#appdevelopmentteam – iView Labs

Low Code Platforms and its Pros & Cons

Introduction

Low-code platforms like Bubble have empowered millions of businesses to create production-ready web applications in no time. Using such platforms, even individuals with zero coding skills can create amazing web applications that are future-focused and scalable.

Even giant enterprises and web professionals have started reaping the rewards of low-code platforms to automate and expedite the development process. In this blog, we will understand what low-code platforms are, their pros and cons, and how you can use them to speed up your development process.

Let’s get going.

What Are Low-code Platforms?

To put it simply, low-code platforms enable users to build interactive web applications without writing a single line of code. How, you ask? Low-code platforms like Bubble come with a drag-and-drop interface that allows users to visually build applications without getting into the intricacies of coding.

You can build and deploy applications that can be scaled easily as and when needed. Low-code platforms are cloud-based — that means you don’t have to worry about setting up the back-end, and you will be able to access them from anywhere.

Marketshare

Low code is fast becoming the preferred method of software development in IT, according to the Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for Low Code Application Platforms: “By 2024, 75% of large enterprises will be using at least four low-code development tools for both IT application development and citizen development initiatives.”

That’s not all. The low code market is expected to increase from its $10.3 billion market value back in 2019 to $187 billion by 2030 as more companies see the benefits of adopting the platform for their business needs. That’s a CAGR of 31.1%.

Having said that, it is safe to say that low-code development is here to stay for a long time and holds great potential.

Pros & Cons of Low-code Platforms

Benefits of low-code platforms are immense. However, they also have a few limitations. Let’s look at both pros and cons of low-code platforms.

Pros:

Shallow Learning Curve, Lower Cost & Deployment Time:

Learning low-code development is fairly easy and self-explanatory. Anyone with little technical knowledge can learn it in limited time and with minimal effort. What’s more, low-code development is cheaper and will cost you less number of development hours as compared to traditional development.

Lower Maintenance

Low-code development platforms are usually monitored and managed by the service provider itself. This means, you won’t have to spend anything on maintenance of the platform. That’s not all. The app you build with low-code platforms will also require little to no maintenance as most of the components used in developing it will be standardized and ready-made.

Increased Productivity

Because low-code development enables organizations to develop more apps in less time, what used to take months can now be developed in just a few weeks…even days. This fosters innovation and boosts productivity.

Improved Agility

Apps developed by using low-code platforms make organizations more agile in the long run. That’s not all, visual design can accelerate the speed of development. This means less coding and automated testing.

Cons

Limited Customization Options

With the modular components of low-code platforms, you can only go so far in customizing your app. Thus, you may have to change your business processes to keep up with the low-code platform.

Lack of 3rd-party Integrations

With low-code, you won’t be able to integrate your other business tools to your application. Thus, scaling up wouldn’t be that easy. You will have to compromise some of the integrations if you’re seeking to develop a low-code application.

You Get Stuck with One Platform

Most of the low-code development platforms will tie with their cloud-based offerings. Thus, you won’t be able to switch platforms frequently. Moreover, hiring software engineers working with that platform can be tricky.

API Development

With low-code development, you won’t be able to develop a proper API. This means if you are seeking to develop an enterprise-class application with intricate features, you must consider other development methods instead of low-code development.

Top 3 low-code Platforms

While there are a lot of low-code development platforms, here are top 3 platforms that stand out from the crowd for their capabilities.

#1 – Bubble

With a thriving community of over 1.3 million users, Bubble is a powerful low-code platform that can help you build production-ready web applications. You can create everything from interactive, multi-user applications for both desktop and mobile browsers. The apps you build can be hosted on Bubble itself – this means you won’t have to worry about managing server and paying recurring hosting charges. Last but not the least, Bubble has a huge ecosystem of extensions that can help you extend the platform as per your needs.

