Market leaders adopt IoT and cloud to remain competitive in the new, contactless reality. But where to look for a reliable IoT app development partner and how to choose the one that can meet your specific business needs? Find the answers to these and other questions in the guide.
Let’s start with the benefits of partnering with an IoT app development company.
Why outsource IoT app development?
The industries that leverage IoT most are automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare, telecom, etc. That spurs the demand for IoT specialists, who are thin on the ground. And many companies, especially in the UK and the USA, struggle to hire embedded developers on-site. There are two major reasons for that: talent shortage and high cost of services. For example, as of January 2021, companies in the US need to fill in 46,700 vacancies for C/C++ developers.
There are not enough skilled professionals in the USA and the UK to satisfy the market need. IoT Signals report by Microsoft states that 47% of surveyed businesses do not have enough embedded developers to implement IoT solutions.
Such an appetite for IoT makes embedded developers highly wanted in the labor market and makes their rates go up. For instance, an embedded developer makes around $45,363 a year in the UK and $87,621 in the USA, according to Glassdoor.
That's why many companies, from startups to Fortune 100 leaders, choose to partner with a nearshore or offshore IoT app development company. That allows them to tap into a global talent pool while reducing costs.
However, there are many outsourcing destinations. We will view some of them in more detail to help you make an informed decision.
Where to outsource IoT app development?
There are many aspects you should consider while choosing an IoT app development company.
Where to look for an IoT app development company?
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IoT app development in Eastern Europe
When it comes to IoT app development, Eastern Europe is an alluring outsourcing destination. Western and Northern European countries often choose IoT app development companies from Ukraine, Poland, Romania, etc., as their outsourcing partners.
There are many reasons for this: vast talent pool, strong expertise, and cost-effectiveness, to name a few. Let’s view the reasons in more detail.
Eastern Europe houses 170,000 C/C++ developers, according to LinkedIn. Also, Eastern European companies offer extensive expertise in the cloud, which is essential for IoT app development. Well-established IoT app development companies, including N-iX, partner with AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, which allows benefiting most from their cloud offerings. Moreover, the region is home to experienced big data specialists who can help you collect and analyze the data generated by IoT devices and sensors.
For example, a telecom company (under NDA) has partnered with N-iX to develop an IoT Data Processing Platform that collects data from multiple IoT sources. The platform allows internal users and third parties to build customized data pipelines, export data in a convenient format, and prepare actionable predictions and reports.
Poland and Ukraine are two Eastern European countries with the most significant number of IoT experts. So, we will view them in more detail.
IoT app development in Ukraine
Ukraine is home to 192,000 software developers, including 10,000 C/C++ engineers. Local IoT experts boast a strong knowledge of IoT-friendly programming languages: low-level languages (Assembly, C,/C++) and high-level languages for IoT app development (JavaScript, Java, Python, and Node.JS).
The country houses 1,600 tech companies, 18 of which are recognized by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP). This organization annually lists the best outsourcing service providers worldwide.
Strong STEM education in Ukraine ensures constant talent inflow. Ukrainian universities graduate 16,000 ICT students annually.
IoT app development in Poland
According to Clutch, Poland houses 500+ software development providers. However, there are only eleven big vendors (1,000+ employees ) that can help you with IoT app development.
Polish professionals have made it to the top 5 of the best software developers worldwide, according to Skillvalue.
LinkedIn lists around 24,000 C/C++ developers in Poland that can help you with IoT app development.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the selection criteria that will help you choose a trusted IoT app development company.
Key selection criteria for an IoT app development company in 2021
We will focus on IoT-specific selection criteria. To learn more about how to choose the best offshore development partner - check out the article.
1. Assess the tech expertise of your potential IoT app development company
The first aspect that you need to pay attention to is the expertise of your potential IoT development company. Besides strong IoT expertise, which presupposes hardware design, embedded software development, backend, and frontend development, your vendor also needs extensive cloud expertise, experience with edge computing, and mobile app development. You should also choose a company that partners with global cloud providers, such as Google Cloud, AWS, Azure, etc.
When it comes to embedded developers, their qualifications differ depending on projects’ complexity and requirements. Although, typically, they are the following.
Your embedded developers should:
- be familiar with networking technologies (Ethernet, TCP/IP);
- have expertise in IoT hub (AWS, Azure);
- understand microprocessors and microcontroller architectures, as well as different types of protocols (e.g. MQTT, CoAP, XMPP, AMQP, etc.);
- have expertise in General-Purpose Operating Systems (GPOS) and Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS). For instance, Linux, Zephyr, FreeRTOS;
- have advanced knowledge of C/C++. Also, some projects require knowledge of Java, .NET, Python, Javascript, Node.JS.
If you want to build a strong IoT team - check out the article here.
2. Make sure that your vendor has a strong portfolio of IoT projects
A trusted IoT app development company should have a strong portfolio of successful IoT projects in various industries and verified client reviews. You can find this information about your potential IoT app development company on Clutch. co. Also, we recommend researching their websites and LinkedIn accounts.
3. Partner with a vendor that has an established security policy
Increased attention to cybersecurity is now a global IoT trend. According to Aruba Networks, 84% of companies that have adopted IoT have experienced an IoT-related security breach.
To protect your customers, your reputation, and avoid legal claims, you should find a vendor with an established security policy.
You should look for a company that follows procedures and policies to meet your cybersecurity demands. To do so, ask if the vendor complies with international security regulations, such as ISO 27001:2013, PCI DSS, ISO 9001:2015, HIPAA law, etc. Also, make sure that your IoT app development company undertakes recurrent audits (both internal and external) of its compliance with the security standards and policies.
Also, your provider of IoT app development you choose should:
- have a strict password security policy;
- indicate what networks it will use to operate your data;
- have a contract clause that states what happens to the data when your agreement is terminated: if it has been deleted or transferred back to its owner.
Why choose N-iX as your IoT app development company?
- N-iX delivers IoT projects in a vast array of industries, including transportation, manufacturing, energy, telecom, and others.
- We have established long-term partnerships with such global companies as Weinman, Cardo Systems, Locinox and developed IoT solutions for them;
- We offer strong expertise in DevOps, cloud, big data, data science, and more.
- The company is a member of the Amazon Web Services Partner Network and a Google Cloud Platform Partner.
