Software Development Outsourcing

We run the whole software function end-to-end: discovery, design, architecture, build, ship, maintain. You bring the business problem, we bring the people, the process and the accountability for the outcome.

What Outsourcing Delivers

• Single Point of Accountability: Outsourcing is the model when you don't want to manage software at all. You don't have a CTO, or you have one but their plate is already full of other things, or you have decided that this product line is not worth building an internal engineering team around. We take the function, run it, and report on outcomes (features shipped, bugs fixed, uptime, NPS), not on hours billed. The biggest difference versus a fixed-price project is scope: outsourcing is open-ended and outcome-driven (we keep building, fixing and improving for as long as the contract runs); fixed price is one-shot, defined-scope, defined-deadline.
• Discovery, Design, Build, Run: We cover every phase: user discovery interviews and product strategy, UX/UI, software architecture, backend, frontend, mobile, DevOps, QA, observability and 24/7 on-call. You do not have to assemble multiple vendors.
• Outcome-Based Reporting: Every month you get a one-page report: what shipped, what KPIs moved, what bugs are still open, where the budget went. We don't hide behind hour logs: we tell you whether the product got better and by how much.
• Pick This If You Want to Delegate the Function: Outsourcing is right when you want to hand off the entire software responsibility for a long horizon. If you have a single well-defined project with a hard deadline and don't expect ongoing iteration, fixed-price is more efficient. If you have your own engineering team and just need extra hands, staff augmentation fits better.
• Change Requests Without Drama: Roadmaps shift. New regulations land. A competitor ships a feature you have to match. With outsourcing on a monthly retainer, change requests are free: they just compete with everything else for sprint capacity. We don't add line items for every small change.
• 24/7 On-Call Included: On the larger retainers, on-call rotation, incident response, status page management and post-mortem writing are part of the package. You do not get woken up at 3 AM because a database fell over.

How We Build Your Outsourcing

1. Business Discovery (Paid, 2-3 weeks): A senior consultant and a senior architect spend 2-3 weeks with you mapping the business, the users, the constraints and the existing tech. Output: a written discovery doc, an architecture proposal, a 12-month roadmap and a budget envelope. This phase is paid (€8,000-€15,000) and is delivery even if you decide not to continue.
2. Engagement Structure: Based on discovery we propose a structure: monthly retainer (most common, 6-12 month commitments) or T&M with monthly cap (when scope is genuinely uncertain). We avoid pure T&M without a cap: it punishes you for our slowness.
3. Team Build-Out: We assemble the team for the engagement: usually a delivery lead, a senior architect, 2-4 engineers, a UX/UI designer, a part-time PM and DevOps capacity. You meet the people. You can reject anyone who is not a fit.
4. First Release in 4 Weeks: Sprint 0 is setup, environments, CI/CD, observability. Sprint 1-2 ship the first user-facing release, even if small. We don't disappear for three months and then surface with a big-bang launch.
5. Monthly Steering Committee: A 60-minute steering call once a month with you and our delivery lead: roadmap, KPIs, risks, budget, escalations. This is where strategic decisions happen. Day-to-day decisions are taken by the delivery lead without bothering you.
6. Renewal or Transition Out: Most clients renew annually for years. If you ever want to bring development in-house, we run a 60-90 day transition: documented architecture, runbooks, ADRs, code walk-throughs, and shadowing of your new hires. We don't make leaving painful.

High-performance stack used by global leaders

React/Next.js/Angular on the frontend and Java 21 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL 14 on the backend: the same stack that BBVA, ING, and Netflix use for their security and performance.

Outsourcing: FAQ

How is outsourcing different from a fixed-price project?

A fixed-price project has defined scope, defined deadline, defined price. It's one-shot. You hand over a spec, we hand over a finished thing. Outsourcing is open-ended: we run the whole product function for months or years, with continuous iteration, on a monthly retainer. Pick fixed price when scope is well-understood and won't change. Pick outsourcing when you need ongoing capacity, the roadmap will evolve, and you don't want to manage software internally.

What's the typical contract length?

Initial commitment is 12 months. After that, 12-month auto-renewals with 60-day non-renewal notice. Median client tenure is 4 years; our longest current outsourcing relationship is in year 7.

How does pricing work?

Two main shapes. (1) Monthly retainer based on team composition: typical mid-sized retainer is €35,000-€60,000/month for a 4-6 person team plus delivery lead and partial DevOps. (2) T&M with monthly cap: same team rates, but you only pay for hours actually worked up to a cap we agree each month, useful when scope is uncertain. Discovery phase is always paid up front (€8,000-€15,000). We never charge a setup fee on top of the retainer.

What is the minimum commitment?

12 months on the build retainer, plus the paid 2-3 week discovery up front. Below 12 months we cannot honestly load-balance a senior architect and a delivery lead onto the project, and the model breaks down. If your need is shorter than that, look at fixed-price or staff augmentation.

How fast can we start?

Discovery starts within 1 week of signed discovery agreement. Build phase starts 1 week after discovery finishes. Total from first call to engineers actually committing code: 5-6 weeks. We do not skip discovery: projects that skip it almost always blow up by month 4.

How do you stay aligned without us being there every day?

Three habits. (1) A monthly steering call where strategic direction gets confirmed or corrected. (2) A weekly written status (what shipped, what is next, blockers, KPIs) sent to your inbox every Friday. (3) A shared Slack channel where the delivery lead is responsive within 4 working hours. The day-to-day product decisions are delegated to our delivery lead within boundaries we agree at the steering committee.

How do change requests work?

Inside the monthly retainer, change requests don't generate extra invoices: they compete with everything else for sprint capacity. We re-prioritize the backlog with you each sprint. The only time a change request triggers a separate quote is if it requires expanding the team (e.g. you ask us to start a parallel mobile app on top of the web product). That goes through a written change order with new monthly capacity and pricing.

What happens to the code if we want to leave?

Code lives in your GitHub or GitLab from day one and you own it outright. Transition out is a 60-90 day phase included in the contract: ADRs, runbooks, architecture diagrams, code walk-throughs, and shadowing of any internal hires you bring in to take over. We have run several of these transitions and the receiving teams have always come out productive.

How do escalations work?

Two paths. Operational escalation (a sprint is going off the rails, a feature is at risk) goes through the delivery lead and is resolved within 48 hours. Strategic escalation (the engagement itself feels off) goes to me directly. Every Alher Tech outsourcing client has my personal number and I respond within one business day, no exceptions.

Do you work with clients globally?

Yes. We work fully remote with clients across Spain, Europe, the US and LATAM. Time zones, video calls and live demos at every milestone.