Outsource Software Application and Web Development

Finding the right outsourcing company to handle your outsourced Ajax development is the first crucial step towards making any outsourcing venture a success. The wrong vendor or outsourcing partner can not just severely jeopardize your work but the resultant loss of time and monetary resources may well put you off outsourcing forever. And that would be a shame because there is much to gain from this industry if only you know how to harness it correctly.

India has always been the first and natural choice for all IT outsourcing, and with good reason too. With one of the largest technical talent pools in the developing world, a fairly young working force that is at ease with the English language and a government that supports outsourcing, it is easy to see why the country abounds with so many outsourcing companies, all catering to various niche markets. Among the plethora of vendors are a few who have taken outsourcing several notches higher. VirtualEmployee.com is one of them. 

The most common perception of outsourcing is that the work passes into the hands of total strangers  - qualified, true, but still strangers – with you being forced to relinquish all control over the outsourced work. However, this is where VirtualEmployee.com scores over the competition and creates a far superior alternative that combines the benefits of outsourcing with the comfort of local hiring.

So, what can a company expect when they outsource Ajax development to this outsourcing services company in India? A veritable bonanza of benefits!

  1.    You get a remote employee, as opposed to a freelancer, who works exclusively for you exactly like someone you have hired locally. A dedicated Ajax developer is not the same thing as hiring a freelancer Ajax developer.

2.     You don't just get a virtual employee, you get the entire offshore package. In other words, you get a fully-functional, ready office of the vendor that acts as an offshore extension of your own local unit. Your virtual Ajax programmer is provided with all the peripherals needed to function efficiently – workstation, laptops or PCs (sometimes with dual screens, if need be) fitted with the required software, headphones, webcam, alongwith 24-hour IT and HR support. 

3.    Data security is one of the biggest worries when tons of precious in formation travels over the Internet into unknown hands. Several 'what ifs' can, and do, plague the mind – and with examples galore about the unprofessional behavior of many rogue vendors, that's not so surprising either. VirtualEmployee.com soon puts such concerns to rest since all client data is stored on virtual servers or even on the client's own server back home. The ever-vigilant IT department ensures that all other data protection tools and software are installed in every employee's PC or laptop so that data can never be tampered with, much leave the premises in any form. 

4.    Ease of communication with your virtual Ajax developer is another factor that makes outsourcing with this company so stress-free. Software development often calls for intensive collaboration in the initial stages, and to a fairly regular extent even after the work is well underway. Smooth communication channels are ensured by the vendor's superior technology-aided devices such as Skype, email, instant messenger and video conferencing.

5.    Collaborating with someone sitting thousands of miles away may have been made easy because of technology but it cannot replace the instant gratification of physical supervision. Luckily, VirtualEmployee.com's HR staff is always at hand to make sure your instructions are being followed by your virtual employee. Apart from close monitoring, all non-work related issues is taken care of immediately.

6.    Your Ajax developer will never replicate a freelancer's erratic work hours, simply because they can be made to work the exact same shift hours as you, irrespective of the time zones you both live in. This makes work and problem resolution so much faster.

7.    Finally, you get to select the Ajax developer who will ultimately work for you as your very own virtual employee, thanks to the unique recruitment model of this vendor.

Unlike a few years ago, when the outsourcing industry was in its nascent stage and organizations planning to outsource had very few choices except freelancers, today you have multiple options to choose from when outsourcing your Ajax web development project. The main tussle for a bigger slice of the outsourcing industry today is between dedicated virtual workers and freelancers, and dedicated remote employees are fast gaining ground.

To be fair to freelancers, the one advantage you have when hiring a freelancer is low cost. But the catch is, freelancers cost less because you're paying for just a remote worker who works from home, you don't have to pay for a proper office with all necessary infrastructure and backup systems that make sure your Ajax web development project goes full-steam ahead with no hiccups. Another reason why freelancers can work for less is that they serve multiple clients at the same time, there's a catch here also and that is, unlike with a dedicated virtual Ajax developer who works with just you, with a freelancer you're just another client.

