Extended Team Services By IntelliSoft

Team extension is a software outsourcing service when IT companies fill the gaps in their in-house teams with extended teams. With the IT team extension model, external vendors offer their extended teams to their clients, and they fully commit their time and skills to the client’s project.

Software team extension is also known as team scaling or team augmentation. This service is perfect for small businesses that require assistance but don’t have time or money to hire in-house developers, but it is also used by middle-size companies and large enterprises.

You can use this cooperation model for both long-term and short-term projects, and that is why many companies mix it up with a dedicated development team. Keep in mind that a dedicated team works independently on your project from start to finish. An extended team, however, copes with specific tasks, such as QA and testing, coding, or project management.

A dedicated team is also a business model, yet it is different from a software team extension. With the dedicated team model, there’s an agreement between the client and service provider regarding who provides software development experts for the client. All of the teams are formed based on the client’s demands, tailored to their needs and requirements.

A dedicated team model is a long-term cooperation type where development agencies provide full-time, continuous cooperation to their clients. The client manages the team and its work, and no other teams are working on this project. The client has a choice; to manage the team or handle this task with a project manager and focus on other activities.

Dedicated teams don’t join the in-house team physically; they work from the provider’s office, which can be located anywhere in the world.

This cooperation type has several advantages:

• Lower project costs
• Easier management
• Flexible scaling and adaptability
• Long-term partnership
• Higher loyalty and focus
• Close-fitting collaboration

The cost of hiring a dedicated team varies depending on various factors, such as:

• Location of the team: The location of the team plays an important role in determining the price of cooperation. Some locations, such as Eastern Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia, have lower labor costs yet offer a large talent pool of extended development teams. If you decide to work with teams from North America or Western Europe, the price will be higher.
  Team size: Depending on the size of the team you need, the costs can vary, too. The larger the team – the higher the cost.
• Project complexity: The complexity of your project, including the features, functionalities, and technical requirements, will affect costs. More complex projects typically require larger and more experienced teams.
• Skillset and expertise: The specific skills and expertise required for your project can also impact costs. Highly specialized skills or expertise in cutting-edge technologies may command higher rates.
• Project duration: The duration of your project can influence costs. Short-term projects may have different pricing structures compared to long-term, ongoing projects.
• Additional costs: Additional costs may cover project management expenses, quality assurance, and software or infrastructure expenses.
• Language and communication: When you speak the same language as your development team, the costs will be much lower because you won’t need to hire translators.
• Hourly rates vs. fixed pricing: DDTs may charge hourly rates or offer fixed project-based pricing. The pricing structure you choose can impact the overall cost.

If you want to get a more accurate estimate on how much it will cost to hire IntellliSoft as your dedicated development team, you can use our dev team calculator.

Depending on the location of your company, you can choose to offshore, onshore, or nearshore your development processes. There are some counties that are considered to be the best destinations for looking for development teams due to their convenient location, lower pricing, and a large talent pool of experts. These countries include:

• Ukraine
  Ukraine is located in the center of Europe, making it a perfect outsourcing location for various countries. Right now, its IT infrastructure is swiftly developing, with many startups launching there and new outsourcing companies with incredibly talented developers on their teams. Ukrainian developers have exceptional English knowledge, a lot of them being fluent.
  While offering top-tier expertise, Ukraine remains cost-competitive when compared to other European countries. Moreover, Ukrainian professionals share cultural similarities with Western clients, including work ethics, working hours, and communication styles.
• Poland
  Just like Ukraine, Poland is located at the heart of Europe but also part of the EU. In the last couple of years, Poland has witnessed huge growth in IT and economic areas, making it an appealing destination for outsourcing.
  You don’t have to worry about cultural differences, language barriers, and time zone differences when working with Polish developers. Moreover, the prices for development are lower than in other European countries, but you still benefit from Poland’s location and the skills of its developers.
• India
  India is among the top outsourcing destinations due to various reasons. For example, hiring a software developer in India would cost you approximately $664.53/month, while hiring a developer in New York would cost more than $8742.25/month.
  India also has an incredibly large talent pool of English-speaking developers since Indian higher education focuses heavily on science and technology. The most outsourced services to India include software development, software engineering, and BPO services.
• The Philippines
  The Philippines has held the title of “The BPO Capital of the World” for a decade. Even companies such as Wells Fargo, Microsoft, and IBM outsourced their processes to the Philippines. This is due to the country’s advanced English proficiency, great government support that comes with favorable tax, and low development costs. The most outsourced services to the Philippines are data entry, customer services, and other BPO services.

Even though team extension is a highly effective strategy for most businesses, it still has some pitfalls and challenges that you should take into account before choosing it as your main model of cooperation. Here’s what you should get prepared for:

• Cultural differences
  Working with a remote team can be challenging if you have differences in work ethic, work culture, and business practices. These differences can lead to bottlenecks, friction, and misunderstandings.
• Communication barriers
  Difference in time zones, languages, and cultures often leads to communication barriers. To avoid this, you need to establish clear communication channels, share reports regularly, and ensure that you work in the same time zone, or at least have a couple of hours overlapping with your partner.
• Data security and privacy
  Working with a third-party provider often presupposes sharing private or confidential information. Sharing this sensitive data and intellectual property can raise concerns about data security and confidentiality. Thus, you should ensure that you have all security measures in place before choosing a team.
• Quality control
  It can be challenging to maintain consistent quality across geographically distributed teams. To achieve this, you need strong project management and quality assurance processes in place.
• Lack of engagement
  If you don’t have clear lines of communication, it may lead to a lack of engagement from a third-party development team. They may not feel engaged or aligned with your business mission and values, so you should focus on building a sense of belonging and ensuring that you are on the same page.

Expanding your in-house team with remote developers can make the most sense in the following scenarios:

• You need specialized technical skills or expertise that your in-house team lacks.
• When you need to optimize your costs due to budget constraints, or when cost-efficiency is your primary concern.
• For short-term or seasonal projects, or when facing temporary spikes in workload.
• When you need access to the global talent pool of developers with diverse backgrounds and technical skills.
• To speed up the product development process and bring your services or products to market faster and gain a competitive edge.
• When you need to scale up or down easily since you know that your needs and demands will grow.
• To use advanced technologies and tools that you lack in your in-house team.