Factors Behind the cost of Software Development Services

Software development services is a booming industry that is now worth an estimated 100 billion USD annually.  It’s also a prospering industry that has changed the way of doing business. It allows companies to chop down expenses and reduce time to market and increase flexibility. However, quality in software development is important to get all the benefits from final products, although it doesn’t mean a 100% guarantee on the error-free result.

COQ

Often quality can charge extra cost. Therefore, the term cost of quality (COQ) is used, to sum up, product quality-related costs and defect-related costs. COQ in the software development world refers to the costs teams are ensuring high quality and defect-free products/services. These days, software development is a remarkably complex process that comprises thousands of lines of code, and a huge amount of errors (bugs). That’s the reason, companies must invest in costs for resources and activities throughout the lifecycle, to prevent failures. About 70-80% costs are usually spent on correcting bugs. That is a reason we consider the cost of quality in software development is really important.

Four essential COQ in software development

• External failure costs – related to defects the customer finds post-sale (costs to process customer complaints, returns, warranty claims).
• Internal failure costs – related to defects found before selling the product to customers (re-working, re-testing, fixing errors, re-designing).
• Appraisal costs – cost related to determine conformance to quality requirements (measurements, audits, evaluations, inspections, testing).
• Prevention costs – cost related to prevent errors (quality planning, project management, feature review, product review, Agile and process review, team training).

Developers’ Location

Offshore software development is often cheaper than local. Rates can vary anywhere between $15- $250. In North America and Australia software development costs from $80 to $250 for an hour, that’s the highest rate in the world. In Asian countries (e.g. Bangladesh) there are plenty of firms that provide web development services much cheaper. It may seem that the higher the price, the better’s the quality. But it’s not that simple, both local and offshore software developers value their reputation and always keep an eye on the quality of products they develop.

Hiring Options

Nowadays, there is a lot of options for hiring a good software developer, and each of them has its benefits and drawback. Which we are going to discuss.

Freelance software developers

There are available platforms where you can hire freelancers. As you can understand, this is the cheapest option available but not the most trustworthy. There are very little options to control the freelancer’s work and nobody can guarantee you a satisfying quality. Having no assurance, you may face a lot of errors in your software and just waste money.

In-house software developers

Engineers create the software within your office, so you can keep an eye on all the development stages. Where you can call the employees at your preferable time, as a result, any possible bugs will be solved faster. However, hiring in-house developers requires a lot of investments in salaries, taxes, hardware, and software and it is also a time-consuming process.

Outsourced software developers

Outsourcing companies for developing certain software has quite a lot of benefits. There are many offshore companies from all over the world and you can source them from anywhere. As a result, you can choose affordable software development costs, because they vary depending on the location. The main drawback you may face is a time zone difference.

In our view, offshore software development companies are the most suitable option. By choosing it, you can be sure about the quality and remain in full protection.