Coming to dedicated virtual Ajax web developers, the first advantage you get is that you don't need to scour through freelancing websites but the outsourcing services vendor you hire thoroughly checks the background and technical prowess of all prospective virtual employees and after shortlisting the good ones, asks you to choose from the best. Therefore, right from step-1, it's made sure you get a virtual employee who can efficiently manage your Ajax project, more efficiently than a freelancer ever can.

Also, with India having become the mecca of outsourcing, when you hire an outsourcing vendor – such as, Virtual Employee.com – you get access to the vast talent pool in India where you are sure to find an Ajax developer who fits you needs.

Therefore, even though the concept of virtual employees is relatively new, it's no wonder almost all organizations that outsource insist on a dedicated virtual employee and not a freelancer. Hiring dedicated Ajax developers is made even safer with most outsourcing vendors making sure that all dedicated employees you hire sign a service contract to make sure they don't quit your project, and also a non-disclosure agreement that keeps your sensitive data safe.

Another advantage you have when outsourcing through reputed vendors is that all you need to supervise is  your Ajax web development project. All other non-work-related management, such as, bonuses, salaries, etc., is taken care of by your outsourcing vendor. It is also your vendor who makes sure that your remote dedicated employees has a proper and fully equipped office to work in and he is constantly under supervision to make sure everything runs smoothly.

It, of course, goes without saying that it's you and not your outsourcing vendor who manages your remote employees and are in total control. It's you who takes care of your employees' queries and suggestions, sets targets and deadlines for them, appraises their work, and decide on their roles and designations in your project team. In fact, you even decide your dedicated virtual employee's work-hours that makes your your Ajax developers works the same hours you do, which allows better team coordination.

Somewhere in the teeming vastness of the world's favourite outsourcing destination - India - is a talented, experienced software developer waiting to be discovered by you. This professional can be just perfect for your work and your organization. The trick is knowing how to separate the chaff from the grain.

This is where diligent research can make the difference between successful and unsuccessful outsourcing. Start off by deciding whether you wish to employ a freelancer or someone more reliable. Till recently, offshore freelancers were the first and natural choice for any US company that was looking to enjoy some cost savings by outsourcing to India. It was either that or hire the services of a more expensive outsourcing company wherein the software company offloaded massive volumes of work and the project went right out of their hands in to the unknown team of experts that would then start working on their project.

Luckily, thanks to futuristic-thinking vendors like VirtualEmployee.com, a happy medium between both has been established in the form of a remote or a virtual employee. This remote resource works exactly like a member of your local team – except that they do so from thousands of miles away, from the outsourcing vendor's office in India.

If that isn't promising enough, take a look at the host of other benefits that accompany hiring a talented remote software developer to work for you as your very own virtual employee.

1.   The virtual employee you hire to work on your software programming work is someone who has personally been hand-picked by you, because vendors like VirtualEmployee.com have a unique recruitment model in which the client plays as much of a role as its HR team does in finding and selecting the right candidate for the job at hand. So, unlike a freelancer whom you have never met (and probably never will) and will rarely have a conversation with, a virtual employee is as real as the person who works down the corridor from you.

2.   Your software programmer would work from the well-appointed office of the vendor, which would be equipped with the all the necessary infrastructure, latest hardware and software that are essential in any IT-based work. So, no outdated PCs or software but only the latest would be available for the remote India software developer.

3.   One of the biggest concerns in any IT outsourcing is data security. When large quantities of precious client data travel across the ether into strange and unknown hands, some degree of apprehension is natural, particularly if it a freelancer at the other end in to whose hands this information is passing. Luckily, this is one area in which the client can remain worry-free since the really reputed vendors would have stringent security measures in place (virtual workstations, data being saved on the client's server, etc) to safeguard precious client information. 