#2 – OutSystems

OutSystems is one of the most promising low-code platforms that can help you create amazing apps swiftly and without much technical know-how. It comes with amazing features like a WYSIWYG editor, drag-and-drop features to build your apps visually, process and workflow mapping, an app marketplace to choose pre-built apps and templates from, and more. While it may take you some time to get accustomed with the system – but once you know how it works, building apps with it can be super fun.

#3 – Appian

Certainly one of the leading low-code development platforms, Appian comes with all the features you’d expect – coupled with a few useful ones. It offers a drag-and-drop visual interface, seamless third-party app integrations and many more. You can also use pre-built apps for creating your own app with minimal changes.

Final Words

Low-code platforms are leading the digital front by bringing in amazing features, unparalleled time-to-value, agility, and scalability. Furthermore, you don’t need to have any technical skills to build applications on low-code platforms.

In case you need help in deciding which low-code platform will be ideal for you, or want us to develop applications for you, let us know. We have been working with low-code development platforms and can help you turn your amazing idea into a clickable reality with minimal time and efforts.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.com. Download the latest portfolio to see our work.

How to Attract and Onboard the Right Technical Talent?

Digital disruption and the global pandemic has changed the way every industry functions. It has forced us to create a new world where the talent hiring landscape has also changed drastically. And returning to normalcy is not even in the farsight but the functioning space of the industries are getting into normal pace and this is why hirings are also resetting.

Organizations and their HR with CHROs are now thinking about building their talent pipeline and building their resilience to drive business value.

Here are some of the successful ways to find and hire new talent:

Explore New Geographies:

Pandemic has transformed the global recruitment process, it has reshaped how talent is both being supplied and demanded around the world. Employers can now without any worry fetch the right tech talent as their hiring spheres have expanded.

Because of remote work since last year, companies can now hire talent from anywhere in the world. This way more diverse talent can be hired and reskilling of their workforces can be done. Location doesn’t have to be top condition anymore employees can be hired from around the globe.

Conduct events and hackathons

Conducting events and hackathons with an established audience is the quickest way to approach your right tech candidates. Also, hosting a hackathon or meetup allows you to share your experience, introduce your existing team, and explain your processes. All these points are important for a candidate who is searching for a job.

As all these events can be easily taken online so it can be another good way to attract a lot of talent pool and also later on you can host these offline and meet and greet to know more.

To successfully conduct these interviews be it online or offline you don’t have to be as big as Google or Facebook, any organization can do it. The only requirement is hard work and creativity. It will take some time to assemble speakers, influencers, and list out the topics. But once it is conducted your organization can collect hot talent leads,partnerships, and freelancers that are hard to reach by traditional methods.

Efficient and Effective Hiring using Tools:

Given the success in remote hiring and onboarding, organizations are re-thinking the role of on-campus interviews. Since a lot of good tech talent is hired every year from campus placements so this option should never be ignored. But the traditional way of conducting campus placement can be upgraded. Remote interview methods are a good way to save time, money, and look for good talent. Companies can look for tools that can help them to easily conduct campus interviews, connect with people, and also make it easier for the interviewees.

Upgrading sourcing channel

Organizations should work on their competencies and also how they attract and screen talent. To build a skill based talent pipeline, companies need to explore sourcing channels that they haven’t worked on before this can help explore new options that they have never tapped in. These can include new job boards and local recruiters or freelancers . By hiring talent through new mediums, you can build a vibrant talent pipeline. Also, this can help hire diverse talent which shape a company’s culture. A diverse community in your company can help light up different perspectives and experiences.

Create a good environment for your existing talent

Although this might not sound like a way of hiring talent but believe me it is. While applying to a post, candidates not only simply just look at the post and job descriptions but they look at each and every aspect of an organization.

They look for reviews on Google, Glassdoor, and other websites to have an insight of the company. Using these websites and others, candidates are able to read employees’ experiences and then they can easily evaluate staff turnover rates..

