Offshore Artificial Intelligence Developers: The Ultimate Guide

ChatGPT had 1 million users within five days of launch. Twitter hit the same mark in roughly 24 months. Facebook took ten months, and Instagram took about 2.5 months to get a million users. What ChatGPT did is unprecedented as this trend reflects user’s adoption and readiness for Artificial Intelligence.

You can’t rule out AI being a big part of our lives now. In fact, over 64% of business owners believe AI will improve customer relationships. Businesses that fail to adapt risk falling behind, a situation we can liken to the “Nokia Fallacy.”

If you have considered moving towards AI, you will need developers to incorporate the technology into your existing systems. The best way to do this is to hire offshore artificial intelligence developers, and we will show you how to find and choose the right one. 

What is Offshore AI Development?

When companies hire tech teams from other countries to provide AI solutions, it is termed offshore AI development. This method enables these companies to access global talents to create advanced AI projects. Companies can use the expertise of these developers globally without the need to hire them in-house. This way, they can cut costs and bring diverse skills for more innovative AI projects.

5 Benefits of Hiring Offshore AI Developers

The benefits of hiring offshore AI developers are numerous, but we have limited them to the best five. These benefits should be compelling enough for you to consider hiring an offshore developer.

1. Faster Time to Market

Business is a competition, and no business wants to stay under the shadow of another. To lead, you need to be quick at setting trends. An offshore software development team helps you get your product out faster ahead of your competitors, since they are usually experienced in this grind and don’t need extra training or time to settle in. They can begin working right away.

2. Global Talents

When a company decides to hire in-house, it is often limited by the pool of candidates available. Because the candidates are confined to a specific area, there are not nearly enough diverse skills available to choose from, so the possibility of finding experts in their preferred field is limited. Not forgetting that salaries in the said region may be too high for the company to hire from. 

However, if a company is open to remote working, it can broaden its options. If candidates from other countries are considered,  the company can access a more extensive and more diverse group of professionals. This allows them to find and hire offshore artificial intelligence developers, allowing them to choose the best talent worldwide.

3. Reduced Overhead Cost

One way for businesses to cut costs is to reduce overhead costs. An excellent way to do this is to hire offshore artificial intelligence developers. Offshore developers often charge lower hourly rates as labour costs may vary depending on location. 

If you find the right offshore development team that meets your needs, you can get quality work done despite your limited budget. Funds freed up can then be redirected to other departments for efficient use. 

4. Reducing Liabilities and Increasing Work Efficiency

When a company needs to employ new staff, they spend time, money, and effort onboarding the new team member.

But what happens when the new guy isn’t fit for the role? Or when they decide to try their luck somewhere else? 

All resources spent on onboarding them go to waste. 

When the company hires offshore developers, these concerns become less of an issue. The risks involved are much lower, and you won’t have as many responsibilities tied to these hires. Resources you would have used for your in-house team can be redirected to other important projects.

You will save a lot of resources and improve your company’s overall productivity. Working with offshore developers often follows a time-and-materials (T&M) model, where payment is based on hours worked, and you receive regular updates.

5. Scale Your Team On-demand

When business markets change, businesses must also change to remain profitable. Companies need a certain amount of flexibility to keep up with these market changes. This flexibility becomes possible if you work with an offshore development team.

You gain the ability to adjust your team’s size by expanding or reducing the team, bringing in specialized experts when necessary, and getting started on specific tasks quickly without much waiting. 

This adaptability is particularly beneficial when you’re looking to scale your business.

Offshore software developers give you a real edge over competitors because you can simply tell the service provider when you need more or fewer resources, and they’ll adjust for you.

3 Challenges in Offshore AI Development

Even though offshore AI developers’ praises have been sung through and through, they come with some challenges. Here are some of these challenges and tips on how to overcome them:

1. Poor Communication

Things can quickly go wrong if communication is not well handled initially. Communication is a common issue when working with an offshore development team.

Your project may face unnecessary delays and costly mistakes when communication with your offshore team isn’t smooth, which can become frustrating and expensive. you might not fully benefit from the knowledge and skills that the team brings if the communication isn’t up to par.

To avoid these issues, think ahead and tackle any possible communication problems before the team begins working on your project. Set clear and straightforward communication rules and ensure the team feels comfortable reaching out if they need help or clarification. 

You’re more likely to start your project on the right path if you do this. 

2. Low quality standards

A central issue with offshore development is low-quality work. If the company you choose to work with isn’t the right fit, this can go very badly for you. Poor software quality is a significant issue, leading to enormous financial losses—U.S. companies alone lose around $2.42 trillion yearly. 

Taking too long to address problems in your software will cost you financially because the cost to fix a bug discovered after launch can be as much as 100 times higher compared to fixing it earlier in the development process, in other terms the Technical debt.

For this reason, have strong QA practices from the beginning. Also, ensure the offshore team you’re working with fully understands these standards. 

3. Lack of Agility

Agile methods are recognized as a top choice in software development. They do make a difference—in fact, projects using Agile methods tend to be about 28% more successful than those that stick with older, traditional methods.

Agile methods, such as Scrum or Kanban, focus on teamwork and making progress in small, manageable steps. Yet, managing these methods can be tricky, especially when your team is working from a remote location far away.

Despite the difficulties, it’s not impossible to make it work. You must adjust your Agile approach to suit working with a global team.

