.
In-house teams may not have the privilege of accessing advanced technologies and infrastructure. There are two thought patterns that often distort companies’ strategies when it comes to app development. In this article, let us try and understand why that distortion of thought takes place.
Cognitive Distortion #1: In-house IT developments are more secure
The first cognitive distortion that companies and business owners experience is that they need to have control over everything. And that means, having total control over app development as well. They misguidedly believe that by outsourcing sensitive projects, they are losing control over it and thus, compromising safety and security. Outsourcing is a foolproof method of getting IT development projects done and is a very secure method of completing tasks, at a lesser cost.
Instead of investing in an in-house app development team or getting an IT team that is not very proficient in designing apps to do it, a company will not only increase its cost-burden but also end up with an inferior product. By outsourcing app development tasks to reliable and competent vendors, companies can have all the control they need to.
Moreover, what is important is that clients should own the final application and the source code. That is more than enough. It is not necessary to secretly develop an app in the labyrinths of an in-house IT department.
Cognitive Distortion #2: If it is cheap, it must be wrong
This is a cognitive distortion that even regular people suffer from. The organic market down the lane probably sells great quality apples picked straight from individual farmers. Yet, people may choose to buy apples from a larger and more expensive organic store just because it is expensive.
Premium pricing often attracts people who do not understand what they are really buying into. They are buying into a cognitive distortion that suggests that what is cheap has to be inferior and what is expensive has to be superior.
Similarly, companies often feel outsourced projects are inferior because they are so much more affordable. Consequently, they hire inexperienced but very pricey IT staff who probably will not design an app that is robust and competent enough.
Unfortunately this kind of thinking pattern is quite common and businesses often vote for building an app right from the scratch, when they can easily outsource their app development project and choose a reliable and tested development platform. What we need to understand is, outsourced projects are often cheaper because the vendors have the luxury to offer it for a lower cost. This luxury arises from the fact that they concentrate only on app development, thus reducing your own costs.
Final thoughts
There are a number of risks involved with choosing to go the in-house IT department way. This choice increases costs, makes you invest in unnecessary technologies, distracts you from your core business, makes you hire fulltime employees unnecessarily and you may not even end up with a great application.
However, by outsourcing software and app development, you will gain access to more expensive and contemporary technologies, trained professionals with several years of experience and a significant reduction in costs. The final app will of course be more robust and efficient too. With all these factors in mind, it is often wise to outsource app development and software projects than hiring using in-house IT departments.
