Entrepreneurs and agencies are increasingly tempted by the prospect of significant savings, but finding an offshore location to build apps, websites and other tech products is not easy.
Selecting a country that offers affordable software development is a complex decision that any entrepreneur must take very seriously. Much of the decision is a personal one, based on business needs but also the preferred working style and individual circumstances of the person.
We recently spoke with an Australian tech entrepreneur about his decision process.
Insight from a Tech Entrepreneur
After completing an initial round of product development in Australia, this established tech entrepreneur had been on an 8-week study tour across Asia to investigate a short-list of countries that seemed appropriate.
The personal reflections of this entrepreneur included:
- Thailand: While technical skills in Thailand can be good, wages are comparatively high and labour turnover can be a real issue. In addition, Thailand faces ongoing challenges to political stability, particularly in light of the recent death of the King .
- Ukraine: While technical skills in Ukraine can be very good, political instability and the difference in time zone were considerable barriers.
- China: Labour supply is good in China, but wages have risen considerably over the past decade, protection of intellectual property remains difficult and culturally there remains a practice where it is common to hold 3-4 jobs.
- India: Labour supply is good in India, as is the level of English, but the barriers from the working culture and education system are considerable. India has encouraged an approach of copying, rather than developing from scratch, and this was a considerable issue for the programming needs of this specific entrepreneur.
- Indonesia: Technical skills are not as strong in other countries. In addition, Indonesia has had a challenging relationship with Australia in recent years, and this can impact the employer-employee relationship.
- The Philippines: Although the time difference is minimal between the east cost of Australia and Manila, technical programming skills are not as strong in other countries. The overall level of expertise available in the Philippine labour market was limited compared to other locations.
- Vietnam: Vietnam offered solid technical skills and a strong working culture, in combination with very high levels of political stability. Wages are around 40% lower than in India and China. In addition, the time difference was only slightly higher than that between east-coast Australia and Manila, and travel time was better than many other locations being considered.
Affordable Software Development in Vietnam
For this entrepreneur, Vietnam made sense as a preferred location for affordable software development. It was rapid and cost-effective to implement a remote team in Vietnam through Metasource. The team spanned project managers, developers and testers, in addition to a designer and administration. This entrepreneur has been highly successful, refining the product, securing clients, becoming profitable and raising capital on the basis of a multi-million dollar valuation.
This is the kind of story that is seeing Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City recognised as one of the emerging startup hubs in the world. Check out this great write-up published by Virgin! We’re passionate believers that Vietnam can work for your own offshore software development team and should be at the top of any list for affordable software development.
