What is Software Development as a Service (SDaaS)?

What is Software Development as a Service (SDaaS)?

According to BusinessWire, the SaaS (Software as a service) market is projected to grow to $272 billion in 2021 with a more than 20% yearly growth rate. Such a boom is caused by the innovation of this delivery model.

A new approach called SDaaS has recently appeared. It stands for software development as a service. It is an on-demand software engineering model aimed at bringing the outsourcing experience closer to hiring an in-house team. Cost efficiency and risk management are two core benefits of this model. It allows the dedicated outsourced team to meet the unstable market conditions.

Many companies have their own engineering departments that deal with daily tasks and handle regular work. However, when plans exceed the team’s capabilities, companies need to hire more resources. That’s when the implementation of SDaaS is advantageous.

It means expanding your IT department by hiring dedicated software engineers. They work on your project entirely and don’t take the other ones. In this article, we discuss the benefits and reasons for implementing this model. We also clarify the differences between SDaaS and traditional IT outsourcing.

4 Reasons to Implement SDaaS

1. Lack of in-house talent

A limited talent pool makes hiring in-house software engineers a challenge for companies of any size. The high requirements of developers often exceed your budget plans. Or maybe you lack expertise in technologies needed for a new product. Augmenting your team means having total control over remote engineers working full-time exclusively on your project. It boosts productivity and simplifies project management.

2. Hiring in-house engineers is too expensive

Do some research and find out what rates developers with the needed expertise have in your area. If the quotes are too high, think about offshore talent pools. You can find a cost-efficient location with specific engineering skills for a fair rate. Another advantage is that you can turn these on-demand teams into long-term partners.

3. Flexibility requirements

For software engineering, time is gold. The faster you can get started, the more value you gain. An efficient procedure makes your company more productive. Trustworthy companies can hire the needed resources from their extensive pool almost instantly. Vendors can quickly scale teams up or down based on the requirements.

4. High employee turnover

Due to the lack of in-house talent, the high turnover of software specialists is a common practice for companies in the US. To try to lower it, you need a backup plan. A dedicated team of engineers is interested in your success. And even when the specialists leave, the vendor can quickly replace them with minimum effort.

Your company needs software development as a service if you want to access a vast tech talent pool with minimum effort and be more adaptable.

6 Benefits of Software Development as a Service

By choosing this type of software development, be sure that you will be able to fully manage the software development process, apply new knowledge in the field of technology, as well as hire professional developers at reasonable prices. Let’s look at the benefits in more detail.

1. Reduced cost

SDaaS is most helpful if you need to handle multiple projects at about the same time. It’s an ideal solution if you need an efficient collaboration approach. The team dives into the project and pays maximum attention to it. You also minimize the administrative expenses such as office rent, hardware, and software as it’s all provided by the vendor.

2. Flexibility and transparency

You pay your development team based on their results. It means you can predict the tasks to be delivered and estimate your budget more accurately. In contrast, internal dev teams equal increased expenses with no guarantee of high results. Keep in mind that SDaaS is different from a fixed-price model, which means paying a certain cost no matter how many tasks are done.

3. Stable and reliable partnership

According to this model, the supplier takes on many responsibilities and deals with secondary processes so that you can focus on core activities. Even a change in team size and members won’t affect the progress of your project. SDaaS lets you build effective software while staying within timeframes and predefined budgets.

4. Quality control

In contrast to working with freelancers, SDaaS vendors have effective QC and QA practices. They analyze the results of every development phase by using both manual and automated tests and user acceptance testing. This way, you receive a completed and tested product.

5. Streamlined time to market

To keep up with the competition, you need to reduce the time you spend on software engineering. The dedicated team works on your project full-time by adding horsepower to your in-house efforts. Thus, you have more chances to succeed in the market.

6. Avoid employee onboarding

After you receive an RFP (request for proposal) and estimate the approximate budget, the task of hiring experienced tech staff within the budget can seem impossible. You also need time to access the right tech talent and onboard them. By partnering with an offshore company, you avoid all the headaches related to these demanding processes. You can start the development process right away.

SDaaS vs Outsourcing: Key Differences

At first glance, these two terms seem almost the same. However SDaaS has unique characteristics that make it different from IT outsourcing, and we want to highlight them.

• Outsourcing is more about cooperation on a single project, while SDaaS is more about long-run collaboration. The second approach is more adaptable, and you can extend your team faster. Additionally, you complete projects more quickly by making an offshore tech team a valuable asset of your company.
• The weaknesses of outsourcing are communication gaps. Unlike SDaaS developers, remote developers are more dedicated to the delivery than to your organization’s values.
• Outsourced work on a single project can be more affordable. Yet, the quality can be lower if you want to explore a specific industry more thoroughly. SDaaS is about strong and long-term cooperation with reputable service providers. It allows you to predict expenses, and evaluate and approve them beforehand.
• While the traditional outsourcing model narrows hiring tech experts for only one industry, project, or technology, SDaaS is more all-embracing. It eliminates risks and budget losses while maintaining high efficiency and flexibility.

To Wrap Up

Extending your team to handle complex and demanding software development projects is a perfect opportunity to remain efficient, time-saving, and adaptable. It lets you access top-level tech talents without any additional effort. The SDaaS model means building a strong partnership between your company and vendor. The team of dedicated engineers pursues the client’s goals and works full-time only on one project. It is a kind of software development focused on your aims and not on the coding hours.