What is meant by a remote development team?

Working remotely. Working from home. Remote working. Something that seemed like a no-go years ago turns out to be not so crazy after all. Have you been walking around with the thought of scaling up with remote developers for good? Then this seems like the perfect time to deploy a remote development team. Let us tell you about the how and what.

 The significance of a remote development team

Isn’t it possible to get some software development off the ground with your current manpower? You don’t want your business to stand still while the competition keeps on innovating. We get it! There are a few ways to approach it: (1) you start looking for freelancers, (2) start a recruitment & selection procedure, (3) join a digital agency or scale up with a remote development team. Especially given this turbulent period and the cost and time-saving benefits of outstaffing, this can be a very good solution. Your software development project will be handled remotely, while the control stays in your hands.

About that remote development team. This is a group of software developers working exclusively for you. The team works in one location from overseas, in our case that’s from the Philippines. When outstaffing a remote development team, the dedicated software developers have the opportunity to see each other online or at our office in Clark, Pampanga. 

Pros and cons of a remote team

If we zoom in on the pros and cons of working with a remote team, we see quite a bit of overlap with the points we already mentioned in this article. But there is more:

• With client requirements in mind, the outstaffing partner takes on the pre-selection of potential remote developers. What the final remote development team looks like is up to you. In fact, as the client, you get to interview each developer personally. You are the final composer of the team.
• As a client, you retain control of the entire process. From A to Z.
• The team is not on your payroll. So this saves quite a bit of cost and business hassle. Moreover, the hourly rates of such a remote development team are easily twice as low as the hourly rates charged by Dutch software developers. And there are no recruitment costs involved.
• Office space, standard equipment or other support for the team are the responsibility of the outstaffing party.
• Development teams working remotely take work off their hands. Moreover, they are 100% focused on your issue. And you often see that reflected in the quality of the final product. 

What about the disadvantages of a remote development team?

• Since the remote team works remotely, motivation can sometimes wane a bit. It is therefore essential to involve the remote developers in all business activities. What’s going on? Why do you do what you do as a company? Keep the team involved and share relevant ins and outs. That’s why at CC.Talent, we always make sure that the remote developers always get the best of the best. In doing so, we even employ people to ensure that both the team and the client are satisfied.
• A remote development team needs direction from your company. Without an experienced in-house project manager, you can’t get the most out of the collaboration for a long time. 

How we at CC.Talent put together a remote development team

Customization is what it’s all about for us. We are here to match your needs with the expert remote software developers. Developers who have know-how of the desired programming or framework(s). Nothing is copy-pasted from our remote teams. Every project request is started from a blank sheet by our team in the Netherlands. Thanks to our HR process, we can find the most suitable software experts for every request. The highest quality at an affordable price. After a short search we come back to you with our pre-selection. A pre-selection yes. As our client, you will have a digital conversation with the potential remote software developers. Is there a match? Does he/she give the impression of having the right skillset? Does the developer pass a few tests? All GO’s add up to your remote development team. You are the assembler.

Green light means that you keep control in-house. We take care of the payroll, hardware, software, management, taxes and office space.

3x tips what you can do as an organization when working with a remote team

From experience, we can recommend three things to make collaboration as smooth as possible. Tools. Work process. Culture.

• Tools for outstaffing.

A different location. Probably a different time zone. Working with a remote team requires structure. And one way to create structure is through a number of tools. Tools that allow you to organize, prioritize and manage the software development process. Tools that make it possible to be in contact with each other within a click 24/7, and to let the communication run smoothly. Consider tools such as: Slack, Skype, Jira, Teams, Zoom and Asana.

• Work process

Collaboration means communicating with each other. A crucial point within outstaffing where things often go wrong. But fortunately, it doesn’t have to be an issue. For example, what we do at CC.Talent are daily stand-ups. In addition, the remote developers in the Philippines are managed daily by a Dutch director, which guarantees the promised quality standard.

• Open culture

Watching someone’s fingers continuously does not make anyone more productive. Outstaffing thrives when remote software developers are given freedom. And open communication is crucial. Working remotely requires extra clear communication. That’s why our remote developers receive internal – originally native English – and external communication training and lessons in business English. This enables us to cover the entire communication process.

This is how we work with a remote development team at CC.Talent

How we build a software development team at CC.Talent in a nutshell:

1. Skillset determination > Based on the requirements, we search for suitable software developers.
2. Intake project > Together with our account managers in NL we discuss specific project needs and requirements.
3. Introducing the team > Meet the remote team or the software developer, and agree on the desired working method together.
4. Daily progress > Working together means communicating. That’s why our developers share daily updates on progress.
5. Partner Manager > a dedicated Partner Manager will stay close to you and keep track on how things are moving forward

 Does your business have a development job planned, and could you use the help of a remote development team? Experience for yourself what a relief outstaffing can be.