Development process

Hiring a Dedicated Development Team in 2024: When to Consider This Model

Tech Researcher

Novikova Darya

Tech Researcher

December 23
2023
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A massive transition to the remote work mode had a great impact on the software development industry. As a result, many in-house employees have been replaced with outsourced dedicated teams.

In this article, we will explore the benefits and challenges of a dedicated development team model, explain why you should opt for this approach, and discuss the average costs of hiring a dedicated development team.

Whether you are a startup striving to build your first MVP and looking for a remote dedicated development team or an established enterprise seeking to increase your productivity, this post will provide you with insights to make an informed decision.

What is a dedicated development team model?

A dedicated team model is a software development approach where a group of skilled specialists is assigned to collaborate on a single project for an extended period. This means that a dedicated development team is not shared with other clients and stays focused to deliver quality results within the agreed timeline.

The process of hiring a dedicated development team can be compared to renting the workforce. You can tap into a global talent pool and hand-pick professionals based on your project's complexity, specific requirements, deadlines, budget, and many other factors. This type of collaboration provides you with flexibility as you can easily scale up or downsize a dedicated development team, tailoring it to your current project needs.

When we talk about outsourcing certain software development projects, we usually refer to some complex and large-scale tasks such as:
  • Mobile app development, including MVP development;
  • Software product development: accounting software, project management tools, HR management systems, among others;
  • Cloud-based solutions: SaaS platforms, IaaS solutions;
  • Blockchain development: cryptocurrency platforms, smart contracts, decentralized apps, etc.

MVP development guide: process, benefits, costs

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In other words, hiring dedicated development teams is suitable for a wide range of software development projects, from projects with tight deadlines to innovation-driven ones.

Dedicated development team structure

There’s no one-size-fits-all format when it comes to the dedicated development team structure as it can vary depending on the specific project goals.

However, here are some examples of typical roles and responsibilities that are commonly found in dedicated software development teams:
  • Project manager: planning & management, coordinating with stakeholders, execution & delivery.
  • Developers (front-end, back-end, full-stack, mobile, etc.): writing the software code.
  • UX/UI designer: creating the visual design, including the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).
  • QA engineer: ensuring that the app works as intended and meets the project's requirements.
  • DevOps engineer: deploying, managing, and monitoring the app's infrastructure.
  • Business analyst: gathering and analyzing the project requirements, ensuring that the project meets the business objectives and client's vision.

Benefits of hiring dedicated development team

The statistics show that hiring dedicated development team is a popular practice for businesses of all sizes, with 92% of G2000 companies and 37% of small businesses outsourcing projects to external providers. Why are they doing so?

Here are five reasons why you can benefit from collaborating with a remote dedicated development team:

1. Cost-effectiveness

If you’re looking to get the most bang for your buck, partnering with a dedicated development team is an excellent way to maximize cost-effectiveness. Instead of hiring an in-house development team, you can only pay for the team members you need.

With a dedicated software development team at your disposal, you won't need to worry about additional expenses such as:
  • Hiring costs, including HR salaries;
  • Employee training and retraining costs;
  • Labor costs, including monthly salaries, taxes, bonuses, medical insurance;
  • Maintenance costs, including office rent, daily lunches, purchase of office equipment and stationery.

Furthermore, having experienced professionals on board ensures that development projects are completed quickly and accurately without any unnecessary delays along the way. So if budget constraints are holding you back from starting a software development project, consider collaborating with dedicated developers.

2. Relevant expertise

As software solutions advance at an unprecedented pace, it’s vital that your development team has up-to-date skills and expertise. Do you need to spend resources and time waiting for your in-house development team to improve their knowledge? Well, the answer depends on your company’s individual situation. However, businesses that want to stay ahead of the curve are increasingly choosing to hire relevant specialists right away, without wasting time.

When recruiting dedicated developers, you can search beyond your geographical region. By throwing your nets wider, you're more likely to find specialists with a deep understanding of the latest technologies, development methodologies, and industry best practices. This is indeed a smart move on the way to building a high-quality product.

Plus, if you gather a dedicated development team that has experience working on similar projects, they will have a better understanding of the potential roadblocks and address these challenges more efficiently.

3. Flexibility

Flexibility is one of the significant advantages of hiring a dedicated development team. You have the ability to modify the team's size and composition, and adjust the scope of tasks, or timeline, to make sure that everything aligns with your business objectives and market conditions.

If you have a trusted development provider, there’s no need to worry about investing any resources in the recruitment process. You may simply request to make changes to the development team composition, and your provider can quickly accommodate this. Put simply, a dedicated development team is like a lego transformer that can be adapted and rebuilt to ensure that the project is delivered on time and within budget. With such a dedicated development team, you have the flexibility to make changes as needed, when focusing on achieving your business objectives.

