Introduction
When it comes to creating a fintech product (e.g., mobile banking apps, fraud detection technologies and/or digital wallets) you will have to consider whether or not to hire an in-house team or partner with another agency that specializes in fintech software development.
Many people believe that this decision is solely based on cost; however, there are many other factors that you will need to take into account when making your choice, such as: the amount of time it will take to build the product; how much control you wish to have over the product development process; how much flexibility you need in your budget; and what kind of longevity you can expect from your new product. In this article we will provide you with an overview of both options, along with examples of how each might fit into your business.
The Two Paths: A Quick Overview
Option 1 – Hire an In-House Team
✔️ You will maintain total control over the project since you will be directly managing all aspects of the project
❌ Hiring an in-house team takes a lot of time and can be difficult (limited workforce) to find qualified developers
Option 2 – Partner With A Fintech Software Development Company
✔️ You will have access to a large pool of potential collaborators; therefore, your team can execute projects quickly and efficiently.
❌ You won’t own your product outright; hence, you will have to spend money maintaining a relationship with the agency.
The True Trade-Offs: 5 Important Considerations
1. Cost Structure
In-House:
Expect some initial investments into hiring; salaries; benefits; hardware; and overhead costs. Total cost of ownership can be very expensive if you have a long hiring cycle or encounter large amounts of employee turnover mid-way through the build.
Agency:
Provides you with a clear quote regarding the development of your fintech software or provides a monthly permanent engagement with no overhead and no hidden human resource headaches. The agency will provide you with predictable budgets that are predictable while sometimes premium hourly rates appear higher on paper.
💡 Monthly example costs for a mid-grade, mid-size FinTech product:
| Role | In-House | Agency Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Dev x2 | $24,000 | Included |
| QA | $6,000 | Included |
| PM/Lead | $10,000 | Included |
| Tools & Infra | $2,000 | Included |
| Total | $42,000+ | $35,000–$45,000 depending on scope |
Cost parity often shifts in favor of agencies during early phases when you need speed more than scale.
2. Time to Market
In-house: It usually takes around three to six months to hire a capable team, during which time competitors can ship. Delays from hiring can also damage your investors and make it difficult for your company to meet regulatory deadlines.
Agency: In a few weeks, you can have a team ready to work on your application. Agencies such as Appricotsoft have developed teams specializing in building fintech applications with pre-aligned processes, frameworks for rapidly developing applications using AI (Unison), and pre-built integrations (PSD2, KYC/AML, payment APIs) that make it easier for agencies to develop applications faster.
3. Ownership and Domain Knowledge
In-house: An in-house team is ideal for long-term vision, as the team is familiar with the overall roadmap of the application. However, the in-house team can also develop too much of a bias toward the application to see things in an objective manner, which may lead to a lack of objectivity or resistance to change.
Agency: An experienced agency like Appricotsoft provides an objective external perspective, helping founders avoid altercations through weekly demos, synchronized roadmaps, and decision logs – thus eliminating the chances of losing a piece of information in translation during the development process. While you maintain ownership of the software, the agency will treat it as its own while developing.
4. Flexibility and Scalability
In-house: When you add new staff to your team, there is an increase in the number of interviews, onboarding, and overall HR workload during the hiring and on-board process. If the business needs to downsize, this process can be painful and time-consuming.
Agency: If you determine that your project requires a pivot during the course of the project, there are no problems in making this change because the agency can provide the essential support by quickly adjusting the number and makeup of their teams to meet the exact needs of the clients at the time of the pivot. If a client wants to pause or reallocate project resources, the agency can accomplish this in the same way that they would develop a new sprint plan.
5. Extended Care
In-House: If you’re planning on evolving your platform for the next 5 to 10 years, building your team in-house is the best option, but it may be expensive and difficult to keep your best fintech talent for that long.
Agency: Many of the best agencies take a hybrid approach, launching your platform and then giving you the option of transitioning to your own team with appropriate handover, documentation and support.
At Appricotsoft, we routinely support clients with:
- Team handover and training
- Continual product support
- Performance monitoring and optimization
- Long-term planning for feature expansion
Choosing Between Going In-House and Outsourcing
Here are a few scenarios where you might go with in-house tech versus outsource:
(3) Reasons For In-House Approach
- You already have a strong tech team and want to “try” out new technologies before scaling them.
- Your project is long-term and requires a high level of domain knowledge to be kept.
- You can commit the time to properly recruit.
(3) Reasons For Outsourced Approach
- Your time frame for launching is between 3 and 6 months.
- You wish to utilize a pre-defined delivery process, including: Quality Assurance (QA), Development / Operations, User Interface (UI) / User Experience (UX).
- Your project is complex (i.e. mobile banking application development, or developing an Open Banking integration) and requires quick access to an expert in Fintech. (If your existing tech team is overloaded or lacks Fintech knowledge.)
How Appricotsoft Supports Your Success
At Appricotsoft, we create fintech products such as banks that comply with PSD2 regulations as well as AI fraud detection systems. Regardless of whether you want to validate an MVP, add more resources to your development team, or develop a brand new application, we can help you provide speed, structure, and transparency.
The Unison method of delivery allows us to deliver clarity and predictability through a transparent and iterative process.
We are committed to delivering quality rather than cutting corners. We don’t cut corners when we build and deliver product; we deliver clean products.
While you are working within the defined parameters of MVP, we will go through support and iterations to help you with employee transitions.
We also can support you in an organization with a hybrid team. If you want to ultimately build internally, we can support your journey.
Related Reads
There is No One-Size-Fits-All Answer
The decision to build either an internal team or outsource development to a fintech software company really will come down to your situation, urgency, and long-term plans.
The good news is that you can take your time to decide what is best for your company. We have many clients that first build with Appricotsoft to ship faster; then they transition to build their own internal development team as their company grows.
If you want a sanity check of your anticipated build strategy along with some ballpark figures for your build, please request a free estimate from us today.