- Software Outsourcing
- Cost
- Man-month
- B2B
When outsourcing development, B2B companies are often overwhelmed by quotes that differ several fold, without understanding why. This whitepaper breaks down the components that make up the cost of an enterprise software project, so you can budget from structure rather than guesswork.
Why quotes vary so much
For the same brief, two vendors can quote several times apart. The difference is not greed, it is the assumptions about architecture, scope and staffing level. Understanding these three factors lets you compare apples to apples.
Three factors that drive contract value
1. Architectural complexity
A simple monolith is far cheaper than a high availability distributed system. When the requirement demands high availability and many integrations, a Microservices architecture in Python and C# with the Apache Kafka message broker for asynchronous processing becomes necessary, which adds design and testing time. In return, a clean architecture lowers long term operating cost (OpEx): fewer incidents, easier scaling, no rewrite when load grows.
2. Scope and deliverables
Scope drives volume. A lean MVP to validate the market is very different from a custom ERP or CRM integrated deep into operations. Clearly separating the phase one core features from future expansion keeps the budget on target.
3. Resource pricing model
Most projects price by man-month or Dedicated Team. A man-month is the cost of one full time person for one month; total cost is roughly the man-month rate times the number of people times the number of months. A full Dedicated Team includes a PM, a Solutions Architect, senior developers and QA/Testers. Engineering rates in Vietnam run about 30 to 50% lower than Singapore or Japan at the same seniority, while source code quality stays at international standard through mandatory code review and automated testing.
Market data
According to Gartner, worldwide IT spending keeps rising, and software is one of the fastest growing segments of the enterprise budget as organizations pour investment into core systems and digital platforms. In that context, optimizing execution cost without lowering quality becomes a competitive advantage, which is why many companies choose a software outsourcing company in Vietnam as their execution center.
A budget optimization roadmap
Optimization is not picking the cheapest option. It is locking the phase one scope, choosing an architecture sized for real load, and using a Dedicated Team at the right seniority. A cheap B2B software development project that leaves technical debt inflates operating cost later by more than the initial saving.
OKAXI quotes against the real scope and proposes the right team size after an assessment, so the number you receive reflects true value rather than a guess.