What Is Co-Sourcing in IT and Software Development?
As the demand for data skills increases, IT co-sourcing should always be an option your business considers to achieve your company goals.
Our specialist app development teams have a long history of working alongside existing in-house software development teams. This has allowed us to find the optimal mix of rapidly delivering value to our clients and up-skilling their staff.
What is co-sourcing?
Co-sourcing is a term that refers to the approach of bringing an external service provider into an in-house department. In this situation, internal employees work alongside outsourced team members, using a combination of specialist skills to achieve business goals. The outsourced staff members may be in different offices than the in-house staff members.
What are the benefits of co-sourcing?
There are many benefits of co-sourcing and even more benefits of co-sourcing with McKenna Consultants. Take a look at how you can enhance your business with this process below.
- Co-sourcing and organisation
We offer bespoke software development services from our base in North Yorkshire. Our co-sourcing service is typically used by clients in the UK, with the aligned time zone making organising and managing digital business transformation, product workshops, demos, and client visits much easier than an off-shoring model.
Based on our extensive product development knowledge and experience, we will also give advice and guidance every step of the way, which is not usually the case with off-shoring models. We can advise you on topics you may not have considered, such as if your business should have an app, and we’ll even steer you away from bad ideas!
- Co-sourcing and technical expertise
IT co-sourcing also gives the benefit of increased technical expertise. Our specialist team has deep knowledge of specialist areas of software development, such as mobile app development (iOS / Android) and the Internet Of Things.
Usually, our clients have a long-standing product based around older web or thick client technology that they would like to extend with a new mobile app (for Android or iOS devices). Initially, the skills of our clients’ in-house development teams will not match the necessary skills for creating a mobile app, but the business has an urgent need to have one developed. The obvious solution is to outsource the development of the product.
- Co-sourcing and business capacity
In addition to providing technical skills, our clients frequently want to deploy a “ready” co-sourcing team with extensive product development experience. This can temporarily boost their in-house capacity. We can quickly and easily deploy our highly-experienced Agile team, who are up to date with the latest technology.
We also provide a more diverse product development experience than most clients in-house. For example, we can leverage our Agile training, coaching and consultancy skills to improve the development process for our clients and build a specific product.
- Co-sourcing and flexibility
Co-sourcing also gives flexibility for the future. From time to time, our clients independently developing their apps will return to us when they reach peak demand. We can re-deploy our team for short periods to temporarily boost development capacity, thus providing a lower-cost alternative to employing temporary workers.
Is IT co-sourcing right for my business?
When an organisation does not possess the in-house expertise to further develop their software independently, or if they are interested in a specialist feature that they haven’t worked with before, such as WOPI integration, we offer the solution of working alongside our clients’ staff from day one of the product development.
Embedding within our team is the optimal solution as it immerses the staff in the new technology and prevents them from being distracted by other day-to-day concerns. For example, we work with embedded team members with our clients LexisNexis and AuthenticateIS, but remotely for clients such as 4com plc and Howells Associates. Our case studies demonstrate that co-sourcing has always been very successful for our clients, giving them high-quality products that their technical staff understand and can further develop independently.
What is the difference between co-sourcing and outsourcing?
As mentioned above, co-sourcing is a process in which an external organisation helps internal in-house staff reach company goals. This option may appeal to companies whose IT departments need an extra hand or specialist knowledge. Co-sourcing enables your organisation to retain considerable control over day-to-day business and operates in a hybrid-like setup.
On the other hand, outsourcing involves an organisation hiring an external contractor to tackle specific accounting tasks on either a contract or a request basis. Outsourcing has become increasingly frequent for companies to foster long-term relationships with third parties that optimise internal resources and align current business requirements with external resources, such as technology and people. Outsourcing is attractive to organisations that are aiming to improve their processes strategically.
Why should you co-source with McKenna Consultants?
There are typically two reasons why our clients choose to co-source with McKenna Consultants:
- We have technical expertise that our clients wish to acquire
- We have a capacity that our clients wish to utilise
- We are experts in custom software development, along with Agile training, coaching, and consultancy.
When you work with our bespoke software development services, our team and yours can operate more efficiently and enjoy a more streamlined process.
By choosing to co-source with McKenna Consultants, you’re choosing to elevate your current team’s technical expertise and business productivity. Contact us to explore how we can boost your software development and help your business flourish in the digital world, or check out our blog for more specialised information.
