How to
Outsource Web Development:
preparation stage

HOW TO OUTSOURCE WEB DEVELOPMENT: PREPARATION STAGE

BUSINESS

When businesses want to create a digital presence or enhance existing platforms, there's an issue that arises – ''how to outsource web development and is it worth trying?"

In recent years, companies are looking toward IT outsourcing solutions to achieve a variety of goals, beyond just a cost reduction.

The Freshcode team has prepared a brief guide on
how to outsource web development services and make a decision you won't regret later.

1. Why Do Companies Outsource Web Development?

Today's IT market offers services that assist different businesses, from emerging startups to venerable enterprises, in implementing and managing a variety of digital products.

According to Statista, spending on IT services is expected to amount to around USD 1.2 trillion globally by the end of 2021. Here are some other intriguing statistic facts on outsourcing:

Such high demand is driven by various factors, the common denominator of which consists of efficiency and profitability. Web development outsourсing among other IT services is a great way to realize your projects or separate tasks when it's costly or to hire in-house specialists.

So, how to outsource web development, and why do companies prefer this collaboration model?

Let's start with the definitions of 'web development' and 'IT outsourcing'.
IT outsourcing is the use of external service providers to effectively deliver IT-enabled business processes and infrastructure solutions for business outcomes.
Web development refers in general to the tasks associated with developing websites and web applications. This process includes web design, web content development, client-side/server-side scripting, and network security configuration, among other tasks.

In a broader sense, web development encompasses all the actions, updates, and operations required to build, maintain and manage a web platform to ensure its performance, user experience, and speed are optimal.
IT outsourcing model enables you to hire tech talent worldwide. You can 'borrow' web developers for performing specific tasks such as implementing push notifications or building a data aggregation system.

Otherwise, you can fully outsource your web development project involving a multiteam made up of a CTO, business analysts, QA engineers, project managers, marketers, etc.

Here is how companies can benefit from a wide range of web development services including pre- and post processes on the different stages of business development.
how to outsource web development

2. Main Benefits Of Web Development Outsourcing

Website development outsourcing is a great solution for non-tech-savvy companies with limited in-house IT capabilities. But even tech giants turn to external IT providers to add business value and enhance their existing product or service.

Here we want to talk about outsourcing web development benefits and risks.

Why is it a so popular type among other business collaboration models and how different companies can benefit from outsourcing web development services?
    how to find an outsourcing company
    benefits of web development outsourcing
    Cost Savings. Cost efficiency remains the key reason behind outsourcing decisions. External staff costs less than in-house employees. Outsourcing web development providers allow one to get the work done in a much more efficient way with lower training, recruitment, HR, operational, and infrastructure costs.

    Improved Speed to Market. 'Speed to market' is s a mantra for those who know that getting the product into the marketplace as quickly as possible is a real competitive advantage. In a rapidly changing global marketplace, it may mean business success or failure.

    A new product launch, business extension, and targeting new verticals are the most common situations where speed to market is vital. You need to have both a sales team that is prepared to deliver the digital product and a development team that is always ready to maintain your web platform.

    The company may not have the necessary infrastructure that includes recruiters, sales managers, software architectures, QA engineers, and an environment that is conducive to launch new or updated products. The company may have no time on hiring such specialists, training them, and set all necessary environments. And here is where outsourcing services come into play to help you getting to market quickly and iterating faster.

    Subject-Matter IT Experts. Subject-Matter Experts (SME) are indispensable in the case of need of specific domain expertise. They can identify potential challenges in complicated areas and create solutions to deal with them.

    While your employees may be cross-trained, some situations call for highly specialized knowledge, e.g., on how to integrate new software, migrate data, or fix issues discovered during testing.
      No Delays in Recruitment Process. Employee retention rate is a dynamic metric and varies greatly by industry and particular business cases. IT industry challenges are due to rapidly evolving technologies. Demand is growing faster than the IT services market can produce supply. Technology changes more rapidly than specialists can adapt. It provokes the high cost of new tools implementation and a significant IT marketplace competition. Those are key reasons for the high staff turnover rate within the software development area.

      But when you outsource a software development project you thereby delegating recruitment duties and risks to the provider. Web development outsourcing company takes the responsibility of hiring specialists with appropriate skills and mindset to fulfill your expectations. And you can ask for staffing changes at any time.

      Round-the-clock work. Don't overlook such time-zone benefit as '24×7 running business hours'. For example, if an LA-based (California, USA) company outsources a web development project to a Ukrainian IT provider the time gap is of 10 hours. The first can delegate tasks and relax, knowing the work is in progress and will be accomplished to date by the second one.

      The same goes for urgent tasks that IT partners can pick up and avoid system breakdown and other risks. Thus, the outsourcing collaboration model enables you to operate round the clock even when your in-house resources are asleep.

      Full-cycle Product Development. Outsourcing is a great headache-free full-cycle product development decision. In the full-cycle development model, the client provides the high-level vision for the product or its improvements, and the outsourcing partner does everything else.

      IT market offers a wide range of web development companies who provide complete solutions for businesses, assisting them at all stages: from conceptualization and UI/UX design to pre-launch testing and maintenance. IT outsourcing partners take the management burden off your shoulders, as well as, responsibility for the entire product development lifecycle.
        Why Are Ukrainian Web Development Companies Worth Trying?
        We've prepared a brief overview

        3. Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid of Web Outsourcing

        Considering a new website? Want to build a top-notch web app for your service? But still, are full of doubts and skepticism?

        It's time to dispel doubts and debunk myths of web development outsourcing!

