The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing MVP Development: What You Need to Know
MVP development is key to shaping your product. You will know how your product will look, feel and function when you create a minimum viable product. It will be the basic version, offer the functionality and allow your users to use it.
You can answer the chances of success when you invest in MVP solutions. There are various reasons why mobile apps fail. Here is a chart that showcases the top reasons.
The MVP will give you proper market insights, help you learn about the audience, and prepare the app for success. Most businesses have successfully turned towards MVP to build their software applications.
There are a few others who aren’t sure if they should adopt the MVP route. We have listed the pros and cons of building MVP to help you determine if the path is suited for success. So, let’s dive into the world of MVP.
What is MVP Development?
The MVP or minimum viable product development is the process of creating a product with basic minimum features. It signals the interest of the users in the product. It also ensures a strong base of early adopters and a defined product roadmap.
You will get to release your product idea into the market before your competition. It gives you a slight edge that will help you evolve, scale, grow and transform.
You can even test the product idea and see if people are willing to invest in it in the long run. These things will help you build a customer base, and retention strategy and increase conversions.
MVP vs Prototype: What is the difference?
Is MVP different from prototype development? Would you consider them differently when working on your upcoming software idea?
MVP is a fully functional product with minimum features. On the other hand, the prototype is a simulated software solution created to help understand the product's usability. Here are some core differences between the two.
Pros and Cons of MVP Development
Let’s look at all the reasons why you need to invest in MVP development for your product idea.
The Advantages of MVP Development
Here are all the reasons why you should go with MVP development for your next business idea.
1. Faster Time-to-market
When you have an interesting idea, the itch to go into the market before others is on the high. You want to check if users would be interested, and how they react to this idea. You are excited to know if people would love the idea and what feedback they are likely to share.
If you try to build an entire product, it may take a long while. However, with MVP development, you can translate your idea into a product and launch it into the market. This ensures your product is ready for the market before anyone else can consider it.
2. Affordable Method
Think of delivering a product for iOS, Android and other platforms after building all the complex features. You would have invested a lot of resources, time and even effort into creating the application. What happens when people fail to accept your product after release? It will lead to failure and a lot of losses.
On the other hand, you can create an MVP using low-code or no-code tools. You don’t need resources or active participation in the development. You can build for multiple platforms and release them simultaneously.
A single MVP gives you enough material to gain feedback, access the market and learn from users. It is one of the most cost-effective ways of translating your idea into a product and learning from users.
3. Easy to Pivot
A business idea that doesn’t meet the customer’s requirements may need to pivot. Had you built a complete product and considered pivoting, it can be time and resource-consuming. However, it is easier on your pockets and minds if you are working on pivoting after the MVP development. You would be able to sail the sea successfully.
If your idea doesn’t require the current roadmap or path, you can easily move it in another direction. This is why you should opt for MVP development before going full-fledged with product development.
4. Incorporate Feedbacks Easily
When you are working with MVP development, you would notice that it is easier to incorporate the feedback into your system. You can easily acknowledge the customer’s demands, add it to your product and build it with great flexibility.
The software team would know what the customers need, and offer the appropriate solutions. This can enhance your speed and accuracy in terms of delivering quality solutions.
5. Bolsters Relationships
When you are working with customers directly, you are able to build a stronger bond with them. MVP allows you to be in direct contact with customers, build stronger relationships and grow faster.
It gives your business a better understanding of what your customer needs, stay connected to them and offer the right solutions.
The Disadvantages of MVP Development
There is a flip side to MVP development. Here are all the things that suggest MVP development can be tedious for the team.
1. Feedback and Revisions
As soon as you receive feedback from the customers, you need to revise the product. You will be continuously reworking the product based on the suggestions from the customers. This would be a time-consuming affair. At the same time, you need to stay vigilant about the customer’s expectations and offer valid solutions.