4.   Managing, controlling and collaborating online with your dedicated software programmer is very easy when the choice of the vendor has been a wise one. This is because established outsourcing companies would ensure that all the necessary online collaborative tools and software are at the disposal of the client and their virtual employees to ensure a smooth communication between the two.

Getting the right Ajax developer to come and work for you can well make the difference between success or failure. However, finding the right employee is not that easy. Options are many but quality cannot always be guaranteed. This is where outsourcing plays a role, but not just any kind of outsourcing, but hiring a dedicated, remote employee Ajax programmer.

If you are a software company then you probably know just how difficult it can be at times to find the right employee. If the qualifications are missing in one case, the experience is lacking in others; still others are way out of the budget while the ones that are affordable you’d rather not hire...and so it goes on. So, if you've been searching for the right Ajax programmer without much success, then it’s time to give outsourcing a try.  And India is where all the IT outsourcing action is. Even so, who you outsource to is equally important. So, while the first logical step would be to pick India as the outsourcing destination, the second one would be to be wise in the selection of the outsourcing vendor.

If you've decided to fish offshore, then judicious Internet research is a must before finalizing the right outsourcing partner. Like with every industry, even outsourcing has many models, each catering to a niche market. There are offshore freelancers, there is outright project outsourcing and then there is the dedicated employee model of outsourcing.

The last is the revolutionary new face of outsourcing is the concept of the virtual employee, first introduced by one of the well-established outsourcing companies in India, VirtualEmployee.com. The virtual employee was a far superior alternative to both, the offshore freelancer as well as outright project outsourcing. While the former suited those with short-term and low-end budgets and the former could handle the large volumes of work associated with big multinationals, somewhere in the middle were stuck the scores of small and medium enterprises, to whom neither of the two options were particularly appealing. It is exactly for such small businesses that the dedicated employee model of outsourcing was created.

When you decide to outsource to an outsourcing company like the one mentioned above, you play an equally important role in the selection of your Ajax developer.  The recruitment process is much the same as it is with every company. Based on your job descriptions, the vendor's recruitment executives start putting together suitable resumes and sending them across to you. You get to scan and select the most desirable ones, assign them tests, and conduct face-to-face interviews with them. These interviews are not restricted to just the telephones. Names are put to faces via video conferencing and you can freely interact with the short-listed Ajax experts in 'real' time.

That's not all, if you are not satisfied with the candidates even after interviewing them, you are sent fresh resumes till you hire the one Ajax programmer that you were looking for.  This Ajax developer will work exclusively for you and your organization on a long-term, permanent basis. 

With such vendors, you don't have to restrict yourself to one remote employee. Depends on your profit margins and sales, you can build an entire virtual team of Ajax designers to work for your organisations – all at attractive low costs.

One of the best ways to expand your online business, enhance your web presence and make your website a dynamic and attractive one is to engage the right professionals to do develop your website for you. The best do come at a steep price tag and if you are a small and medium company, then you probably know only too well that word 'compromise'. Yes, instead of making a dent in your finances, you compromise by either hiring a rookie who needs to be taught almost from scratch (more investment of time and energy) or by settling for someone less qualified. Either way, it is not too pleasant a scenario. Small wonder then that outsourcing has opened the floodgates for exactly such companies who can now easily hire the best talent in the world and that, too, at a fraction of the amount of what it would have cost them locally.

So, expand your business by hiring a remote cheap yet best web programmer from the world's favourite IT outsourcing destination – India. India boasts one of the largest technical talent pools in the world, with Indian colleges and universities churning out almost 3.1 million graduates each year. Add to it the average Indian's fluency in the English language, and is not hard to understand why Indian web developers are in such high demand in the US and other developed nations.

While it is true that India abounds in outsourcing companies, naturally not all are suitable for everybody. Most companies either do outright project outsourcing while others sub-contract the project to a bevy of freelancers. Luckily, there is another option, and it has only recently become available – hiring a virtual employee. The first to introduce this revolutionary concept was VirtualEmployee.com, one of the leading outsourcing service providers in India.

