Easiest Development Tasks to Outsource

December 7, 2019 • Development, Easiest

Software development is no easy task, especially when you’re looking to create something innovative, inspiring, and unique. It is a mishmash of various processes whose complexity depends on the project involved.

Irrespective of the software development life cycle methodology adopted, software development involves these steps:

Conceiving the software/application
Specifying the requirements for developing the software/application
Designing the software/application
Programming the software or application using one or many programming languages and frameworks
Documenting the entire software/application
Testing the developed software or application
Debugging and removing the various errors and bugs found in the software/application during the testing phase
Deployment of the developed software/application at the desired location/system(s)
Maintaining the developed software/application that includes adding relevant updates, new features, and finding and fixing previously unaddressed issues

While some businesses like to complete as many development projects as strictly in-house as possible, others like to outsource several development tasks for varied reasons. You can hire an outsourced development team to help you with the software development process more efficiently.

Outsourcing has become a global phenomenon now. It has grown to such an extent that freelancing has become a full-fledged profession these days. As a consequence, there is no dearth of best nearshore and offshore development companies, ready to help you out with your development projects readily.

The first two steps of software development i.e., conceiving and specifying, are obviously not outsourceable. This is because these are decided solely by the client and the provider.

Moreover, the deployment process is also not preferred to outsource as the client would definitely want the provider to do the deployment themselves, not anyone that they have hired. Finally, maintaining is something that the provider is held responsible for. Hence, it can’t be outsourced as well. The rest of the software development process can be outsourced.

Looking to outsource developers to your team but don’t know which tasks need to be outsourced and which doesn’t? Worry not, we’ll help you out. The following section details various tasks of the entire software development process that can be easily outsourced.

Development Tasks Easiest to Outsource

1. Designing

As soon as the requirements are noted down, software development enters the designing phase. It involves a maiden or high-level design of the main modules of the software with an overall design representation, usually using a block diagram of the software or app being developed.

The programming language, operating system/platform, and hardware components are all known by this time. Afterward, a detailed or low-level design is created with prototyping as proof-of-concept or for firming up requirements.

Designing is one of the development tasks that can be outsourced and is typically outsourced. You simply need to provide the specifications sheet to the experienced outsourcing team, and they will come with a suitable design for you. You can also ask them to present you with multiple choices.

2. Programming

Another part of the software development process that you can outsource is programming. This part of the software/application development involves real coding in the programming language(s) of choice. You can decide the programming tools on your own or consult an outsourcing provider to suggest the best options to you.

Once you’ve decided what needs to be added to the software and how each and everything should work, it’s time to hire an offshore development team that can get the programming done. You can review their work and ask for changes/modifications required, if any.

3. Documenting

Documenting is that part of the software development process that involves organizing the internal design of the software for future enhancement and maintenance. It can be easily outsourced at one’s own convenience.

Typically, documenting is done throughout the software development process. This is due to the evolving nature of the software development process. These new changes need to be reflected in the documenting. Hence it is continuous. Documenting can also involve writing an API, external, or internal.

The extent of internal documentation depends on the chosen software development life cycle. For instance, plan-driven models to the likes of the Waterfall model produces far greater documentation than the SDLC methodologies based on the Agile approach.

4. Testing

Software testing is an integral and important aspect of the software development process. This part is important because it helps in recognizing defects and errors in the software being developed. Testing is another software development task that can be easily outsourced.

There are more than a few testing types that need to be conducted on software to ensure that it works as expected with no problems and gives out desired output/results. In test-driven development, tests are developed just before implementation and also serve as a guide for implementation correctness.

5. Debugging

Debugging is the process of removing errors and bugs found during the testing process. Usually, it is done collectively with the testing process but might be separate in some cases. If you require separate debugging, then you can go for outsourcing easily.

Reasons Why You Need to Outsource Software Development

Why do you need to outsource nearshore or offshore developers? There can be one or many reasons, enumerated as follows:

An alternative to Lacking In-house Experience – There might be projects that require technologies with which your in-house isn’t that much comfortable to work with i.e., lacks the desired level of experience. For such projects, outsourcing is a blessing.
Get the Top Talent to Work for You – Outsourcing gives you the opportunity to choose from a giant talent pool. Bring the top talent to your workbench and let them deliver excellent results for your business and product while working inline with your in-house team.
Hassle-free – With outsourcing, you need not worry about a lot of many things, including recruiting, hiring, and training. Simply give out the instructions and expect great results delivered in time.
Reduced Costs – Outsourcing can help in cutting costs while reducing workload at the same time. Moreover, there is no need to make any upfront payment.
Risk Mitigation – With a quality outsourcing provider by your side, you get a great project management system and a flexible, tried-and-trusted application development process for efficiently mitigating risks for your business.
Streamlining Multiple Projects – Having a focused strategy is one of the most important advantages for an IT firm. Outsourcing helps you manage multiple projects at hand and even dealt with an overwhelming workload without even breaking a sweat.
Time Savings – With people working for you around the clock, your development project is guaranteed to have a reduced time period than that it would have required without outsourcing. This is very helpful when you have to make delivery ASAP.

