IT Outsourcing Blog

Globally distributed software development is optimum utilization of technical resources at different geographical locations across the globe in building software, supported by innovative tools enabling full governance, transparency and high automation at all phases

We are very happy to disclose results on our recent survey on software development trends 2017. According to the data collected from the survey we bring to your kind attention the real insights on how software outsourcing is going to be affected in future and factors responsible for the trends.

The political issues around the world that are affecting software outsourcing had surely made the professionals to think about the future consequences that can happen in this field. But the result of our survey speaks differently. Outsourcing still is a key for quality software/application development for most of the regions around the world. There are some key points from the survey which confirm that outsourcing remains a key strategy when it comes for quality software development and realization of profits. Outsourcing to offshore/nearshore locations has often worked out the best clients.

Fig. 1: Reasons in favor of software outsourcing according pliXos Survey 2017

Few takeaways from the survey on Software Development Trends 2017 are as follows:

1. 46% of the respondents said that they are very likely to Outsource Software Development if their company can realize cost benefits out of it. Noteworthy point is, quality should not be compromised on the grounds of project cost reduction. This would in turn harm the long term objectives of customers for some short term benefits. This clearly signifies that software service providers will now have to concentrate in understanding long-term goals of their customers or else they cannot survive in this competitive market.
2. Among innovative services, Hybrid Cloud computing, centralized IT solutions and advanced data security systems, 40% of the respondents said that innovative services from service providers is a most vital factor which will drive customers to Outsource software development at offshore/nearshore locations.
3. When asked about the most preferable way of software development more than 60% of the respondents had the view that companies are fine with both ways whether in-house or offshore software development with another 20% voting for only offshore software development. This demonstrates that despite valid reasons for in-house software development, properly implemented global Outsourcing is and will remain well established.
4. Overall, India still remains the hot spot or best destination for outsourcing software development projects followed by Eastern Europe. Local destination like the US, Canada and Western Europe remain important. In numbers, 36% of the respondents were in favor of India while Eastern Europe scored 23%.
   
   
   Fig. 2: Globally Most Preferred Outsourcing Destinations in 2017 according pliXos Survey
   
   
5. On the global front protectionism is assumed to be on the rise in countries such as United States, Australia, and Singapore. However, to our surprise 55 % of the respondents are of the view that it will not affect software outsourcing market in any way.

From the above content one would readily believe that Software Outsourcing will continue to grow at the same rapid speed. But this is certainly wrong. Nothing is static in technology world. Some claim, the global markets have witnessed a certain stagnation in Software Outsourcing (e.g. www.gartner.com). There are two factors which have majorly affected this namely

1. Automation. Yes, you have read it correctly. Automation is one of those reasons why IT Outsourcing has seen a decline. Companies are making profits out of automation and have somewhat scrapped many tasks which were preferably done by humans. This impacts standard tasks, e.g. in operations. Automation is capturing the market. Luckily for SW Engineers, it has to go hand in hand with the software. Software is like lungs for automation. Hence software professionals will be required to keep Automation in pace with the technical possibilities. Of course, the SW Engineers need to keep up with the necessary skills and experiences. This is probably one of the reasons why country like India, once considered as inventory of software developers has been facing trouble of layoffs. In fact, it is a lesson for everyone as a person as well as for service providers as companies: They need to know the trends and continuously upgrade their skills to stay up in the market.
2. Lack of required skills in the field of software technology, and hourly wage rates per head count of professionals charged by vendors that are quite higher than actual rates are also some of the major reasons which can block transparency of software outsourcing to offshore/nearshore locations.

Last but definitely not the least, survey reveals “Open Source Technologies” will be one of the most evolving fields in future and will also be necessary in delivering great software development for customers. It will be followed by Machine Learning, Agile and further Automation respectively.

PS: The survey is still live and in case you want to provide your views:
plixos: Survey: SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TRENDS 2017

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