What to Look for When Outsourcing PHP Development to India

Every company wants to and really has to be profitable but in a competitive marketplace, cutting corners and offering a less than adequate service or product are just not options. The consumer has a high expectation and can easily move to another company if their expectations are not realised. It is therefore not only essential to be profitable in order for your business to survive but you also have to be able to provide an excellent product or service too.

Companies look therefore to minimize their costs as far as possible without compromising on their delivery of service and many choose to do this by reducing staffing costs. PHP is a programming language used for websites, so for example, a company who offers Web Design services may consider outsourcing some or all of their PHP Development to a company. To read more about what’s involved in a PHP development company, then check out this resource too. India has a well developed workforce with a growing expertise in this area. There are many skilled developers and many companies in India who are keen and very able to complete complex pieces of work and who will routinely advertise their services on online platforms.

A company may choose to outsource for a variety of reasons

Cost
Being competitive is a huge factor and outsourcing work in this way can significantly reduce staffing costs. Workers from abroad, even with high level skills, offer their services at hugely competitive rates. You can even employ a team of developers and have all of your work outsourced in this way thus removing the need for office space.

Flexibility
By outsourcing a piece of work, it can allow the business owner the flexibility to work on other, more productive tasks.

Irregular Orders
For a company who is not guaranteed regular, steady orders, outsourcing can be a very cost effective way to operate as having full time members of staff may mean that there are periods of time when they may be inactive.

The following are considerations:

Selection
If outsourcing to India, you must be prepared to take time to source an appropriate worker or company as workers and companies come with many different skills, abilities and experiences. If you have a particular task or area of work in mind, you may have to spend time with online interviews and chats. You have to be very clear about what you are looking for in order to recruit the correct solution and you cannot always assume that just because the skill set seems appropriate that they will have the expertise or the time to carry out your work to your schedule.

Many of the personnel or companies will have reviews from others who have worked with them, it is worth looking at the reviews and making sure that they are genuine. If outsourcing to a company, pick a reputable and established company.

Communication
It may be helpful to look for someone who has a good command of your language but often this, in addition to a specific skill set may mean that a compromise has to be struck.

There may therefore be a language barrier, so communication must be clear and precise so that misunderstandings are minimised as misunderstandings cost time and money. You may also need to allow some extra time for the task as communication may take longer.

Training
You cannot expect that the person or company that you ‘hire’ will be immediately up and running with your ideas and methods. You may have to spend time on training and remember unlike an ‘employee’, you cannot expect the same level of loyalty and time spent in training may not always be productive if the person or company then decides that they no longer can do your work.

Remember that the person working for you is not an employee and cannot be treated as such.

Confidentiality
It may be that you have to be careful with access to personal or sensitive data and you may have to consider confidentiality agreements but they can however be difficult to enforce.

Visits
If it is necessary to visit India, then you have to factor in costs to do that and remember the infrastructure may mean that it is difficult and time consuming to travel around, adding time and cost to your project.

Keeping Track
It is essential that you keep a track and check of work that you are outsourcing. If outsourcing PHP development, it is much easier if you know how to complete the task yourself as you will then be able to troubleshoot and look for errors in what you are receiving. You will also be able to keep a better track on progress and you therefore will be much more aware if the job is on track or if it is falling behind. It will also enable you to choose someone who has the necessary experience as speaking to the person will allow you very quickly to become clear as to whether they have the knowledge that the claim to have and whether they would be a good fit for your project.

Differing Time Zones
It may be worth looking for someone who has interest and is keen as they would need to have the flexibility to be able to work around a different time zone, it may for example mean that they have to commit to getting up early on some days in order to be able to have a chat as keeping up to date may only be possible at certain times of the day.

Careful planning may have to be employed.

Technology
You should look for a company or individual who has the hardware or software required to complete your project.

Remember you do not own the person and you may find that they are working on other projects too, so that you may not be their only priority.

PHP development lends itself very well to outsourcing as there is no physical product that has to be checked for quality for example, everything can be checked online. If organised properly, outsourcing can be very cost effective as you can outsource a task or part of a task for as long a time or as short a time as you want. PHP developers, both individuals and companies frequently advertise their services in India.