Building a Systems Development Team - Outsourcing

Can’t we just hire somebody to do this for us? The answer is more complex than a simple "Yes" or "No."

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Contributors Chris Hodge David Brown
  1. Outsourcing the development work will still require a significant amount of resources from your internal team. The team will have to describe the process they are trying to automate with enough detail for a third party to efficiently and expertly step in. Your team will also be involved in support activities, including testing and training.
  2. Larger contractors are now starting to make acquisitions of technology companies rather than outsourcing to a third party. This allows them to more tightly control the results of the system development process (which they view as a competitive advantage).
  3. If you want to test the waters in outsourcing some development tasks or functions, start slowly (and small), with well-defined requirements and carefully managing expectations. You can spend a ton of money in “change orders” if you are not careful!

This is Part 11 of an 18-Part Series


Topics Covered in the Series Include:

  • Clarification
  • Software
  • Best Fit
  • Risk
  • Applications

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Building a Systems Development Team - Apps
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Building a Systems Development Team - Starting
Most Systems Development teams start with someone doing report writing or other forms of data extraction and integration, such as creating a dashboard or streamlining through imports.
Building a Systems Development Team - Mistakes
While there are many benefits to contractors starting their own internal Systems Development teams, there are also many risks.