4. Transparent workflow

As a rule, partnerships with dedicated developers imply greater regulation and transparency. Dedicated development teams typically use various task management tools such as Jira, Trello, and ClickUp to stay on the same page about the development progress and monitor performance. You can set up these tools to keep yourself updated by getting notifications when tasks are completed.

Additionally, you can negotiate some communication terms with the dedicated development team. Whether it's sending regular progress reports or scheduled weekly calls, maintaining open communication with your dedicated development team will save you the guessing game and give you peace of mind that your project stays on track.

5. Faster time-to-market

A successful launch of a new development project requires some speed advantage. It’s no secret that any business wants to meet all deadlines and start generating revenue as soon as possible. This is when hiring dedicated development team can come in handy.

A well-composed development team will have all the resources necessary to get your software product out on schedule. Since they work exclusively on your project, they can dedicate their full attention and effort to ensure success when the launch day arrives. In case speed is crucial for launching your product, investing in an experienced dedicated development team crew is a nice option.

Looking for an experienced dedicated development team for your project?

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Cons of hiring a dedicated development team

However, partnering with a dedicated development team has its flip side of the coin. Here’re some of the common challenges you may face:

1. Time zone gaps

If you hire a dedicated development team from abroad, you should be ready that time zone differences can slow down the project's progress. This can lead to communication delays, slower response times, and difficulties in scheduling meetings with the remote dedicated development team, especially when an urgent task arises.

It’s crucial to stipulate this point at the very beginning in order to keep the work-life balance and avoid large overtime on both sides. Otherwise, the growing dissatisfaction may result in the termination of your cooperation.

2. Non-universal solution

Working with dedicated software development teams doesn’t suit any project requirements as it depends on several factors such as the type of project, budget, deadlines, and business goals.

For short-term projects, for instance, it may be smarter to go for a fixed-price model and hire freelancers to get the work done. Similarly, if you need only a few developers for your project, hiring a dedicated development team may not be cost-effective.

When a dedicated development team is the right model for your business?

Now let’s figure out scenarios when a dedicated development team approach can be a perfect fit for your business.

You’re a rapidly growing startup

Typically, startups have limited resources. It’s always a good idea for rapidly growing businesses to have a dedicated development team on board. They can provide the scalability needed to keep up with changes as well as ongoing maintenance for the developed software.

As such, if you’re a startup looking to build long-term relationships with your customers, outsourcing makes perfect sense and brings fresh ideas into play as a bonus.

How to hire programmers for startups: the ultimate guide

Read the article

Your project is large-scale

Unlike short-term projects where you can rely on a team of freelancers, launching a complex long-term project requires consistency and stability. You need a close-knit development team that can dive deeper into your project's goals, requirements, and processes to work together in the long run.

Since these professionals are solely devoted to one particular project, you can expect consistency throughout its duration as well as shorter turnaround times when making updates during its lifespan.

There’s a need for specialized expertise

Bringing in a dedicated development team is beneficial when a business requires specialized expertise that is not available in-house. Dedicated developers are often experienced in a specific area or technology which guarantees a high level of expertise for the project.

This can be particularly applicable to solutions such as developing complex apps, creating artificial intelligence solutions, or building a customized e-commerce platform.

By hiring dedicated development team with the required skillset, businesses can ensure that any technical challenges are solved quickly and efficiently.

You have multiple ongoing projects

Juggling multiple projects at once is an exhausting process. In case your in-house development team doesn't have the resources to jump into a new software project, taking on some extra help is a win-win way to lighten the load.

Hiring an additional dedicated development team allows you to manage your workload more efficiently and get things done faster without compromising quality in any way.

Cost of hiring a dedicated development team

It can be tricky to calculate how much you should invest to hire a dedicated development team.

The cost usually varies depending on a number of factors, such as:
  • team size
  • developers’ location
  • level of expertise and position of team members
  • scope and duration of the project

After analyzing salary data from Clutch, Salary.com, Indeed, and Talent.com, we’ve made approximate calculations to provide you with a general understanding of what to expect.

We can conclude that the average hourly rates of dedicated specialists vary based on the country they belong to. Traditionally, US and Canadian hourly rates are higher than those European and Asian experts charge. In the table below, we’ve compared average hourly rates as if you hire a dedicated development team in Poland, India, and the US.

Dedicated development team costs

When it comes to recruiting a dedicated development team, choosing an experienced European team over the one based in the US or India has numerous benefits.

Firstly, this option guarantees the optimal ratio of price and quality.

Secondly, the time zone difference between Europe and the US is relatively small, which can make communication and collaboration easier.

Additionally, many European countries, including Poland, have a highly educated and skilled workforce with strong technical expertise. As a result, European developers are able to provide high-quality work at a lower cost than their counterparts in the US.

Bottom line

Hiring a dedicated development team remote is a wise decision if you have a large project on your agenda. Such a collaborative approach comes with numerous benefits and can significantly save costs.

At SolveIt, we have an extensive pool of dedicated specialists capable to bring your project idea to life.

Need a reliable development team? Reach out to us now!

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