IT Outsourcing: How to Choose the Right Vendors?

Whether you intend to build a product from scratch or enlarge your existing development capabilities, having appropriate staff who can match up to the challenge is necessary. This refers to experienced and trusted individuals who are exceptionally competent in technical engineering.

However, if you lack these experts on your current team and seek alternative options, outsourcing IT services will be worth considering. The outsourcing vendor can provide you with either augmented staff to scale up your in-house development team or dedicated software development to turn your idea into a practical product.

With the substantial growth in the need for IT outsourcing, more and more outsourcing firms have been established with well-designed websites and advertised everywhere. But all that glitters is not gold. Hence, a viable selection framework is required to find a trusted outsourcing vendor.

Here’s a plan to help you choose the best fit from the majority of IT partners out there.

7 Steps to Identify the Best IT Outsourcing Vendors

In order to prevent getting lost in the massive pool of software outsourcing vendors, before going through the following steps, you should prepare a Checklist for evaluating IT outsourcing partners. There will be a few essential criteria you should determine to ensure the selection process goes right.

1. Analyze Business Requirements

Prior to reaching out to potential outsourcing partners, organizations should decide on their goals, business requirements, and the best possible solution to achieve desired outcomes. You can identify technical, business, and functional needs for which you’re planning to outsource to find the right IT partner with a suitable solution. Things that should be considered include:

• Types of technical functions the company plans to outsource: it’s crucial to identify whether you need to outsource a part of the project to keep it up and running or you require a fully-functional team to build the complete product. Is it a custom app, a platform, a training simulator, or something else? What is the goal behind hiring a technical partner? Consider describing it in detail.

• Tech stack currently used: working with familiar technologies can accelerate the development process and bring outstanding results. You should find an IT partner who offers a similar development methodology to quickly adapt to your team as well as changing requirements.

• Estimated deadlines: in the technology industry, time is money. By estimating the deadlines, you can ensure the time-to-market of the project.

Nobody knows the business better than the people in it. Expecting an outsourcing partner to have the same level of familiarity as you seems unreasonable. Thus, to get the best outcomes possible, you need to be extra specific in terms of what you want to build.

2. Request for Client’s References, Samples, and Testimonials

In the IT outsourcing industry, knowing what vendors can bring to your business can be difficult as some may bluff about their technologies and achievement. Thus, in order to prevent yourself from becoming an “easy target,” asking for references, samples, and testimonials is worth considering.

Real feedback is always the best guarantee of quality. You can identify IT vendors' credibility by going to B2B reviews platforms such as Clutch and Goodfirms and checking their ratings regarding the scope and quality of services.

For example: the profile of KMS Solution on Clutch shows that the company has an overall rating of 4.8 over 5.0 and ranked as Top 10 IT Service companies, with detailed feedback from the clients about the projects that it has done so far.

Alternatively, you can also refer to case studies of the IT outsourcing companies for the certain part that you need to outsource. Ask for details of the projects regarding challenges, solutions, and the achieved results. With all of those, you can grasp a sense of how they can help you deal with issues.

3. Discuss Availability, Flexibility, and Management System

Usually, by the time you begin searching for IT outsourcing services, the internal pressure has been increasing for some period already. To ensure the project’s time-to-market, you need to realize how the prospect partner can help you with necessary resources by discussing timelines to scale your team or build it from scratch.

Moreover, if you’re operating at a different timezone, your outsourcing partner needs to ensure that both of your working hours meet to a particular degree to reduce the gaps and inefficiency in collaboration. As it is common that your process doesn’t match the service offering that partners follow, in this case, you should pay more attention to the ones who are willing to adjust themselves to align with your operations.

4. Ensure There are No Communication Barriers

When it comes to discussing your ideas regarding the projects, your expectations, including goals you intend to achieve and specific requirements, shouldn't be lost on its recipients. So, your selected IT outsourcing team should be able to communicate in your language or the most commonly used language - English.

According to the report of Statista (2021), Vietnam has a considerable English-speaking population - approximately 86 percent of people here use English as their second language. This virtually eliminates the language barrier, making international collaboration a breeze. Since the language barrier can negatively affect the ways people communicate and work, choosing a technology vendor with a strong labor pool of English-proficient and skillful IT ninjas can help you increase the efficiency of the development process.

