Advantage of Offshore Open Source Web Development-Selecting the Right CMS

In last few years due to increasing competition in various industries and economic instability across the world, companies are required to implement the processes that make sure the optimal utilization of resources across the company. As a part of these processes, companies are using web applications and software in order to improve the operational efficiency and cut the operational cost.

With emergence of offshore open source web development, companies can get their web applications and software developed in lower cost with customized manner.  Open Source web development refers that the source code of web application development and design can be availed openly from internet without any proprietary or patent. In IT & software industry, open source has brought the revolution and provides variety of options for web and software development according to business needs. Further to this, because of increasing technological improvements, mobile application development can also be done with open source technology such as android.

Open source development can be done with integration of popular scripting languages such as C, C++, C# etc. The best and unique benefit is that developer can re-use the codes and components and because of this the application can be updated at any time in future. This flexibility is one of the major factors of its popularity across the developer community. Another benefit that makes it most cost effective way of web development is that there is large availability of plug-ins and tools which are free to download and use and large pool of talent and manpower is available across the globe.

PHP is one of the main technologies of open source development and is being widely used in developing websites, web applications with flexible options and customization. It works well with all open source platforms and provides variety of features and tools that help to develop custom web development with high security and quality.

There are various types of Open Source CMS (Content Management Systems) available in market that are being used for developing web applications, websites, portals, software, blogs etc. Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, Mambo are few most popular CMS that are used by developers. There are vertical specific CMS also available such as OsCommerce, Magento, X-Chart, Zen-chart, Presta Shop, VirtueMart are few widely used E-commerce open source CMS platforms. For other verticals such as Customer Relationship Management, SugarCRM and Vtiger are widely used as open source CRM CMS.

Since there are lots of options available in CMS, therefore it is very important to choose the right CMS as per the business need. There are few things that need to be considered before finalize the CMS. It should be clear that what is the scope of application and who will be the target audience.  It is important to understand what kind of content will be uploaded on application. Is it text, video, audio, flash, multimedia or some other format? It will help to choose the required tools & plug-ins to integrate the content. How CMS categorized the content across the website? Different CMS may categorize the content in different formats therefore; it is an important factor that helps to decide the structure and navigation of content across the site. It is advisable to check the customization features in a CMS that is one of the prime features for the same. 

Automation is one such factor that is important if you are not a technical person. There are various automated features integrated in CMS through which a non-technical person can also update the application without taking help of developer. At present, for any web application it is required to be SEO friendly. Considering this, while selecting CMS check SEO features as well so that, SEO specific changes could be made through CMS itself. Security has been one of the most critical concerns for open source development. To address this issue, most of the popular CMS are well equipped with security features and those need to be considered while selection.

Open source web development outsourcing has given tremendous opportunities to develop web, software and mobile applications according to business requirements across the globe. And in coming years it is going to be stronger with more innovations and advancements.

Selecting Offshore Software Web Development Outsourcing Company-Tips

In recent years, outsourcing of software web development has become one of the biggest trends in IT industry. It has been seen that there has been continuous value addition in outsourcing business models adopted by various IT companies across the globe.

Offshore software web development refers to an outsourcing process where companies from different industry and verticals relocate, transfer or outsource their software and web development related work to other company that may be located in the same country or other country.  There are different kinds of services for which an offshore software web development company can be hired to complete the project. The major services these offshore IT companies offer include; software development, web application development, website design & development, ERP application, CRM application, E-commerce solutions and many others according to business requirements.

In today’s competitive world, for any business or company it is very much required to have robust software applications in order to make in-house operations smooth and effective.  At the same time customer centric web applications such as websites / portals have become necessity to showcase and promote their product and services across the globe.  Companies across the different levels including large, medium and small scale are availing benefits by outsourcing software web development to other firms.

For any business or company it is very much required to understand and evaluate the various aspects before hiring any offshore web development firms.  Here are few steps that can be taken into consideration before hiring offshore software web development company.

As a first step companies need to set the goal or objective of software or web application.  It is advisable to ask departmental heads and other members of management for providing their inputs regarding the functionalities of the product. Specific needs and requirement should be addressed. In many cases, taking suggestions from employees who do the practical use of software or application can be very helpful in order to understand the exact requirement. During the vendor selection & quotation process, an in-depth research of offshore vendors is required to understand their expertise in a particular domain or field. It is recommended to outsource those vendors that have experience in company’s core sector. However, companies should also be open for relatively new vendors as well, since these small & medium scale vendors also provide prominent services with less cost involved.

Companies should always try to get more information regarding vendors from references. Engagement Model, resource allocation and rates quoted by vendors should be analyzed carefully and should clearly classified into “fixed prices”, time & material”, “per hour”, “per day”, “per week”, “per month” etc. It is advisable to ask vendor to provide cost for each milestone for better understanding of project cost incurred. After selection of vendor, company must sign the service level agreements that include project cost details, resource details, engagement model, delivery methodology, billing & payment terms, delivery period with milestones and other terms & conditions. During the execution phase the most critical aspect is the communication. Companies should always consider effective communication channels while selection of vendors. It is recommended that companies should have a dedicated person who can communicate with vendor on-behalf of the company on frequent basis. When the project is set to launch companies should ask vendor to provide full demo of product, beta testing and post-launch support.

Keeping above points into consideration, companies can easily outsource their software and web development projects to an offshore software web development company and get the best benefits and services.