Outsourcing SaaS Development: How It Works

The numbers speak for themselves. According to Statista, in 2023, revenue from IT outsourcing services is estimated to be $430 billion, and it is projected to be $587 billion by 2027. The growth rate in the field can reach 9%. No doubt, SaaS outsourcing is picking up steam by turning into both a trend and a necessity.

Source: Statista

But before diving into outsourcing waters and starting to look for a tech partner, you may want to learn more about what pros it can bring to the table and what services you can expect from your trusted third-party provider.

That’s why the Wetelo team is here to help. Keep reading to learn the benefits of SaaS development outsourcing, and how SaaS outsourcing works, based on our example.

The main benefits you can get from SaaS development outsourcing

Did you know that many tech unicorns, like Slack, GitHub, and Dropbox collaborate with third-party providers or started their business by outsourcing SaaS development to them? When it comes as a surprise to you, let us tell you that it’s quite a common practice for many industry giants. What’s more, companies that outsource their product development get truly amazing advantages that help them stay ahead of the competition. Let’s see how you can benefit from SaaS development outsourcing.

Lower costs

One of the key benefits of outsourcing, especially for SaaS startups, is a chance to save their resources. Most vendors work on a contract basis, which means that the final project cost will depend on the project's complexity. What’s more, when you collaborate with a reliable vendor, you’ll likely access services without operational expenses or your partner may offer you different pricing plans to fit your personal needs. So, with predictable costs and the ability to choose from different pricing plans, why not?

As an example, at Wetelo, we offer two pricing models: fixed price and time and materials contracts (T&M). If you know exactly what you need, and all expenses are known in advance, then a fixed price for a project will be the best option. If your project is large, and some changes might take place, it’s a good idea to set a T&M price and pay separately for time and materials.

Fixed price benefits:

• More control over the timeline
• No need for the client's active involvement
• Full control over the budget

T&M benefits:

• Flexible to changes
• Easier product optimization
• Increases chances of creating a marketable product
• More control over the development process

Niche tech expertise

Your project requires a particular talent, but you find it hard to find and hire them? Another case when outsourcing SaaS development can become a lifesaver! Product development vendors often have engineers with hard-to-find skills in their teams to address their clients’ needs more effectively. All you have to do is look for a partner who worked on projects similar to yours, and who knows, maybe they have the right talent on board (hint: they do).

At Wetelo, we have an on-point story to tell. Our client was looking to empower their chatbot with a GPT-3 conversational module to recognize users’ emotions and create a worthy alternative to the human coach. Unfortunately, they didn’t have developers with the required expertise, but that’s when they found us - Wetelo had the right talent to meet our client’s demands, so we offered to develop the conversational module right away. As a result, our client’s product became more intelligent and sensitive to users’ needs.

So, when hiring an experienced SaaS outsourcing development team you can get access to rare tech expertise and make your SaaS product truly unique.

Flexible engagement

One of the benefits of outsourcing is flexible engagement which provides much freedom in client-vendor relationships. And if a client has a few options, it will be easier for them to communicate with their outsourcing vendor. For instance, you can put all responsibility for a project on the outsourced team and allow them to build an entire project. Or perhaps, you are looking to hire more qualified software developers to complete your project? If your vendor offers flexible engagement models, then your wish is their command.

Our company offers flexible engagement models too, and it’s up to you what suits you best. For example, we can build your project from start to finish like in the case of a sports streaming platform. When working on that project, our task was to rebuild the solution to improve functionality and user experience and enhance performance. In this case, our team was fully responsible for the project's success, and we nailed it.

To compare, when we worked on the GPT-3 chatbot we mentioned earlier, only a few developers were involved in this project. So, SaaS outsourcing development offers many benefits by providing companies with more freedom of choice and better flexibility. But how does outsourcing work? Hope, Wetelo’s case will help you to understand outsourcing software development in practice.

How Wetelo works with SaaS companies

Wetelo has been operating for more than 13 years in markets of Europe and the USA to modernize businesses with the latest tech to ensure steady growth. We provide companies with expert technical leadership and guidance, build new software products, modernize existing applications, and offer staff augmentation services.

Custom software development

When you want to build an app but don't know where to start, we’re here for you. At Wetelo, we create user-friendly products from scratch using the Agile methodology. What’s more, throughout the product development process, we make improvements to ensure that the final solution meets your client’s specific requirements.

