Outsourcing web development services or hiring an employee is a global dilemma affecting many startups today. There are two sides to each coin, and you have to toss it either way and go for what works for you. You want results, and you need them fast to kick start your business on the web.
We’re going to talk about the benefits of outsourcing and of hiring an in-house IT specialist for your web development needs. We’ll critically look at both options to help you decide what works and what doesn’t to create a website for your business.
Outsourcing Web Designers
1. Cost
Online freelance work has simplified hiring costs by a considerable margin. You can employ intermediate or expert web designers by outsourcing IT services on freelance work platforms and cut your costs by more than half the price, say, $55/hr. Instead of $150/hr. You can save more than 50% of total web development costs when working with a remote web designer instead of hiring in-house developers.
Outsourcing far outweighs hiring, whether done locally or overseas – it is financially attractive in the long run because of the cheap labor costs available globally. To protect your business from scammers, always hire from trusted sources, either web consultants or hiring agencies like Upwork and 99Designs.
You will also save on other costs such as office space furniture, computers, internet connection, and probably supporting staff to organize chores and schedules when you’re not available. You can spare yourself the headache of all of these overheads by outsourcing tasks that don’t require long term commitments.
2. Short Term Contract
Outsourcing means bringing in experts only when you need them, for specific projects, on short term contracts. Your hiring needs will change as you go, but make sure you can manage the tasks ahead once your website is up and running.
3. Minimal Office Distractions
Web developers are geeks, and they cherish privacy with work environments. An office set up is probably too much of a distraction, with integration, office chit chat, phone calls, background noise, etc. This leaves little time for constructive work during working hours.
How does this affect your business?
If you have targets to meet, expect delays if you hire an IT person who cannot deliver the project on time. To mitigate this, you may provide them with the required tools to work from home and on the weekends.
4. Competitive Skills
When subcontracting web designers, you can opt to go for individual freelancers or work with an outsourcing agency. The likely hood of getting your job done the right way depends on how much you pay. If you work on a stringent budget, you may get 70% of the work done well. And if you pay for expert services, you’ll get a great developer (probably with an attitude), but they will deliver impeccable results.
The downside of outsourcing is that you’ll be on your own once the site is up and running and you end up updating your website on a need to basis. That being said, web designing skills are not transferable – the freelancer goes away once their contract ends.
5. Quick Turnaround
Since the contractual agreement depends on quality, fast results, their pay depends on getting your job done quickly and correctly. Companies/ freelancers you outsource, draw motivation from delivering great results, and maintaining a good business reputation.
Hiring Full Time Web Designers
1. Loyalty
If you decide to hire in-house Web designers to work full time, this is a considerable investment, and the individual is serious about their role in your company. They’re making a significant investment and are expected to produce impeccable results and maintain your website on high standards. If you pay them well and get along fine, you’ll have earned a long term player – and that’s great for your overall business plan.
2. Relevance
In-house web designers understand your business strategy and what’s going on. You get direct feedback from the daily casual conversations to improve your website or tweak a few things here and there. Developers also know the challenges your business is facing in say, marketing and sales, and may offer advice on revamping your sales through inventive social media campaigns and an aggressive online marketing strategy.
3. Allied Interests
Freelancers define success by securing seasonal clients, working on many projects, and delivering excellent results. On the other hand, entrepreneurs define success by building trustworthy businesses that generate profits and attract repeat clients. This effort takes time. An outsourced freelancer will only handle your current needs and move on to their next client once the project ends.
The Disadvantage of Outsourcing
1. Quality
You can opt to outsource overseas (cheaper rates) or do it locally. Your rates determine the kind of codes you’ll get. Quality control is a win-win situation because you have to rely on the portfolios provided. You cannot be sure whether someone else revamped the site a couple of times after your potential developer during the contractual period.
Solution
Option 1 – Hire locally, in fact, hire a legit consultant and have one of their companies do a test project to determine their expert skills.
Option 2 – Give potential candidates a technical interview. Large outsourcing sites like Upwork and 99Designs have pre-set tests, but you can also prepare a personalized analysis to get the best candidate for your specific requirements- and to be sure that they can code.
2. Coding
Coding teamwork is a huge challenge when outsourcing overseas. Hire locally to avoid cultural issues, time zone differences, and collaborative processes. Developers from overseas may not share the same values as you do, and they may not understand your needs – you may require constant communication to clarify a lot of things, but on the other hand, you may disrupt their work and rest hours due to the time zone difference.
Solution
Write precise requirements when outsourcing overseas. If you decide to go local, use Scrum for successful project planning, transparency, and overall consistency.
The Disadvantage of Hiring In house Web Designers
1. Cost
Developers’ salaries are ridiculously expensive. So unless you partner with a technical specialist whom you split profits and all other overheads hiring a web designer is damn costly for any medium-sized business.
2. Employee Benefits
You may not be prepared to pay for the ridiculous demands a web developer may ask for to work with you. If you have other employees, it may bring out benefits disparities if you cave in to their demands. Health care plans are quite costly – consider all options and be prepared to spend a chunky sum for the expert skills you plan on hiring for.
Conclusion
It all comes down to your situation, whether to hire or outsource a web designer. It would be best if you recouped recruiting costs within a few months of launching your new website.
The best alternative is to hire local freelance developers to give you flexibility. These tech geeks love the freelance lifestyle and working on multiple projects – it gives them an entrepreneurial edge and vast knowledge of what works and what doesn’t because they handle diverse clients, mostly startups.
Overall, freelancers are cheaper, and their turnaround is faster than that of an in-house hire.