Additionally, before stepping into outsourcing, ensure your potential dedicated software development team is available by email, phone, or other messaging tools at the designated times. This is particularly important in solving instant problems. While excellent communication is ensured, you will be on the same page as your outsourcing partner and guarantee effective client-driven product development.

5. Check Infrastructure and Technologies

A service provider that is technologically well-prepared can meet your company’s demands at an outstanding level. The outsourcing vendor's IT infrastructure should comprise the latest hardware and software components, a robust network of internet lines and phones, and integration with your own technology.

The IT partner may also need to invest in implementing other methodologies specific to your business. To efficiently serve the constantly changing needs of customers, the corporations will have to adopt the Scaled Agile mindset and framework. This method is now being widely utilized by many organizations in order to increase productivity, speed up the development process and improve the quality of products to adapt to consumers’ changing requirements.

6. Gauge Financial Stability

When choosing an IT outsourcing provider, it’s crucial to ensure that the prospect is financially secure and can be solvent in the long term. A tip here is to check the service vendor’s directors and managers, their background, and qualifications. Geared with such detailed information, you can identify whether the particular outsourcing partner can match your business’s requirements.

7. Schedule Demos and Interviews

Once you have filtered out the prospect through the above steps, scheduling demos or interviews is needed. The demos will help predict IT vendors’ expertise and how they can integrate their proposed solutions into their tech ecosystem. Besides, by scheduling interviews, you can determine how the outsourcing partner can serve your expectations and business needs. 

Here’re a few queries that should be addressed before moving to the step of finalizing the deal with the vendor:

• Does the proposed solution meet the needs of the company’s end users?
• Is the team familiar with the offered technology?
• How was the experience of the demo - any inconsistency realized by the team?

You may also like: Dedicated software development team: How to hire the right one?

Best IT Outsourcing Vendors in Australia

Choosing the right IT outsourcing vendor for your much-awaited project is essential since they will be handling your software development from scratch. If they are not the perfect match, the consequences may extend beyond the financial loss. Therefore, you must choose carefully among the massive number of IT outsourcing companies in Australia. 

If you are still confused about which company to outsource, we’ve prepared a list of trusted IT outsourcing vendors in Australia, which was made according to some characteristics including team strength, technical expertise, diversified portfolio, as well as references and reviews on Clutch and Goodfirms.

1. Cyber Infrastructure Inc. (CIS)

A CIS Office in India. Source: CIS website

Cyber Infrastructure Inc. (CIS) is one of Australia's most prominent IT solutions and services providers that helps businesses worldwide with technology needs. Empowered by over 12 years of experience in the IT industry, the company has established itself as a leading name in supplying exceptional technology services that always adhere to worldwide standards and the latest technology trends.

CIS's critical services consist of mobile development, software development, business intelligence and analytics, UI UX designing, QA service, and many more. So far, the company also has collaborated with eBay Inc., Nokia, Sprint, and received many positive feedbacks on review platforms.

Headquarters: San Jose, CA

Size: 1,001 - 5,000 employees

Founded: 2003

Website: https://www.cisin.com/

2. Next Big Technology (NBT)

Next Big Technology (NBT) provides professional services and IT solutions comprising software development and maintenance, consulting, CMS, open-source, etc. The company’s digital team has gained a reputation for delivering high-quality service in a time-critical manner. 

NBT’s solutions mainly support eCommerce, Banking & Finance, and Hospitality. With the commitment to using the latest technologies, the vendor can help medium and large businesses in digital transformation and building up a development team. 

Headquarters:  Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Size: 50 - 250 employees

Founded: 2009

Website: https://nextbigtechnology.com/

3. KMS Solutions

KMS Solutions Office in Atlanta

As the new strategic direction of KMS Technology, KMS Solutions partners with leading software vendors to provide world-class solutions to local enterprises. Its key offerings include Digital Application Development and Digital Testing, made possible by over 1,600 IT experts and its latest technologies. To help businesses improve their performance, KMS Solutions also provides exceptional services such as coaching, consulting, customizing, and maintenance.

Clients in BFSI, Real Estates, FMCG, and many others have achieved positive results working with the company. Some large enterprises that KMS Solutions has worked with are ANZ, ACB, Maxis Communications, Masan Group,...

Headquarters: Atlanta, GA

Offshore Delivery Center: Vietnam, India

Operations across Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and more

Size: +1,600 employees

Founded: 2019

Website: https://kms-solutions.asia/

If you want to know more about our solutions and how we’re the perfect match for your company in IT outsourcing, contact us now!