We can start with product discovery to understand what we’re going to do. Then we move to MVP to test whether your solution is market-fit. And when needed, we can also develop a web app as well as a cross-platform mobile app. It all comes down to your goals and needs.

For example, we built a waste collection platform to provide users and suppliers with a chance to quickly get in touch and minimize the time and effort put into calculating the most cost-efficient way to reduce waste. So our client received an MVP that featured an accurate algorithm capable of fully meeting user needs while maintaining a high level of security and speed.

Case Study: Building a Waste Collection Platform for a Zero-Waste Future

“Working with Wetelo was a great experience. They were professional, well organized, and delivered what they said they would on time and to a high standard. It was a complex project for a full stack development of an app and they handled it extremely well. We would have no hesitation in recommending their services.” (Chief Operating Officer at the client’s company)

Application modernization services

Do you feel like your software is outdated or doesn’t fully meet your client’s needs? Application modernization is what you need to fix tech issues and ensure your solution meets your customer's expectations. Application modernization services can bring such benefits as increased scalability and faster deployment, better user experience, and reduced cost of development. See what application modernization services Wetelo can offer.

• Application assessment & tech audit to guide the decision-making process.
• Software re-architecting to ensure better scalability and maintainability and speed up the overall performance of your solution.
• Software reengineering to update your solution and add more advanced features.
• Cloud migration when you’re planning to move your software to SaaS.

One of the relatable cases here would be when we modernized a real-time sports streaming platform. To boost the platform’s performance and ensure high-quality video streaming, we upgraded the solution’s tech stack to Node.js and Nest.js, and also we moved the platform to AWS to achieve greater scalability. As a result, a real-time sports streaming platform became more robust and was able to meet the users’ demands better.

Case Study: Modernizing a Real-Time Sports Streaming Platform

We have been working with the client for more than 10 years as of now, helping them improve their solution and addressing users’ requests.

"They work collaboratively, and I find them to be both personable and professional." (Nikolai Shalovenkov, CEO Checklive)

IT team augmentation

When you are looking to scale your team with vetted SaaS development professionals, consider our IT staff augmentation services. In our team, we have 4 juniors, 12 middle developers, and 6 seniors. Our expertise in JS technologies, and more is a guarantee that you will get highly skilled experts to develop a stunning software solution. If you still doubt, just read our customer’s review.

"The team has been reliable, solid, and professional throughout our engagement." (Co-Founder & CTO, Visual Integration Platform)

CTO as a service

Last but not least, if you want to get expert technical leadership and guidance, our Chief Technology Officer will turn your business idea into a working product. The task of our CTO is to identify and prioritize new projects, evaluate new technologies, and develop a long-term technology strategy for your business development. So we can offer you the following options:

• A full-time CTO to manage your product development process from start to finish
• A fractional CTO to fuel a specific area of your project
• Interim CTO option to ensure technical support
• CTO+our team to take full responsibility for delivering your project from start to finish.

"Their professional management style has made nearshoring very easy." (Godly Stefan, CEO, BetBox)

Looking to outsource your SaaS app development? Trust the matter to Wetelo

Now you know the main benefits of SaaS outsourcing and why many SaaS businesses choose to collaborate with third-party providers. So, what about you? Why do you have to let all these benefits pass by? The time when SaaS development outsourcing was a risky business is long gone – today, all you have to do is study your potential vendors, look at their services and what their clients say about them, and schedule a call to discuss your project details.

Since 2010 Wetelo has completed more than 100 projects, and some client engagements have lasted more than 5 years. Having a 4,9 rating on Clutch, we strive to help our clients develop impeccable products for them to reach the top.

If you are looking for a company to outsource your SaaS development, consider Wetelo. We can turn your idea into a brilliant and unique SaaS app.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SaaS outsourcing?

SaaS outsourcing is a more cost-efficient way to introduce your product to the market that allows you to reduce risks related to development, get access to the right talent, and launch your solution to the market faster. Read more in our article.

What is outsourcing software development?

Outsourcing software development is an organization’s practice when it decides to hire an external software development agency to complete all the tasks of a software development project instead of doing them in-house. Software outsourcing is also about delegating certain business processes to a third-party vendor.

Why outsource SaaS?

It is necessary to outsource SaaS because outside teams are flexible and dynamic and can integrate quickly into your project. Additionally, you can save time and cost for maintaining an in-house team. What’s more, outsourcing allows you to focus on other essential business processes.