2. Create the MVP Properly
If you want feedback from the customers, you need to ensure you developed the MVP properly. This would include checking for all sorts of issues and defining the target early on.
You need to define the entire work scope. It will also ensure you haven’t missed much while creating the MVP roadmap for the product.
Why Outsource MVP Development?
While it is feasible to build MVP in-house using several tools, you might want to consider outsourcing it. Here are a few reasons why outsourcing is a good idea.
1. Skilled Resources
One of the basic advantages of outsourcing is the accessibility to a skilled team. You would have someone who understands MVP development, the ideal roadmap and the perfect strategies on your team. They would use the apt tools and technologies to construct the MVP from your app idea.
They can easily connect the dots to build a viable product that can be extended and scaled to the next level.
2. Faster Development
With a non-tech background and loads of no-code tools, you can obviously create a good MVP for your business. however, it can take a few hours from your business. it can also slow down the development as your sole focus is not MVP. However, if you outsource the development, you will notice that the launch time is accelerated.
If you were to launch after a month, they would help launch the same product within 10 days. This acceleration can help you move into the market before anyone else.
3. Low Development Cost
When you build an MVP before the product, you keep the costs low. They would use minimum time and basic features to release the application. This means your cost of development would go down substantially. If you notice an increase in early adopters, you can consider a good return for the low cost.
4. Better Technical Understanding
By outsourcing to the MVP development team, you will notice that they are proficient with the latest technologies and services. this helps them enable your MVP in the right direction.
If they are stuck with some feature or facing error situations, they can easily debug and identify the problem. their technical knowledge can get them out of any situation, and lead to less waste of time.
Tips to Outsource MVP Software Development
It is very important to plan MVP outsourcing in a more defined way to attain success. Here, we will look at a few tips that should help outsource your project.
1. Define the Scope
While this is elementary, it is important to reiterate this bit. By adding the scope properly, you can enhance the learning of the developers. This would help them realize the things they have to build for the application.
You should also define what is part of the scope and what’s not while writing it down.
2. Experts for the Job
One of the biggest considerations while outsourcing is hiring the right people. You should always look at experts in the profession to help you with the job. You should consider hiring people proficient with MVP development, the technologies used and other aspects before you go ahead and outsource.
3. Budget of the Project
This might again seem elementary. However, how many times have you overspent because your budget and scope didn’t match? This is a rudimentary mistake that you should avoid. Make sure to estimate the costs properly.
It is equally important to ensure you have estimated for all the scope-related elements. Don’t leave out even a bit of the scope for later.
4. Resource Availability
Whether it is the IDE, the cloud services or people, you may not have them. However, the companies or teams that work towards MVP development would have the infrastructure and resources. This can help accelerate development.
If you planned to develop the MVP in-house, you would end up spending a lot of time and money. You must hire the resources and plan for the infrastructure. This can be avoided when you are working with the MVP development teams.
5. Compliances
As you would be sharing a lot of heavy data with the team, it is important to maintain compliance. You should ensure there are enough protocols that determine the data privacy and other policies important for the data exchange. You should also sign bonds and other documents before you begin sharing the data.
6. Communication Protocol
There should be a well-defined protocol on how the people within the team would communicate with the clients. It would help you resolve all the bottlenecks in time and ensure that the roles are established. Having a single point of contact and perfect channels for communication can enable your business.
Conclusion
MVP development should be your first step to product creation. Without an MVP you shouldn’t venture into the product development zone as it can add to costs.
The MVP will give you an idea into how people react to the app idea, their needs and the product roadmap. It is ideal to outsource your MVP development to a professional so that you get a faster launch and an engaging app.
Expert App Devs is a leading MVP development company. We help businesses gain feedback, scale the product and grow organically. Connect with our team for an interactive and intuitive MVP development.
Jignen Pandya
Vice President at Expert App Devs
Responsible for creating a sales funnel, attracting top-of-the-funnel customers, and converting the target market.
