On the one hand, SaaS products bring many profits to the companies when they’re created properly with both a progressive and easy-to-understand logic and aesthetic design. On the other hand, to achieve it in-house, you require a lot of advanced technical skills which are costly. That’s when outsourcing of your SaaS projects might be really beneficial.

That is why we offer you a guide on what you should take into consideration when searching for an outsourcing company for your SaaS product.

SAAS OUTSOURCING: CHOOSING THE RIGHT PARTNER

Fortunately, you don’t need to be an expert in everything to succeed. One of the most important things in leading a company is trusting the right business partners.

When outsourcing SaaS product, look for a company that:

A) HAS PROVABLE TECHNICAL SKILLS (AND PORTFOLIO THAT MEETS YOUR NEEDS)

It's essential to choose a company that offers a bunch of highly-skilled developers and designers who have the right expertise to run such projects. What can you do to make sure that the outsourcing company will meet your project needs? Check the human resources of your potential business partner. Pay a special attention to the ratio of mid and senior developers to the number of junior beginners. A good practice is asking about developers’ and designers' profiles to get to know their skills, experience, and, primarily, knowledge of technologies, platforms, and languages that are necessary for your products.

Undoubtedly, the greater their experience with the projects that are similar to yours, the higher the chances of successful cooperation between you. The developers and designers that have an in-depth knowledge of building SaaS solutions may bring you additional value by utilising their past experiences. The deeper their understanding of the area of your industry and the more evidence of similar services delivered to other companies, the better for you. At HeroDOT, we boast a long, fruitful cooperation with a Swedish company - Scrive. We learnt multiple things from this five-year-old business collaboration that we could implement in other similar projects. 

B) OFFERS ADDITIONAL VALUE AND HAS A PROACTIVE ATTITUDE

SaaS products constitute a complex and valuable service. It is vital to choose a company that offers additional value in order to bring your project to a higher level. If you’re cooperating with a company that possesses experts only in the area of developing, you will need to engage your company’s human resources to prepare appealing design layouts, and vice versa. However, if you find a company that has extended knowledge and experience on various topics such as product strategy, researching users, UX/UI design audits, and solving problems with creative workshops, it will give you a new precious partner to discuss your ideas with. Primarily, such a company will have a better chance to address your various needs and handle every step of your project.

Try looking for a partner who will not only be a simple vendor but will also present a proactive attitude by advising you the best solutions and providing valuable suggestions. There are plenty of companies that can handle extended responsibility for the projects and do their best to bring additional value. Not only are they doing what they’re told to, but they’re committed to your project’s success.

C) HAS EXPERIENCE IN WORK-FROM-HOME MODEL

COVID-19 has forced companies to switch from working in an office to remote work. Nevertheless, many firms decided to introduce it on a larger scale a long time before the pandemic broke out. Such companies have a considerably better experience in managing digital projects remotely than those who just started learning how to deal with it. Choose a company that has experience in the work-from-home model and remote projects. The greater their acquaintance with working remotely, the higher their flexibility and chance that they will adapt to your conditions properly. If the outsourcing partner has experience in remote work, they will take care of this process comprehensively, so that it is smooth and imperceptible to you. By using proven methods and tools, they will establish a good communication process between an “outsourced employee”, a mother-company as a “broker”, and you as a new temporary employer. This will valuably influence your cooperation at the very beginning, which will have long-term positive consequences.

D) IS NEARSHORE

There are many reasons why nearshoring is an efficient solution. Primarily, it guarantees cultural compatibility and proximity. There's a lot of disparities in values, beliefs, expectations as well as gestures and the way of living between people from different regions. Choosing partners whose culture and work ethics are similar to yours allows you to experience far fewer uncomfortable situations and misunderstandings. Moreover, it facilitates the cases when projects require a lot of planning, discussions and decision-making. Doing so on two different hemispheres can be extremely difficult. When both parties share a similar time zone, you and your partner will likely be at work at the same time. Nearshoring caters for those who appreciate or require frequent communication and quick availability of an additional talent pool, in case of emergencies. 

Poland seems to be the best country to outsource your SaaS products for many reasons. Key factors include attractive tax incentives and proximity to European financial centres. Poland is mostly known for a vast talent pool of IT graduates, with many international award-winning developers. Having access to a talent pool makes the development process more effective and valuable. Instead of spending time recruiting people with the right skills locally, you can start pursuing your business goals right away.

What’s more, nearshoring lowers the costs of the SaaS projects by outsourcing them to the countries where labour is cheaper. For instance, Poland has significantly lower wages and salaries compared to Germany. That’s why it’s particularly beneficial for Scandinavian and western European companies to outsource IT projects to Poland. If you have more substantial needs in short periods, employing an external workforce allows you to dedicate resources to primary activities. A nearshoring partner will be able to provide tons of advice. And, as the project will have to be well thought and well prepared, nearshoring creates a space to develop top-notch solutions and improves overall competitiveness.

E) HAS ENOUGH RESOURCES TO HANDLE YOUR PROJECT

Undertaking the challenge of outsourcing your SaaS products means looking for a company that will not only give you additional resources once but will also be able to flexibly adjust to your change in demands that might appear in the future. That’s why it’s so important to choose a company that has enough resources to handle your project in terms of workload capacity and scalability.

Especially when outsourcing HR, you may face various problems. The SaaS projects you prepare may have amending demand for new employees and workload. You need to look for a company that is big and flexible enough to provide you with the right number of developers, no matter what your actual requisition happened to be. Stabilisation and warranty - these two things make a difference in running a business in the long-term. By choosing an experienced partner with additional resources you might bring a positive change to your company. Once you decide to cooperate with a given company, don’t forget to set clear deadlines so that you both know when you can signalize your needs and requirements. We recommend writing them down in an official document.

F) IS RECOMMENDED BY OTHERS AND GIVES YOU A POSITIVE “GUT FEELING”

Don’t underestimate the value of your gut feeling. Before you start cooperating with another company on outsourcing your SaaS products, you will have many chances to get to know them and check what vibe and attitude they have. Prior to finally deciding to sign a contract, ask your colleagues (and yourself!) whether you like and trust the people that represent the other company. Remember that you’re going to potentially have a lot of contact with each other soon. Check the ease and ways of communications, analyze how the business process and negotiations looked like.

It also makes sense to ask other firms that already collaborated with your potential business partner, whether they’re satisfied with what they experienced. You may ask their previous customers and business partners if they managed to work within the budget, meet the deadline, and provide the agreed quality. Simply saying, you may check if they had already proved their ability to deliver. An example of good practice might be reviewing testimonials of the company that is interesting for you. For instance, in HeroDOT, we have created a profile on Clutch, where our customers and business partners can leave their reviews on our work that are visible for everyone.

CONCLUSION

Outsourcing SaaS products might be a crucial factor in getting ahead of your competition. Being able to grow, deploy and scale in a seamless process will help you to succeed. Partnering with the right outsourced team can ensure the right level of your projects. The ability to call on essential resources, skills and intellectual property, not always available in-house, is not just nice-to-have, but now a necessity of the modern SaaS industry.

Choose a business partner that will guarantee you all of the things we mentioned in this article to maximise your chances of success.