While an organization cannot fully control these resources, they can surely steer the narrative. Make sure that your employees are satisfied, get a happy environment, and they will automatically display good reviews for you, in addition their participation in branding can be an add on on social media.

Conducting good interviews:

Always keep in your mind an interview is a two way street. This is a common mistake that most organizations make and lose great talents this way. Interview isnt an interrogation, make a discussion; in the process both the interviewer and the interviewee is looking to explore each other. So make it comfortable and understand each other’s potential. The interviewer should rightly ask questions, test the candidate’s knowledge, but remember to treat them equally. As you do not want to lose the right talent and also do not want anyone bad mouthing about your organization out in the industry.

Create a Workforce Strategy:

Workforce hiring strategies are never documented in SMEs; these can only be seen in certain big organizations. This can leave companies unprepared in terms of emergencies, especially if there is a need to hire someone at an executive or board of directors post.

During such an unprepared scenario, along with hiring and looking for the right talent the organization also needs to define who needs to take their decision till nobody else is hired. So it is better that an outline is created about the process of how the next resource should be hired, should someone be kept in a pipeline, and who next is going to take the decision till someone is hired.

These decisions are very vital for an organization, if taken prior as they prevent any loss of business.

Referral Rewarding

If you have a big post to fill in and you are approaching a deadline, one of the ways by which you can stimulate hiring is by offering some incentives for a referral that might end up in a great hire. For this you’ll have to spend something maybe money, or a good phone or any other device but this can surely bring in a lot of leads

Simply create an excellent job posting, network it on your website and social media platforms, add a nice visual to it and Voila wait for the downpour of great talent leads. You can also use some paid promotion if you want to to boost your reach.

Bottomline

Don’t rely only on your traditional approaches, make use of different platforms, tools, rewarding, experiences, do be afraid to show off your brand and work,start visiting conferences, and send your key team members as speakers on hackathons. Think about making your recruiting process perfect in every stage.

Real World Implication of Microservices in the Fintech Industry

The transformation of the monolithic architecture to microservices architecture is one of the most heroic steps that you might take to upswing your business. So, if you are really looking forward to scale your infrastructure and also speed up while deflecting high supervision costs then microservices is the right solution.

Especially, in a FinTech ecosystem that is running to establish itself in the digital centric world. And this being the reason that they are experimenting their digital approaches with highly scalable, flexible, and efficient architectures for their infrastructures. To get an outcome of performing well in the competition; and also satisfying and solving their customers’ issues.

The outmost benefit of Microservices Architecture is its capability to provide flexibility, structural scalability, and reduced costs. The Monolithic structure has often failed when you want to scale your architecture. And since, financial services can never remain constant there is always scope to extend its capabilities as the world is changing.

The long before financial institutions have legacy systems that carry the baggage of centralized database that are tightly coupled sub system. Microservices give them an approach to separate database from every services. Whenever a new service or a feature is deployed in an infrastructure or product then it has its own separate database and this way entire system doesn’t get affected. The architecture offers solution to fetch the only required data belonging to a specific service. The service reflects through an endpoint or a middleware platform, implying that a large scale service can be implemented with No SQL database for heavy scenarios.

Example of a real life Bank with Monolithic architecture:

Danske Bank worked on the monolithic architecture that mostly relied on the sharing of the resources and therefore the processes couldn’t function independently. The major issue with the monolithic architecture was its scalability and maintainability. Their system wasn’t componentized and shared software libraries. Also monolithic architecture has stack dependencies that stops the embedment of the latest technologies. Additionally, with this architecture banking application had the fear of sending over unencrypted data of the users.

Monolithic application involves huge and complex code, making the response time of a web application high, and also, unacceptable.

And as the web service coincides with the monolith ecosystem, they have a greater downtime and are unavailable each time there is an integration or upgradation of new feature in the application. Which states that the B2B dependency on the application can further complicate decision-making.

