The Choice: Web development outsourcing or in-house?
Tough choice: web development in-house or web development outsourcing? Whether you select this one or that, it is important to know the pros and cons of both before you take a decision.
Let’s first take a look at the factors you can remember for an in-house web development team:
- When you are thinking of long term projects, in-house team is always preferred. It ensures that the team understands the business and the web development requirements and also understands the budgets.
- In house is cost effective for short term projects
- In house developers can understand the target audience better as they are more in line with the company’s day to day activities
- Website maintenance tasks are not neglected as there is a sense of ownership.
- They do not have to juggle between clients so individual attention ensures quality work.
To be able to select a web development outsourcing agency, you need to understand what you are getting into and then take a decision. With web development outsourcing, you get some substantial benefits.
- While you decide in favour of web development outsourcing, understand that the cost involved is less only for short term projects.
- The agency can bring diverse ideas as they work on a day to day basis with diverse types of client websites.
- An external agency will always give you a competitive edge.
- Specialized attention can be given to your particular project.
Well, the choice is entirely yours. There are two major factors to look at. Your budget for web development outsourcing, or your length of project. When it is a budget constraint, you can look at outsourcing, as you avoid recurring costs in developing a website. When you are looking at maintenance tasks and regular daily tasks, it is good to have an in house web development team to get things fixed quickly. Although maintaining an in house team will be an addition to the recurring costs per year and you also have to think long term. With an in house team of developers, however, you will have the advantage of the team members knowing everything about your business and what works and what does not. There will be little assistance you would require to provide and little training. With the agency, you will have the advantage of getting specialized services, diverse knowledge and a team with an exposure to a diverse types of business working.
Another approach could be – a combined effort from in house and outsourced team. You can get the website development done from a web development outsourcing agency, and then have an in house team to do the regular updates and maintenance tasks. So, either approach has its pros and cons. You need to base your decision on the cost savings, or budget expenditure, or the length of the project or whether the requirements are for a short period of time or a long term assignment. This will help you get your work done more efficiently, timely and in a cost effective manner!