Why Are We Asking You to Outsource?
The decision of whether to hire an in-house or an outsourced development team is confusing for business owners. Nevertheless, outsourcing is the best option when you have a time constraint and multiple business goals.
It is more popular to develop websites in-house rather than outsource. You shouldn’t consider it your best option, however. The following are some of the drawbacks of in-house web development. Think of it as another reason to outsource web development rather than do it yourself!
1. Expenses are high
Purchasing electronics, licensing software, hiring, and retaining employees all cost a fortune. You must incur ongoing costs when you hire an in-house team. One-time payments are not acceptable! The cost of developing a web or app is high.
2. The process takes a lot of time!
Hiring local employees involves posting a job, waiting for a suitable candidate to respond, conducting interviews, and finally making an informed decision. Additionally, you must devote considerable time to gathering resources, training them, and conducting meetings.
Thus, gathering the human resources required to develop them can take a lot of time without proper intel!
3. The limitations
There is a possibility that you will only be able to choose from local talent. Outsourcing, on the other hand, is the opposite. With this pool, you have an unlimited number of options to choose from.
The Key to Success is Hiring a Remote Web Development Team
You may be surprised to learn that remote employment has two types: outsourcing and outstaffing. When you outsource web development, you hire a company that helps you develop your solution based on your needs and requirements. Project management is handled by the hired company! In contrast, outsourcing involves hiring a team of professionals to perform the task under your guidance. Your web development project will be handled by a team of employees with the necessary skills and experience.
As a result, we have different kinds of outsourcing based on the location of the company.
- An offshore outsourcing company is one that hires a team from a different time zone than yours.
- Hiring a team from another country within the same time zone is known as nearshore outsourcing.
- An offshore outsourcing team is hired from your country.
Using another company within the same region or country for web development or other projects.
Is one better than the other? Your goals and requirements will determine what you choose. These top outsourcing questions will help you find the right web development company!
The 15 most important questions to ask when outsourcing web development
In case you are outsourcing a web development company, here are the top 15 interview questions you should ask them. You can differentiate the questions according to your expertise, technical knowledge, workflow, etc.
Here are some questions to ask yourself!
1. What is the target audience?
Decide who your target audience is before you start the web development project. Study your target audience and understand who will consume your product. Get to know everything about them, including their age, gender, location, and much more. You can justify the look and feel of the website you expect an outsourced company to build once you know your target audience.
2. What is the purpose of building a website?
Identify certain challenges or problems your company can resolve through a website. Answers like “to build an online presence,” “everyone has a website.” or “to reach more customers.” are incorrect here.
This question is answered in-depth!
3. Can you tell me about your budget?
It is important to determine your budget before outsourcing web development. You don’t need a multi-billion dollar budget to succeed! It’s time to think about outsourcing!
The best results can be achieved with an outsourced solution, even if you don’t have buckets of cash to spare!
Find out what their expertise is!
4. How much industry experience do you have?
A web development team with similar industry experience will know the most used terms, legal requirements, etc. It is extremely important to hire a team that understands industry-specific models, concepts, and works with the same technology.
As a result, if you want your project to succeed, ask them about their experience.
5. Can you tell me about your clients?
Inquire about the company’s previous clients to gain some excellent insight into their capabilities. This is an excellent opportunity to find out why the company is promising such a quality product.
High-quality web applications are built by outsourced companies that work with prestigious clients.
6. Are there any references you can provide?
This is one of the most important questions to ask when outsourcing web development. The company is showing their high credibility and transparency even if you don’t plan on using the references.
Visit the company’s website or social media channels to see testimonials. The outsourced company will be able to create the “impression” you want.
An overview of the web development company’s workflow
7. Do you follow a particular development methodology?
As you inquire about the company’s methodologies, you are gaining a deeper understanding of the company. It is not necessary to have rigid methodologies. You can learn more about how they function by having a more in-depth understanding of it.
Agile methodologies are usually followed by companies. An outsourced company that follows an agile approach can provide you with benefits such as:
- Flexibility is increased
- Maintain control
- A project workflow that focuses on results
- From start to finish, better involvement in the project
8. In general, what are the stages of development you follow?
The web development process must be followed by any web development team to achieve results. There’s no need to be rigid about it! The extra cost and effort can be saved with a proper step-by-step approach.
Web development companies should follow these stages during the development process:
- Assessing the needs and goals of the business
- Potential solutions are being researched
- Developing a solution structure
- Defining the scope of the project
- Preventing risk by addressing it in advance
- Preparation of the timeline and setting the plan for the deliverables
9. What communication methods do you plan to use with clients?
As the saying goes, “Communication is the key to success.” Therefore, keeping in touch with the client frequently is essential to maintaining the quality of the project. To this end, it’s necessary to find out how the clients prefer to communicate with them.
The answer you should expect from them is as follows:
- Audio calls, video meetings, messages, etc., are all ways we communicate with our clients.
- To maintain an efficient communication pattern, we use a variety of tools.
- Our clients are regularly updated on the project’s progress.
- We maintain direct contact with our clients through our project managers.
10. What technology stack will you use for our project (provide a rough idea)?
Without asking them about the “technical” side of outsourcing, the list of top outsourcing questions would be incomplete. You should ask your outsourced web development company how they plan to implement the technology stack for your project if you haven’t decided yet. You can ensure they are up-to-date on the latest technology stack in the market by asking this question.
Moreover, if they’ve worked on similar projects before, they’ll be able to answer all your questions!
11. What steps do you take to ensure that the website is user-friendly?
There must be a user-friendly interface on a website. Develop user-friendly deliverables to ensure that the website works smoothly on various devices, browsers, screens, etc.
You have found the right company if they mention “compatibility testing” when answering this question. Compatibility testing ensures that the website or web application runs smoothly on all devices.
12. When developing a website or web application, what tools do you prefer to use?
Don’t you think it’s important to have a smooth development process? The company must know what tools it prefers to use for this purpose. You should also receive an extensive list of tools that the outsourced company uses:
- Productivity management
- Designing UI/UX
- Data analytics
- IT Operations (DevOps)
- A test
- Control of sources
13. What security and maintenance plans do you have?
In order for your website to perform well, you must ensure that it is hosted, secured, and maintained. Be aware of the hosting environment the company uses and the security certificates they possess.
You must also receive maintenance services from the outsourced company! What’s the reason? You can spend more on website maintenance when you outsource it separately! Furthermore, it will lead to “increased inefficiency” risks for your website or web application.
14. Do you intend to transfer full ownership of the website?
You should register the domain name under the name of your company. If you don’t have this, you won’t be able to access the website’s hosting account and download the source code. Your products and artifacts should not be claimed by the outsourced web development company.
15. What is the price of your web development services?
The cost of building a website should be considered. When you ask other outsourcing web development questions, don’t forget to ask about service pricing! In the price of the service, everything should be included:
- Models of payment
- Payment methods
- The up-front costs
Make a final outsourcing decision based on an analysis of their pricing.
Wrapping Up
You make the decision!
The importance of outsourcing should have been clear to you by now. You can, however, start your search from the best web development companies to outsource! Before you start building the foundations of your website or web applications, ask yourself and the potential outsourcing companies a bunch of questions!
Happy outsourcing!
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