Example of a real life Fintech organization having Microservice architecture:

Monzo Bank, a London Based bank uses microservices architecture to build a mobile first U.K digital bank. It has established a cloud native mobile-first digital bank while also complying with regulations. It has the technology foundation that can provide what all the traditional banks cannot with an additional cloud enabled advantage.

Monzo uses AWS hosting for its core banking needs to enable scalability and flexibility with its cloud computing strength, also eliminating the doubts in terms of capacity, infrastructure, and provisioning management.

Monzo has established its core banking systems from scratch with the help of microservices architecture, with multiple virtualized servers having container tools such as Docker and Kubernetes. It architecture makes a hub of small elements that can scale as an entity, communicate synchronously or asynchronously, and have APIs. Their banking application also has a platform-agnostic for easy interoperability.

Outcome of adopting such a system

Monzo runs on an active data centre that avoid any failures or downtime attached to their banking application
Its AWS hosting offers sophisticated security, auditability, and encryption levels to remain compliant with the banking regulations.
Their customer experience is powered by technology making them, by far the most significant is customer centricity; elevating and enhancing their infrastructure according to the competitive landscape for FinTech organizations today.
Their core banking system has a technology architecture that is open, agnostic, scalable, secure, and 3rd Platform–enabled.
As a startup it always had the advantage to develop its infrastructure from scratch and be totally cloud driven. From the very start they understood that simple computation won’t take them out of the firewall but rather give them a data driven and secure architecture that can totally redesign their system’s infrastructure.

The biggest benefit Monzo has gained from microservices is organisational flexibility, Suhail Patel, Monzo’s backend engineer explained this by quoting –

“We build services which are granular enough to be easily understood. Ownership of services is well-defined but can be fluid based on the goals of the company. Monzo has grown significantly over the past 24 months; the structure of existing teams and emergence of new teams has changed significantly as a result.”

Benefits of inducing Microservices in financial institutions

There are considerable advantages that microservices can provide with a robust IT strategy that is sufficient for smooth transition.

Transmission and redeployment of new application features without fear of failing the entire application.
Increased agility and decoupled release cycles implying app updates can be developed and deployed within hours.
With microservices architecture the infrastructure can be easily replicated and can be more effectively help in scaling growth in terms of users and transaction volumes.
As database is much less interdependent, microservices can level down failure footprint.
Microservices architecture makes banking application easier to refactor or replace going forwards.
As microservices can be easily replicated it can help increase structural scalability.
Microservices architecture helps provide improved security levels in the application this way the threats do not breach the entire app and the other elements can left protected.

Microservices Architecture – Ideal platform for Platform Banking

Microservice architecture provides accelerated integration with the third parties and efficiency in the process, which proves to be a major competitive factor in the platform banking ecosystem. The traditional banking system that goes with the monolithic approach has multiple points of integrations and batch processing which is highly inefficient and slows the entire process. And the microservices architecture can bring in a phased approach that minimises risk with a deliberate process in the near-term and long-term objectives. Each element can be developed, updated, and managed independently, making microservices based applications easier to work on and maintain.

To Conclude

Banks and Financial Institutes must adopt microservices architecture in order to create and enter new markets, and also establish themselves rightly to gain all the profits that a new market can offer. With the platform banking the FinTech industry will not only introduce new sources of revenue, but also present enhanced customer experience along with the improved operational efficiency reciprocating a lot of margin.

Also, in the long-term, banks and financial institutes must move to a more sophisticated microservices based core platform in coordination with service mesh. Banks are currently trying to develop a marketplace that should have a microservices platform providing and scaling banking services as individual stacks categorized by product domains.

Consider this example, an organization owner can develop a marketplace that can combine industry leading onboarding services from a fintech with its inhouse underwriting capabilities and book the receivables to a third party bank. And also a customer availing a loan from their platform would be able to protect from the various levels in the back end. Such a composition can be executed effectively only with a microservices-based architecture.

