Should You Outsource Web Development?

In today’s largely digital-dependent world, different areas of web development such as informative or eCommerce websites and web-based apps form a crucial and essential part of a successful business. By creating an engaging point of contact with your audience which enhances everything from your brand image to your lead generation and sales, web development is vital for sustenance and growth, especially for a small business.

But it may not always be possible to meet all your web development needs in-house. So, should you outsource web development? We’re going to take you through this process while giving you the plethora of benefits that make outsourcing web development to a professional design and development agency a viable option for you to consider.

Outsourcing, in any business, is the process of hiring staff, a team, agencies or companies that operate outside of the business to create a product or perform a service that could have been done internally. As mentioned before, outsourced website development is growing in popularity due to a lack of in-house resources. Additionally, outsourcing allows a business greater freedom in operating more efficiently and ensuring the best use of resources while leveraging the expertise of industry leaders within the field.

Perhaps the most important benefit that will encourage you to consider whether you should outsource web development is a reduction in cost. Every project will have budget constraints and outsourcing will allow leeway by cutting back on various costs. The investment in initial infrastructure in terms of technology, the hiring process, training and managing a new team, rental costs and additional equipment is minimised if not completely avoided when you outsource to a web developer or an agency.

Every project is time-bound and ensuring all the requirements are carried out by a deadline is crucial to the success of the project. When you outsource web development, you save time by delegating to an experienced agency rather than spending time training and on-boarding a new team. Additionally, you’re ensuring your product or service is brought into the market and to your audiences as quickly as possible. In crucial cases, this even means getting ahead of competitors.

When you outsource web development to an agency you get access to their pool of highly qualified professionals that are experts in the field. This includes front-end and back-end developers, UI/UX designers, brand designers, project managers, quality assurance managers and other creatives within the field. The team will possess extensive experience in efficiently handling website development and will be well-versed with the latest technologies required to give you quality results.

The team you hire for outsourced website development, as mentioned before, will definitely have experience. But this isn’t just about individual experience and skillset; the team will also have experience of working together in developing web-based projects. They will be able to navigate collectively through the requirements of the project and identify the entire team’s strengths to produce the highest quality of work, where nothing falls through the cracks.

By hiring an external agency or having to outsource a web developer, you allow your staff and yourself to focus on the core needs of your own business. Rather than focusing on technical areas, the staff’s time and resources can be better invested in aspects of the business that may have been neglected or require additional attention.

Outsourced website development provides you with the flexibility to scale your project up, or down, at any point of time. During the initial stages of a project, a bigger team of various developers, designers and project managers are required. However, with an internal team, investing a huge amount of time and resources and team members may not be possible. So, scaling up your project isn’t as easily accomplished with an internal team. Conversely, the maintenance period of a project requires a smaller team of highly skilled developers. Again, this area of expertise might not be available within an internal team and even though the investment of team members is smaller, they might not be the right members with the right skillset.

This requirement to pivot during the course of the project, from scaling up to scaling down to maintenance, is much more easily accomplished with an external workforce. Constantly adjusting work capacity, timings and staffing of an in-house team, on top of balancing their other core business responsibilities, could prove to be challenging.

Contrary to popular belief, outsourcing web development actually ensures a higher control over a project. As the external team is highly experienced, they will also have a risk management plan in place as well as the ability to protect your project from risks, damages and policy issues. This is provided you choose the right agency or web developer for you and your business.

Continued tech support is essential for the maintenance and growth of any website or web app. When outsourcing to an agency, post-deployment support is a major benefit as it will not only ensure that every element of the project is tested and debugged but it will also ensure that it continues to work the way you want it to. This will in turn increase the return on investment for your entire outsourced website development project.

The goal of your project will form the basis for the rest of the process. Identifying the core need that this project will satisfy will be the guiding star for all the professionals involved. This will also ensure that in times of doubt or if a part of the project goes astray, the goal will be the crucial factor in bringing everything and everyone back on track. Consider the following questions –

Think about the practical requirements of the project in terms of achieving this goal. Consider questions such as -

Creating a detailed website specification that outlines all the important things such as desired branding, competitor landscape and audience analysis can ensure consistency across both the in-house and outsourced team.

Accounting and planning for the entire project in terms of finances and time is crucial. Think about a budget range for the entire project and how much time the whole thing might take – again, outsourcing web development to an agency means they will likely be able to give you a realistic timeframe for what needs to be done.

Further break this down into each stage of the project and assign a budget and time frame. This will make everything more organised and give both you and the agency you are outsourcing to a clear idea of what’s expected.

Look for viable candidates either by asking known people for referrals or looking online. Remember to do your research. Consider whether each team or agency has worked on a project like this before, how their own website looks and maybe even their social media presence. This will give you an appropriate feel for their work pattern and culture prior to meeting them.

Interview the agencies or candidates you have shortlisted. Either have a formal process of asking them certain questions, as you would while hiring new staff, or have an informal, frank discussion. Remember to always discuss the goal of the project and the requirements. There is no point moving forward and outsourcing the web development to an agency or team that cannot meet your needs or does not understand what your business requires. Also consider their professionalism – did they follow up immediately after the meeting? Were they enthusiastic about taking on the project? Were they confident in their abilities and expertise?

This will be critical through the entire duration of the project, as well as in the initial stages. Remember, when you outsource a web developer or agency, there needs to be constant communication, and this communication has to always be an efficient two-way street. You cannot delegate the project and then wash your hands off it completely; you must be involved in every stage and decision made, throughout the project. The success of the entire process of outsourcing lies in constant communication and the ability to tweak and amend processes to ensure the best results. This also minimises unforeseen risks and the ability to overcome them.

The final decision is always up to you and the needs of your business. Web development agencies are businesses too; they are experts within their field. In order to successfully outsource web development, what you need is the ability to transfer the expertise you have within your domain to the web development team, so they are able to represent this technically.

When weighing your options, outsourcing will almost always get the work done faster with no need to hire and train extra talent. The skills and expertise of your in-house staff can be utilised in crucial areas where it is really required. Thereby boosting productivity while also gaining a fresh perspective on your product or service from leading industry professionals.

At Welford, our team are experts in designing and developing bespoke websites, offering web hosting services, and working with content management systems such as OpenCart and Craft CMS. Our drive for innovation will ensure your business needs are at the centre of everything we create. Contact us for more information on our range of bounce-back packages to begin your dream web development project!