Hiring a virtual employee website developer from India takes the sting of uncertainty out of outsourcing. This is because this Indian web developer is not a freelancer but a regular employee who works from the office of the outsourcing vendor as opposed to from home. Moreover, while technology, hardware and software may not always be of the highest quality with a freelancer, a virtual employee works only with the best. The vendor's office is maintained to international standards, computers or laptops have high configurations, extra software can be installed in the remote web developer's PC if the client so desires, and last but not the least, client data security measures are stringent.

It is well-known that Indian IT professionals come cheaper than their US counterparts because of the economic climate in India. This is the first cost-saving and for most companies who outsource to freelancers, the savings stop there. But not with a virtual employee.

Hiring a virtual employee is akin to opening your very own extension office here in India. How? Very simple. The Indian web developer and you focus only on work, while it is the vendor who takes care of logistics such as office space, office rent, infrastructure, PCs or laptops in working condition, with its staff taking care of employee salary, benefits, insurance, cab facilities etc. The vendor's vigilant IT support team provides a constant and immediate back-up to all employees in case of any glitches.

Perhaps the biggest bonanza when you hire an Indian web developer who is also your virtual employee is the fact that they can be made to work the same shift hours as you. Same shifts or overlapping shifts - take your pick. 

Here's the list of six items that can make the difference between happy and unhappy programmers

HR execs of any organization will tell you that software developers (with their beards, coke-bottom glasses, et al) are a scary species to manage, and things just get worse when it comes to getting work out of a virtual software developer.

It's therefore very important to understand what keeps a software developer going, and it's not just money! It's unbelievable but there are companies that pay their developers in gold, and then expect them to work with pathetic working conditions and hand-me-down hardware. This makes no business sense whatsoever and when we at www.virtualemployee.com hire a virtual software developer for a client sitting half a world away, we make sure that the developer is happy when at work.

Here's the checklist we keep in mind when setting up a programmer's workstation. The items in the list    are so trivial that it's surprising many companies miss out on them, but then “Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle...”, that's Michelangelo for you.

The list:   

1.    Every workstation shall have two monitors

Limiting your developers to a single screen is crazy, especially with the plummeting prices of LCDs and the ubiquity of dual-output video cards. The productivity benefits of doubling your desktop are well-known by now and it's a simple way to increase the efficiency of your developer.

2.    Every workstation shall have a fast PC

This point is so obvious even writing it down is sort of embarrassing. But it is surprising how many organizations overlook the fact that developers want to cycle through debug and compile cycles as fast as possible. Also, developers need a lot of software to get their job done: development environments, database engines, web servers, virtual machines, and so forth. Running all this software requires a fast PC with lots of memory. 

3.    Every programmer shall be given mouse and keyboard of their choice

Alright, a programmer being unhappy over the mouse and keyboard he's got sounds like fiction.  Don't take our word for it, ask a few programmers and find out for yourself.

4.    Every programmer shall have a comfortable chair

Let's face it. Your software programmer shall sit on the biggest muscle in his body – the Gluteus Maximus (that's a polite way to say, “Butt”!) – For eight hours, maybe more, everyday. Either you get him a comfortable chair, or some other company will.  

5.    Every programmer shall have a fast Internet connection

Why write code that already written and right there on the Internet waiting to be downloaded? Spending time doing something that's already been done doesn't make sense anyway, so get them a fast Internet connection.

6.    Every programmer shall have quiet working conditions

Programming is a job that requires intense mental concentration. So make sure your programmers don't have to work in an interrupt-driven environment. 

Deciding to outsource your company's website's development? It is indeed a smart decision, but deciding who to outsource to is an even more significant decision in the long run. The outsourcing world is teeming with options, making the choice even more bewildering for those who are new to outsourcing. From freelancers in every hue and shade to large companies who undertake outright project outsourcing, there are vendors who cater to all kinds of requirements. However, with these forms of outsourcing, the client pretty much loses control over their outsourced work or those who will ultimately be executing it. They are merely recipients of the finished product.