So, the goal of microservices architecture is to help financial institutes and banks align together services from different platforms into unity to offer a unique service to customers.

Era of Live Video Streaming Apps Post Covid World

How to Create a Live-Streaming Mobile App?

The live streaming market is projected to reach $78 billion by 2021. Through live streaming, businesses can reach a broader market, engage live audiences, and build brand loyalty. It’s no wonder that live-streaming apps have flooded the market and overtaken social media and blogs in consumption market share.

And want to know the best part about live streaming apps? They can be developed brands and organizations from most domains, industries, scales, and sizes. As long as you have interesting content to serve and a ready-made audience, you can build a live-streaming mobile app and earn a fortune.

Sounds cool, right?

It is. So let’s learn about the process and tools required to build great live-streaming mobile apps. But first, let us take a look at the basic features every robust live-streaming app needs to possess.

What Are the Most Important Elements of a Live-Streaming App?

There are numerous live-streaming mobile apps out there, but not all of them are successful. The best apps need to have the following elements/features:

An intuitive interface that is easy to use.
Native integration with a robust video player so that viewers get uninterrupted video quality. According to research, 90% of Facebook Live viewers rate video quality as the most important factor governing their choice of apps.
Adaptive streaming (bitrate) so that your live streams can adjust to each user’s CPU capacity.
Scalable cloud hosting so that your app can accommodate mass user volumes with ease.
A flexible structure so that the app can handle video-on-demand (VoD) as well as live streaming.
Responsive design so that your live streams can be viewed on varied screen sizes and devices, from smartphones to home theatre systems.
Download feature so that viewers can watch your content offline as well.
Robust security so that your content is protected from hackers and malware.
Essential features, such as profile creation, follow users, and account registration.
Advanced search and filter options so that users can search for content by location, creator, etc.
Monetization features so that content creators can make money from their activities.

If your live-streaming app contains all of the above features and capabilities, it has a better chance of beating the competition and meeting user expectations. Now, let’s talk about how to build your first live-streaming mobile app.

How to Develop a Great Live-Streaming App

There are many platforms to create a live streaming mobile app for first-time creators. But creating an app is not exactly a DIY project. It requires a fair bit of coding and designing experience, which means you should hire professional mobile app development teams for the task.

The process to build a live-streaming mobile app covers these main steps:

1. Validate Your Plan

Before you embark on live streaming, think if you really need to develop a mobile app. Consider the benefits you can derive through an app, and weigh them against risks and investment. The pay-off should be justified.

If you’re unsure about your app’s fate, answer the following questions as objectively as possible:

Is your target audience looking for live content?

In general, live video consumption has increased exponentially in the last few years, especially in the 18-34 age bracket (millennials). So, if your buyer persona is aged as such, you are assured of demand.

Do you have products/processes that can benefit from live content?

Research shows that there is a huge demand for live explainer videos. For industries revolving around complex processes and products, live streaming apps are a great option.

Can your business profit from audience engagement?

Live streaming is a great marketing tool since it lets brands build a direct connection with their audience. A recent study proves that 83% of people would rather watch a video than read a blog post from brands while shopping. If you leverage influencers and bloggers to spread your messaging, live streaming apps can widen their reach.

Once you are convinced that live streaming apps are essential for you, it’s time to proceed with the next steps.

2. Determine the KInd of App Your Need

The kind of app you build determines the tech stack and platform you will use for app development. There are three main kinds of live-streaming apps. Let’s learn about them in detail.

Live Video Broadcasting Apps: YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and Periscope are some of the most popular video broadcasting apps. Through them, users can watch live video content while they are being recorded.

Live Audio Streaming Apps: Apple Music, Pandora, and Spotify are a few of the reputable live audio streaming apps. When users want to listen to live audio content or podcasts, they can use these kinds of apps.