In the end, the benefits you gain from this effort are definitely worth it.

How to Choose the Right Offshore AI Development Partner?

AI software development can be costly. A little mistake, such as hiring the wrong partner, can cost you money and time. Do your due diligence before making any commitment. We have outlined in 4 simple steps, how to choose the right offshore development partner.

Step 1. Clearly define your goals and requirements

Take some time to think about your goals and what you need before you search for the right offshore AI development company to work with. Offshore artificial intelligence developers might struggle to meet your expectations without a clear idea of what you want to create.

To get started, consider asking yourself a few key questions:

• What do we hope to achieve with our product in the long run?
• What features should our product include?
• What kind of team will we require?

At this stage, these are just initial thoughts, and you’ll need to validate them later to ensure your idea is realistic. It’s always helpful to begin by setting clear goals that you want to reach.

After that, you should think about the features your product should have. It’s a good idea to focus on the essential features of your MVP.

2. Choose the collaboration model you need

This step will help you understand the kind of offshore development team you require before you build an offshore team for AI.

When choosing, you can take two main paths—hiring an extended team or opting for a dedicated team. 

If your goal is to fill in specific skill gaps or to quickly add more hands to your existing team, then hiring an extended team, also known as team augmentation, might be the right move for you.

This approach is particularly helpful if you’re having difficulty finding the right experts locally, such as:

• Offshore AI developers
• An offshore AI engineer
• An offshore ML engineer

But if you’re starting a project from scratch, hiring a dedicated team could be the better choice. A dedicated team operates just like your in-house team but is put together by an external agency or service provider. The right company will provide a dedicated team as invested in your product as if they were part of your own team.

3. Search and shortlist offshore software development companies

Let’s find offshore development companies together.

You can review their work on platforms like:

• Google
• LinkedIn
• B2B websites like Clutch and Goodfirms

Start your search with the right keywords. A reason is if you search “offshore software development” via Google, you’ll have overwhelming results, most of which might not be relevant to what you’re looking for.

For better relevant results, narrow your options and be as specific as possible. Assuming you want to develop a mobile app, try searching for something like “how to hire a mobile app agency.” The results will be more  accurate this way.

Based on the search results, you can now shortlist top companies that seem like a good match for what you’re looking for. After that, look at their reviews on the B2B portals like Clutch and Goodfirms, as mentioned earlier.

Reviews are especially helpful because they give you a real sense of what it’s like to work with these companies. The companies can’t alter these reviews. They are genuine and verified, so you can trust that what you’re reading reflects the actual experiences of past clients.

3. Read their case studies

Review case studies by shortlisted companies next. Case studies can provide insight into whether a company is experienced in handling your project successfully.

Choose a company that is experienced with a product similar to the one you have in mind. They would already have some knowledge of the market you’re aiming for and a good idea of what your users might need, which could make the collaboration process smoother.

However, this raises an important question: how do you identify a quality case study?

A well-done case study will provide information about a few key areas, explaining the specific problem the company addressed for its client. It will also discuss how it approached and resolved the issue, the team and technology it employed, and the overall impact its solution had.

If you come across case studies that are unclear and filled with generic phrases, it’s an indication that this company might not be the right one for you.

4. Sign a contract and kick off the project

Last, you should sign a contract before starting your project. Before you do, you’ll need to ensure everyone knows what the team will be working on. Use a Statement of Work or SOW to ensure this.

It is a document that outlines everything the team will be responsible for during the project and clearly states what is expected of them. This prevents any confusion or misunderstandings later on.

Discuss the project pricing model in addition to the SOW. You can choose between a fixed price and a time and materials model. Just a quick piece of advice: the time and materials model often turns out to be the better option. This approach aligns the payment for the work done, making it a fairer choice for everyone involved.

After you’ve settled on the SOW and the pricing model, you can sign a formal contract with the company. You’ll officially have your offshore development team in place, and you can begin your project once done.

Cost of Hiring Offshore AI Development Engineers

It is no surprise that India is one of the first places that comes to mind when one thinks about offshore software development. After all, the country has a huge number of software engineers—more than 5.2 million. Because of this large pool of talent, India has become one of the leading places in the world for offshore development.

Because of so many skilled workers available, hiring them is generally quite affordable. However, this also means that the quality of work can vary quite a bit depending on which company you choose. So, be careful when selecting an offshore development partner.

What to expect in terms of costs for different roles in offshore development in India:

• Software engineer: US$15-35 per hour
• Solution architect: US$30-50 per hour
• UX/UI designer: US$20-40 per hour
• Project manager: US$25-50 per hour

Why Choose ScaleupAlly for AI Offshore Outsourcing?

We offer flexible engagement models, fair pricing, and a strong focus on keeping your data safe to deliver new solutions. Our comprehensive services and dedication to continuous improvement ensure that your AI projects produce tangible results for your business.

Key benefits include:

• Cost-effective solutions
• Global talent access
• Rapid time-to-market
• Data security and compliance
• Proven track record

Let ScaleupAlly be the reliable partner you need to realize the full potential of AI for your business.

Conclusion

Hiring offshore AI developers can accelerate innovation and give a boost to your business. Understand what your project requires and choose a dependable partner. You can access a worldwide network of talented professionals by doing so. This could be the first step in bringing your AI ideas to life.