However, there is yet another way of outsourcing, and this is the dedicated employee model. So, instead of settling for a freelancer, you can now enjoy working with a full-time dedicated website developer who will work exclusively for you and on a long-term basis. This virtual or remote employee works just like a real, locally hired employee, except for the matter of half the globe separating the two of you.

A dedicated website developer working remotely for you has many advantages as compared to either a freelancer or project outsourcing.

1.   A virtual employee website developer operates from the well-equipped office of the established outsourcing vendor, where the environment is conducive to working professionally. A freelancer usually works from home which simply cannot recreate a proper office ambiance and that can have a negative impact on work output.

2.    A freelancer may seem to come cheaper than a remote employee at first glance, but look closely. The average freelancer's reputation precedes it and it is not a very flattering one. This breed of outsourcing partners has been known to abandon work midway, often lag behind deadlines and understandably accord higher priority to the better-paying projects. A client, often fed up with the delays and tardiness, may decide to switch freelancers and again begin the work from scratch. Not only has valuable time been wasted but the cumulative amount paid per freelancer has also overshot the budget a good deal. A remote employee, on the other hand costs you only their salary. All the other logistics and overheads are borne by the vendor.

3.   Client control over and interaction with a freelancer is extremely minimal, mainly due to time and technology constraints. This means that only the very low budget and low risk and short-term projects can be outsourced to freelancers. With a dedicated website developer, on the other hand, a client can enjoy unlimited access and interaction, thanks to the vendor's high-end technology. As a result, complex and long-running projects can easily be outsourced to a virtual employee.

4.    When you outsource with a company that takes on entire projects or with a freelancer, you tend to lose control over the work that has been outsourced. However, with a virtual employee – your very own dedicated resource – you are completely in control of your project, every step of the way. It is you who decides how the work will be executed, you set the targets and the deadlines or even impart training to your virtual employee, if need be.

5.   Best of all, there is a supervising authority present at all times to monitor your remote employee. The vendor's HR executives act as your representatives and keep you updated of any developments as well as convey your instructions to your employee. This reassuring factor is totally lacking with both the freelancer and in project outsourcing. 

Outsource software application and web development to India to avail the benefits of low costs, incredible talent and some of the fastest turnaround time. India has established itself as an attractive IT outsourcing destination.

A company wishing to outsource software application services to India can outsource the following: custom application development, application re-engineering, application migration (Java, .Net, Oracle and Database).

Similarly, web development encompasses services like turnkey website design and development, custom website development that supports your business logic – from simple email forms to complete content management systems. 

Highly talented Indian web developers can turn your website into a valuable business tool by providing bespoke (custom) software and database solutions for the web, PDAs/handhelds, mobile phones and other devices.

When companies such as Cisco, Oracle or Hewlett Packard outsource to India they do so because they know that they will have access to talent, quality results, fast turnaround times and low costs. Small wonder then that so many multi-billion dollar companies outsource to India, reaffirming that it is the outsourcing hub of the world.

 “We believe that India is the hub of the world where the ICT sector is concerned,” said Mr Elfrink, (Cisco Systems) following a $1.1 billion outsourcing investment in India. Indian IT professionals are known for their in-depth knowledge and industry experience synergized with innovative technology Take a look at statistics:

India exports software to 95 countries across the globe

Bill Gates has called India an 'IT super power' on more than one occasion, entering into major alliances with top Indian IT companies like Wipro and Infosys to develop applications on the .Net platform

Indian-Americans run more than 750 companies in America's Silicon Valley

Jack Welch opened a $130 million Technology Center in Bangalore, GE's largest R&D center outside the US: celebrates 10 years of GE Medical Systems in India

80% of US and European outsourcing firms ranked India as their number one outsourcing destination

Multinational giants like Cisco, Oracle or Hewlett Packard outsource to India (“We believe that India is the hub of the world where the ICT sector is concerned,” said Mr Elfrink, of Cisco Systems, after the company invested $1.1 billion in outsourcing to India)