Video-on-Demand Apps (VoD): Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix allow viewers to watch TV series and movies on demand via an internet connection.

3. Outline the Basic App Features

As explained before, your live streaming app needs to have some essential features, such as:

Sign In: Users should be able to register to your app and save their credentials in a safe location. To make onboarding easier, you can allow users to sign up through Facebook and other social networks.
Profile and Settings: After signing up, users should be able to check their profile and change the settings as needed.
Notifications: Content creators should be able to notify followers of new uploaded content and live streams. They should be able to organize their notifications.
Social Media Sharing: To reach more people, you need to incorporate social sharing handles/buttons in your app. Using those, your followers will be able to share your content or their feedback in their social feeds, which helps attract new followers.
In-App Storage: While “in-the-moment” content is the essence of live streaming, your app should offer storage space to content creators as well. This way, they can save pre-recorded content (like tutorials) which can be embedded in live streams later.
Auto Quality: For seamless streaming, it’s important to use the adaptive bitrate system that compresses bits according to device and internet bandwidth.
Interactive Elements: To make your live sessions interesting, you need to engage users with comments and interactivities.

4. Design the UI/UX

The user interface of an app should be pleasant and intuitive. Users judge apps based on the kind of interface and experience it provides. With UI/UX so critical to your app’s success. It’s important that you get it right in the first go. Here are the four principles you should follow while designing it:

Structure

Your app’s design elements should be placed in a clean and coherent architecture. You can take guidance from Information Architecture to design your app.

Simplicity

For new apps, it’s essential that the design is so simple that even first-time users can navigate it with ease.

Visibility

Your app might be having numerous wonderful elements but placing them all together in one screen can overwhelm new users. That’s why you should show only the important elements and leave the rest for later.

Reuse

By maintaining consistency in design for both internal and external app elements, users can reuse your app time and again without any hassle.

5. Identify the Right Tech Stack

Once your design is finalized, you need to decide on the framework to be used for app building. When it comes to frameworks, developers are spoilt for choice. But they must select their framework keeping their design, features, and users in mind.

Regardless of the framework you select, pay special attention to data security and scalability. Since live streaming apps expand their user base rather fast, it’s important that your app storage, streaming, and architecture accommodates the growing user base without a glitch.

7. Use Bonus Features

Since the competition in the app space is very stiff, your app needs standout features like AI integration and serverless architecture. By adding these capabilities to your app, you can make it more appealing to users and stride ahead of the competition. Also, keep an eye on changing trends in your domain and incorporate them in your app as quickly as possible.

Are You Ready to Create Your Live Streaming App?

The live streaming domain is here to stay. So, don’t hesitate before jumping into the fray with a powerful app. At the same time, plan and design your app with a lot of thought since there are too many competitors in the market.

To start with, you can use the above steps as a compass to guide your app development. We have tried to cover all the main processes and principles required to risk-proof your app.

Do you have any questions about the described process? Leave them in the comments below. We will get back to you with the answers soon.

Download the latest portfolio to see our work.

Adopting right compliances with offshore development partner

What is an Offshore development partner’s purpose? To guide you through the process and to take care of your entire legwork. So you want a company with years of experience developing productive offshore teams.

They are supposed to understand the business, the culture and have seen everything before. Unfortunately, while many companies are calling themselves “offshore construction specialists” or others are providing “offshore outsourcing,” some are far away.

Let’s look at how to test early doors for an offshore partner – ensuring that they’re genuinely trustworthy and professional – before you’re in too deep.

Offshore Development Partner

Are You Certain You Are Offshoring?

Offshoring and outsourcing are two very different models although they are often used interchangeably. The problem is that as offshoring becomes more popular, outsourcing firms want their pie slice, misleadingly advertising services “offshoring” or “offshore outsourcing.”