        Here we go!
        web development outsourcing myths
        1. "The Broken Telephone Game"

        The first most common myth is hiding behind the fear of lack of clarity and misunderstanding. Let's be honest, this fear is quite justified, but... in the case of both outsource and in-house models.

        The only thing is that online communication (inherent in the outsourcing model) may take a longer time to explain mistakes, clarify project requirements and find a common denominator.

        The success of communication depends on the partner's experience and professional background, regardless of whether the team is located at your office or in another country.

        Moreover, today, when remote work becomes commonplace, there is various toolbox at IT outsourcing companies disposal.

        What about us, to avoid the telephone game Freshcode team:

        • use a great variety of instruments for communication (Jira, Trello, Confluence, Slack)

        • maintain the documentation, manage tasks and create mockups

        • set up daily/weekly meetings

        • create progress reports


        2. "Fixed Price Is the Best Option"

        Many companies assume they mitigate risk and unexpected charges, locking IT vendors on a certain price quote. But is the Fixed Price model always safer than variable cost agreements?

        The truth is that your outsourced project is risky based upon how well your strategy solves your goals and requirements. The expertise and record of accomplishment of your IT partner are in achieving the last ones.
        Think of a mechanic, doctor, or construction worker…would you really want anyone of these professionals to give you a fixed price on a job, then leave something important out that did not fit in the price scope?

        Jason Thomas, Business & Marketing Automation Expert
        And how you pay is almost a non-issue. If you work with a reputable software development provider with a track record of accomplishment and for delivering on time, you're safe either way.

        Additional fees are inevitable. The project's scope always has a grey area. Fixed initial proposal's price doesn't avoid increased pricing in the event something in the scope needs to be changed.

        Is locked-down project scopes a good thing for the client? What if your web development partner comes up with a better idea mid-project, adding work but multiplying benefit?

        There's a better way to be sure you'll get the best work.

        3. "Data Security Risks"

        Sharing sensitive business data is always risky. And when it comes to outsourcing your project to the external provider thoughts about business data safety may become really burdensome.

        Data safety is the priority for any IT company, including outsourcing providers. Every reputable software development company takes care of
        ensuring customer confidence.

        1. Well-thought-out internal security policies
        2. Signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

        3. Comprehensive additional Service Level Agreements
        4. Adjusting security standards at the project level to individual client's policies
        5. Physical data security with standard preventive procedures such as using smart locks in all rooms in which software development work takes place
        6. Continuous security awareness training


        Creating coherent infrastructure, processes, and tools reduces the risk of security gaps in the entire ecosystem. And outsourcing vendors no less than other companies pay great attention to it to earn clients' trust and stay competitive in the market.

        Looking for Web Development Company?
        Our full-stack developers are ready to create web platform to achieve your business goals

        4. How to Choose Technology Stack for Web Development

        The combination of frameworks, programming languages, databases, and tools that result in a web platform is called the web development stack. How to choose a technology stack for web development?

        Let's start with 'Bad Advice'. How not to choose a web technology stack? Remember the following points and don't fall into the trap!

        So, don't rely on...
        • Trendy Technologies
        • Competitor's Experience
        • Previous Projects
        • Online Research

        And think about...
        • Project Budget, Scope and Timeline
        • Planning for Scalability
        • Dev Team's Background and Level of Experience
        • Maintenance and Support Strategy
        • IT Consulting Services

        The nature of your project defines the web development stack that you will use. And adopting the right technology stack is crucial to your product in many approaches.

        Here are some outputs that will undoubtedly please you:

        • substantial performance

        • your dev team codes better, quicker, and happier

        • coding base is simpler to maintain

        • the stack is properly documented

        • a clear process of fixing bugs and issues
        Picking the right stack for your web application is all about finding the technologies that work best with your team's background. For instance, Java and .Net developers tend to love Typescript because the language has a lot of features that are similar to what they already know. As a result, Angular is often picked in such a web stack because of Typescript. But it's important to know that Typescript can be used with React or Vue.js as well.

        Alain Chautard, Web Development Expert

        5. How To Prepare For Website Development Outsourcing

        Are you looking for a dedicated and fully-fledged web development provider? But not sure how to move forward with so many choices?

        Let's guide you on how to outsource a web development company and how not to be mistaken.
        You have to be ready with the idea of what you need for your future product and what you expect from a web development company: rates, tech stack, language proficiency, etc.
          how to find an outsourcing company

          When the list of web development outsourcing companies is ready, you can switch to the key process of pre-filtering of applicants and choosing the best one.

          Before starting contacting potential candidates, prepare SRD to describe your business needs. This will allow you to economize time during the messaging and meetings.

          Pay attention to the level of the company's communication and proactivity. Good communication is about:

          • Quick response

          • Clarity and mutual understanding

          • Client's data safe & security

          • High self-organization level

          • Passion for technology and open-mindedness

            6. TAKEAWAY

            A trustworthy web development outsourcing company is perfectly capable of working without total guidance. You delegate your product development under all needed contracts and guarantees. Tech partner takes responsibility for all outcomes following the agreed project development plan.

            We at Freshcode are ready to help you to develop a turnkey company website or progressive web app matching your requirements and your customers' expectations.

            Websites promote you 24/7: No employee will do that.

            Paul Cookson, author


            Do you want to discover more web solutions for your business as well as ways to implement them through outsourcing services? Let's start with:

            1. appraising and validating your requirements
            2. decomposing tasks
            3. creating a Work Breakdown Structure
            4. preparing web development project estimate

            Book a free consultation here.

            And, drop in again soon! Freshocode teams are already preparing a new blog post!

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            • We sign an NDA to keep your ideas confidential

            • You share essential requirements with us

            • Our analysts and developers estimate the budget and timeline
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