Conclusion

That completes the list of the development tasks that are the easiest to outsource. Practically, you can outsource the complete software development process. However, it’s better to do what you’re best at and outsource the rest.

Amit Dua

Amit is the Co-Founder of Signity Solutions – A technology-oriented company with the vision of delivering high quality, scalable and highly reliable solutions/services in the space of digital enablement, spanning across mobile apps, web & social media presence along with enterprise productivity solutions/integration. A tech-evangelist, he has an uncanny ability to synergize and build associations, thriving teams, and reputable clients. His vision to grow his decade-old company as per global standards, and his deep analytical skills to foresee market trends, as well as global challenges, has enabled his company to come up with products and services best suited not only for local, but global markets as well. His sharp skills and first-class business acumen have helped him in building successful sales and product management teams to ensure increased brand awareness and demand generation.

Tags: App Development expert Task Management

10 Easiest Content Management Systems (CMS) of the Year

November 23, 2019 • content, Easiest

The significant benefits of using a CMS are that such software is often user-friendly. These programs enable users to translate their ideas to practicality quickly. The maintenance and updates are regular and easy to handle. It is highly cost-efficient with out-of-box solutions, freeware or open-source. There is a broad scope for functionality using a large number of extensions and plugins. There is a great developer and community support as well.

A Content Management System refers to a software application that can be used for creating and modification of digital content. CMS is generally used for web content management and enterprise content management. ECM (Enterprise Content Management) supports multiple users in a collaborative environment by integrating digital asset management, document management and record retention. Whereas, WCM (Web Content Management) is a collaborative authoring of websites and can include graphics, photos, audio, videos, programmes and maps that display content and interact with the user. Most CMS systems have two aspects to them: Content Management Application (CMA), which is the front end user interface that allows users even who have limited expertise to add, modify or remove content from a website. The second aspect is the Content Delivery Application that compiles and updates the website.

Hence all these advantages act as parameters of a sound CMS system, and it becomes essential to find out the best CMS software available to ensure you can design a great website with absolute ease. This is why we discuss the 10 Easiest Content Management Systems (CMS) of the Year; you should try for your next website.

1. WordPress:

WordPress has always been a popular option for bloggers for its easy-to-use and open-source flexibility. It has a million plugins to choose from, and it enables you to add on anything you can imagine or want to add to your website. WordPress is excellent software for people who are just starting with a digital marketing professional as well. It was launched in 2003 as a simple blogging site and dominant open-source web development platform and is one of the most effective and widely used CMS systems. Websites like The New York Times, CNN and music celebrities like Jay Z and Katy Perry and also few of the Fortune 500 companies such as eBay, UPS have used WordPress designing and development.

The few advantages of this CMS is that it is very cost-effective, it allows you to update your site from anywhere provided you have access to the internet, it is SEO ready and it is excellent for in links as each new blog entry goes to the RSS feed which makes it easy for others to syndicate your blog across other websites and directories. It has a responsive web design which eradicates the need for developing separate websites for different devices.

WordPress has an absolute advantage over the other websites in a way that it allows the user to update content as quickly and as many times as you want which is crucial in this content-driven competitive market. It also makes the process a lot easier and less complicated. It also helps build credibility within a user’s niche if he/she continually keeps updating their website content as per the ongoing trends or updates.

2. HubSpot:

HubSpot is a great platform that cuts the hassle and cost of integrating all of the requisite components for digital marketing. It does so by providing all those features & plugins in one all-inclusive package. The best part of HubSpot is that it offers what you see is what you get approach. This enables the users to create precisely what they see without having to visualize any element in their mind, and use minimum knowledge on how to edit. The CMS comes with a good setup SEO support, responsive designs, multi-device and cross-browser testing, also many personalizations offers.

Many traditional content management systems gained popularity for allowing users to manage and update their content on their website easily; however, HubSpot takes it one step further by providing smart content that delivers targeted content to a specific group of people. It is configured in a way that it identifies people from their buying journey’s lifecycle stage or contact list. There is a custom template builder which lets you customize a design to a great extent without having any prior knowledge in website design. HubSpot has a unique approach to email marketing, as it has an email workflow that sends a series of emails to the clients depending on the client’s online behaviour that makes the mail reach them at the right time and hence increases the chances of them reading it exponentially.

3. Kentico:

Kentico is the all-in-one CMS that allows the user to build and manage their website, manage eCommerce, publish their content and run marketing campaigns from one platform. It has a clean User Interface and also a ‘What You See is What You Get’ (WYSIWYG) editor. Kentico claims to be only ASP.NET Model View Controller support CMS, which is a web development platform that is provided by Microsoft, used for creating website applications.

The support for multilingual content allows managing website in multiple languages, and also is an added benefit largely appreciated as the reach of the potential visitor’s increases exponentially as the barrier of language gets diluted. The open API system allows endless possibilities for integration and its advanced scalability ensures that you won’t ever outgrow the platform. Since security is Kentico’s one of the top priorities it gives you features like Double Opt-in Registration, User Mangement, Module Permissions which allows you to take advantage of one of the authentication services provided by Kentico or use one of your authentication services into the system. It is the choice of some popular companies like Starbucks, Mazda and Gisbon Guitars.