Offshoring-Building a dedicated software development team in another country (complete with office space, administration and management). Offshoring has many advantages, most importantly the savings and exposure to a vast pool of talent. You own the entire team and they are fully integrated into your company but your Offshore Production Partner handles the administration.
Outsourcing-Hiring vendors to cover a power deficit temporarily. These are more like freelancers. They are called in when necessary, but independent of your organization. Workload is outsourced in all industries, typically due to lower costs. And this is always fine. As a result, investing in a great offshore company has major cost benefits.

How to Evaluate Offshore Partners For Compliance

Test Their Demonstrated Expertise

It’s 2020: there’s no reason why your offshore partner’s website doesn’t display portfolio items or case studies. These can provide a perceptive view on what your offshore partner can do, and how well they are doing it.

Your prospective partner should be able to showcase their productive offshore development team building experience. The most important information, such as project strategy or relationships, schedules, outcomes achieved, should be highlighted. But check their delivery as well. Do they sound competent and confident, rude and showy, or maybe lazy and insolent?

Keep an eye out for fakes. If an organization really knows their job and accomplishments, they will be able to explain it concisely and make it easy to understand. Rambling words, ambiguous definitions, and unrealistic claims should all be red flags!

Take the time to research their past clients. What kind of feedback do they provide? It’s smart to check online reviews and double client testimonials that you see on their website. This legwork can save you a lot of trouble later.

Strike the Quality vs. Cost Balance

While cost saving is often the biggest incentive to offshore your work, it should not be at cost of quality. You don’t want to work with vendors who are cheap but can’t deliver quality work.

So, how can you ensure that you’re getting value for money when you hire an offshore partner?

The cost of living in developing countries like India and China is lower than in developed nations like USA and Germany. So, you can be rest assured that offshore labor will be lower priced than domestic workers.

Even if you add taxes, utilities, administration, and duties, the grand total can be 50% to 30% lower than indigenous teams. Suppose you land a partner who offers to work for 10% of the domestic cost, you will be tempted to take up the offer.

But you need to look more closely before jumping the gun. Ask the vendor some questions:

What is the work-cost breakdown?
Are there any additional or hidden costs involved?
What are the timelines and quality standards you expect?
Does the vendor have the essential skill set and infrastructure to deliver the quality your expect?
Will you be asked to pay for hiring and training new people required for the project?

Get all terms and conditions written in a formal contract and iron out all the kinks beforehand. In this way, you can avoid disputes later and get the most bang for your buck.

Proactive about Communication

When your vendor is working thousands of miles away, communication becomes the key to smooth working. You will be surprised to know that one in five offshore projects fail due to poor communication. Clear communication cultivates trust between both parties.

project failure rate due communication

How do you gauge if your offshore partner will communicate proactively once the project commences. You will get inkling about this during your initial communication itself. Do they answer your emails and calls promptly? Do they adhere to the set meeting schedules? Any red flags at this stage should be considered seriously. If the vendor is careless about communication in early stages, they are bound to follow the same pattern later too.

Factor in the Culture Gap

Cultural gap can be an impediment to a great working relationship between offshore partners. But there are ways to work around it. The first step is that you need to acknowledge each other’s differences and be committed to bridge the gap.

When we talk about culture gap, it could be as wide as language barriers and as narrow as national holidays. Educate your vendor about the tenets of your culture and ask them to do the same. if the vendor has prior experience of projects in your country, it is a definite plus.

They will have a pulse around the market condition and audience taste of the area. They will also possess knowledge about the communication protocol prevalent there. All these things become critical when you plan to spend months or even years working together.

Final Thoughts

This list is by no means exhaustive. We have not touched upon technical competency and hiring, but those factors are already widely explored. It is the finer details covered in this article that we often miss when vetting offshore partners.

To sum up, you want an offshore vendor who is stringent about quality, communication, and commitment. At the same time, they need to have requisite experience and demonstrated performance. If you’re lucky enough to spot such a vendor, it makes sense to hire them even for a higher cost.

Download the latest portfolio to see our work.