Blockchain Development Outsourcing Services: How to hire the right development company?
Recently, blockchain has become one of the most talked-about topics in the technology world, thanks to the huge upsurge in the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Blockchain technology provides a convenient way for users to carry out online transactions. However, beyond the purpose of crypto value investing, blockchain technology also offers various benefits for businesses – including the high-level of security it provides for digital transactions – and being used by large corporates across industries, transforming the way business data is stored and accessed.
Overview
Today, the matter at hand is no longer if blockchain technology can evolve and be applied beyond the purpose of crypto-currency development, but more about how blockchain can be implemented across businesses. Businesses organizations in various industries from financial services, logistics, manufacturing, food and beverage, etc. are all seeking to execute their digital transformation and automating initiatives, and many have turned to offshore IT outsourcing for assistance with their technical implementation, including blockchain development.
Even though outsourcing can offer many benefits to businesses, finding the right Blockchain outsourcing partner can be quite a challenge – especially considering blockchain development is still relatively new compared to other technologies.
Generally speaking, when considering outsourcing vendors, customer companies will have to look at their technical capabilities and experiences, engagement models offered, as well as services provided. In this article, we examine a number of important factors that help businesses to select the best suitable outsourcing partner for their blockchain project.
How to hire the right blockchain development company?
#1 Choosing skilled blockchain developers
For starters, the qualified blockchain developers hired should have a thorough understanding of Blockchain principles and practices and how they can be applied in specific business circumstances to drive growth.
And when it comes to blockchain development, one of the common misunderstandings people usually have is that blockchain-based applications are developed using some cryptic programming language. In reality, many blockchain-based solutions were actually developed using various popular programming languages such as: C++, C#, Scala, Python, Java, Javascript, Golang, and Solidity, etc. (with the exception of Solidity, which is an object-oriented, high-level language for implementing smart contracts [1].)
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Hence, in essence, hiring a blockchain development company can be quite similar to hiring a software development company – with a few important distinctions. Understanding such key distinctions will allow companies to find the right technology development partner for their projects.
Ideally, the blockchain development company must be highly proficient and experienced in all or the majority of the above-mentioned programming languages. Equally important, in order to develop a commercially-viable distributed ledger technology solution, or any other kinds of decentralized applications, the development team from Blockchain Company also needs to possess other specific skills-set and knowledge that are necessary for blockchain development. For example:
- Blockchain technology (platforms, frameworks, etc.)
- Blockchain consensus algorithms (e.g. Proof of work, Proof of stake, etc.)
- Cryptography (asymmetric, symmetric, hash functions, etc.)
- Distributed ledgers
- Decentralized Application & Smart Contract Development
- Ethereum virtual machine (EVM)
- Security and encryption
- Data Structure
- Networking systems
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Software as a service (SaaS)
- Web development technologies
Also, the outsourcing team needs to demonstrate a solid understanding and specific domain knowledge for the development and delivery of business software solutions, particularly Fintech ones.
#2 Engagement Models
There are quite a number of choices when it comes to blockchain development outsourcing services. Each model has its own pros and cons and should be chosen according to the development budget as well as business requirements and technologies need. Understanding each model will allow companies to allocate adequate resources for development and avoid any potential misunderstanding when outsourcing. Here are some of the most popular ones:
- Fixed Price Contract
With this model, customer companies will agree in advance, with a fixed price, for the development of their blockchain project. Here, this project-based engagement model does not rely on how much time and resources needed to complete the project, but follow a direct timeline of predefined milestone for development. Therefore, the fixed cost contract model is more suitable for companies with budget limitation or seek to develop their blockchain project as a one-time thing.
The drawback of this model is that customers companies are restricted to only a certain number of changes once development has begun. Any further changes may be treated as separate work and subject to budget approval.
This model is more suitable for companies that seek to extend their in-house development capacities by hiring a qualified team of developers, project managers, QA and testers, and more that remain solely working for the customer companies. Under the dedicated team model, customer companies usually have full control of the dedicated team which allows them to develops a growing knowledge base of customers’ products – specifically the blockchain-based solutions or blockchain-based applications – thus can operate as an extension and work alongside the in-house team.
In addition, this outsourcing collaboration model will be an ideal fit for blockchain projects that need long-term support, maintenance, and progressive development work that are expected to be flexible and easily scale.
- Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)
The Accelerated Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) collaborating model is an excellent fit for companies that looking to apply blockchain technology to their business vertical over a period of time, with an expectation of making a full commitment in the near future. Under this model, the offshore blockchain development company provides arrangement to establish an R&D infrastructure that their meet clients’ need and operates the team for a certain period of time. In time, the entire project and ownership of the development team and facilities are transferred back to the client, eventually becoming a subsidiary of the client organization.
However, before contacting a blockchain development services provider for outsourcing the development project, it’s important that companies understand whether blockchain technology is suitable to solve their existing business requirements. For example, for businesses that place a high priority on the speed of online transactions, then blockchain might not exactly be the most suitable solution.
Once companies have fully realized all the pros and cons of using the technology, then they can choose the outsourcing collaboration model that is aligned to the business’s needs.
Conclusion:
Blockchain technology is here to stay, companies in various industries ranging from manufacturing to Fintech, and eCommerce have been turning to Blockchain technology to store business data, accessed, and put them into use.
Even though blockchain technology is still somewhat at a developing stage, this new technology can provide endless opportunities for businesses, especially to the early adopters. In order to capitalize on these early opportunities, companies can either build their own in-house IT team who will have the necessary skills and experience with Blockchain development – or hire a blockchain development company to develop their distributed ledger technology project.
Side-notes:
Contact TP&P Technology today for your blockchain development requirements. Whether it’s decentralized applications, crypto-currency-related product development, our team of proficient blockchain developers with hands-on experience will help to transform your ideas into life, ensuring high quality while staying within budget.
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