4. Sitefinity:

Sitefinity has a good user interface making it easy for new users to operate this platform. There are several widgets, SEO optimization, A/B test functionality, eCommerce, forms, and easy accommodation for large businesses that need to manage more than once brand across multiple regions. There are connectors for Marketo, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sharepoint and prebuilt marketing tools as well. The visitors of websites are shifting towards browsing from mobiles more than desktops these days.

This is why many marketers are strategizing their website promotion on mobile phones. Sitefinity identifies this trend and allows developing optimized websites for seamless mobile browsing experience. It takes it a step further by allowing you to create apps to reach out to more people. Digital Asset Management is a feature of Sitefinity that allows you to organize file hierarchy, tag the files and make use of metadata for searching for files.This makes it easy to manage pages as you keep updating more pages over the years as your website grows.

5. Joomla:

Joomla is another popular CMS system that is cost-free like WordPress. It has over 75 million websites under its belt. There are thousands of extensions and ready to use themes. Most people find it easy to use Joomla even with zero technical expertise. There is a little need for customization from the users end to get all the features of a premium CMS system that you might expect to get out of the box. Joomla can be used to make a website of any category. Irrespective of whether it’s a small, personal blog or a huge online store with thousands of pages.

It is very flexible, reliable and provides a one-stop solution for all purposes. Joomla has support for all social media networks and creating links for them is very easy. It is great for managing small websites as it gives you complete ease and control of maintaining them yourself. The plugins are greatly categorized, which makes the user experience of searching for essential plugins a lot friendlier.

6. Mura Content Management Systems:

Mura is a little specific for people who can take full advantage of its potential as a CMS. It works best for developers, programmers, executives, designers and government organizations. Being a platform which is open-source, it has many advantages such as easy-to-use experience moreover also increases productivity. It provides support for mobile optimization, SEO optimization, licensing, posting across several platforms and scalability, among other various other features. There is support for multi-sites with a strong CMS system that allows managing multiple websites with a single code base. Switching between sites is also smooth using the administration panel providing a seamless multitasking experience. It uses modern web technologies such as AJAX to improve the user experience for developers and content managers; hence, it has great content management capabilities and also content architecture.

7. CrownPeak:

CrownPeak has a great user experience across almost all the platforms. It allows the user to create great websites without prior technical knowledge. It has a powerful cloud-native platform. This cloud platform has a built-in quality assurance that helps you with all the tools needed for creating high quality, contextual experiences. Once you publish your website using CrownPeak, you can build and edit content in-line or take advantage of editing with WYSIWYG controls. You can create and publish content to one site or hundreds of website at the same time. There are thousands of custom models and templates to meet any content requirement moreover is also supports A/B testing and targeting rules. There are translation tools and content localization that helps reach thousands of people and at the same time, moreover keeping the content authentic as well.

8. Oracle:

Oracle WebCenter Content has a single storage facility to house unstructured content, enabling business organizations to deliver it in the right style to business users and within the factors of known applications that fit their working style. It is an enterprise-level content management system with end-to-end management from the inception to achieving. It is best suited for large, established companies. Their customer support is credible as they continuously maintain their CMS quality by solving bugs as soon as possible. It is an enterprise-level CMS that requires a minimum 10-user purchase which makes it a little expensive as compared to other CMS systems.

9. idev Content Management Systems:

idev CMS comes across as an ideal CMS solution. It is designed to grow in sync with your business. Right from smaller start-ups to large scale businesses, this platform is widely used. Its users love its ease of learning and using. For page building, it uses WYSIWYG which lets the user create new pages as per need. They also allow the user to customize content wherever required and build contact or search forms with ease. The platform it provides is very developer-friendly and allows flexibility of customization wherever needed. It is ideal for customer support. The software was build and is updated and implemented by the same group of people. This means there would be no ambiguity as to whom to call for support. Other option would be to wait for a long time before an official update to improve and fix bugs.

10. Evoq Content:

Evoq Content is one of the Content Management Systems that works best for the IT and marketing departments alike given its enterprise nature. Firstly, it strikes a good balance between providing the right set of functionalities and at the same time, being easy to operate. Secondly, it has content creation features, and it is SEO ready. Moreover, it also has the added benefit of workflows which let several users interact with each other. By doing so it also allows personalization to a large extent. This makes it possible for users to implement marketing campaigns easily. It is also an open platform source and has many choices for themes which can be tailored as per need.

It is a great CMS platform for saving time. The software understands key page metrics which eradicates the need of having a separate analytical system such as Google Analytics. It captures many aspects of page views, conversions, bounce rate and traffic sources. All these factors help the user understand and improvise on their strategy accordingly. Evoq gives you the freedom to link your Google Analytics via an in-built connector.

These are the 10 Easiest Content Management Systems of the Year you should look out for your next project. Above all, make sure the CMS must be selected as per your digital marketing strategy.