From the moment you decide to outsource web development, many questions appear:
- Where to outsource?
- How to find a reliable partner?
- What's the price?
And many more. The blue-sky thinking vanishes, and you face constraints and uncertainties that put a cap on how much dreaming you can do. And it's ok. This is the situation every business founder faces up, and there's the way out.
We at Uptech have a strong track record of building products people love, and it led us to study web outsourcing from top to bottom. We know for sure when web outsourcing is your option, how to do it right, how to outsource a good web development company that will match your needs and values. This is what this piece of read about, let's start.
When Outsource Web Development Is The Way To Go?
When you face a decision to outsource or not to outsource, you can be in two positions: a startup that has just entered the market or an established company that competes with big players.
We worked with both and figured out that in both cases the goal is the same – to outsource web development services but the motives are different. Let’s look at what they are.
For Startups
Lack of in-house web specialists
Initially, the request from startup founders sounded familiar: "Hey, we have an idea but lack human resources to support it." So they basically looked for an outsourcing partner to provide them with 2-5 specialists to cover some web development scope of work.
Lack of time & money
The next popular question was: "We need to build a web app fast and within the budget. Can you help us?" It's still the most common request, and we're happy to dig in. It's well known that the main reason for outsourcing is cost reduction.
So chances are, outsourcing will save you some dollars. The time part depends on the company you choose. I'll explain later how to ensure that expectations are met on both sides.
Lack of tech expertise
Lack of the right team was mentioned among the top reasons why startups fail at the CB Insights report. It means that having a diverse team with different skill sets is critical to a company's success. So if you feel that you lack tech expertise, need a technical advisor, outsourcing IT services is an option here.
For Established Companies
Need to expand an in-house web team
This one is pretty much the same as the first one for startups. The difference is that established companies usually look for a separate specialist rather than a whole team of project managers, developers, designers, QAs.
Launching a side project
One more cause for outsourcing web development is when you have a running business and want to experiment and test proof of concept. It'd be wiser to outsource a web development company that will tackle the full process instead of involving your in-house team. Most likely, your team is busy and won’t be able to fully support the project.
In addition, the cost of failure is low, it's an experiment, and as they say, "it's better to regret something you have done than to regret something you haven't done."
Looking for advisors
The third reason why established companies approached us is they lack expertise in some domains. For instance, the Nomad project – a web app for buying and renting homes in Dubai, required a backend solution that would be simple and yet functional. All the solutions they got were too complicated, so they didn't hesitate a minute when our team suggested a clear and simple one. The decision was made.
At Uptech, we pride ourselves on end-to-end product development. We take big ideas and turn them into products people love and can use right away. Our cross-functional team of product managers, designers, developers is a group of remarkable people who do their best to build a fantastic product to satisfy our clients and their users.
No matter what your reason to outsource web development is, product success depends on both sides. From our experience, to deliver a great product, there should be a place for respect, open collaboration, and conversation between you and your outsourcing partner.
Uptech note:
Uptech offers both outsourcing and outstaff models of cooperation. Based on your business needs you can pick the one that suits you best.
If you need extra hands to develop your web product faster and at lower costs – outstaff model is the perfect choice. You can scale up/down the team depending on your needs and not woring about hiring and firing issues. It’s all about flexibility and cost-efficiency.
If you lack a product developemnt expertise and look for a development team (product manager, designer, developers, QAs) – outsourcings web development suits better. You’ll get a team of professionals who will help you validate the idea, design and develop the MVP to pitch it to the investors. This model os the best of you’re new to product development and it’s first startup. Or you have a product idea but lack in-house resources to make it real.
Now let’s take a closer look at the reasons why outsourcing web app development is beneficial.
How Web Development Outsourcing Benefits Your Business
With the fact that 68% of US companies outsource, it's easy enough to understand that IT outsourcing is not just a cutting-cost technique. Sometimes it's a must to be competitive in a global market. That should give you some sort of idea about how strong the benefits of web development outsourcing must be. So, let's take a look at them.
Starting Fast
Unlike picking up a design template on WordPress or create site using Wix, developing a web app requires a whole team of professionals, such as backend, frontend developers, QAs, and designers.
Building a web app from scratch will take effort if you don't have a full web dev team. First, you need to find these people. Second – to hire them, which is often a challenge because local specialists are hard to reach. Don't forget about taxes and legal issues.
In web development outsourcing, you save up time on the hiring process and legal issues so that the process will start faster. The delivery process depends a lot on the team you choose. If you did good research, studied the market, and found a dedicated partner, you can be sure of the result. The web development team will be fully engaged in your project, and the collaboration will be smooth.
Saving Cost
Though this benefit is on the surface, we'd like to give you some numbers to compare. If you want to develop a web app in the U.S, where the hourly rate of a web developer is $100-150. It demands approximately 1800 hours to build a web app, so the final sum would be nearly $180K - $270K.
While in Ukraine, the hourly rate for an engineer of the same expertise is around $50/hour. Let’s count. The total price here would be $90K.
The difference is vast, especially if you're building a new product, depend on investors' money, and need to launch quickly.
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Support it All
We had an experience of working in hybrid web dev teams when part of the work was done by us and part in-house. And that is always an option, but the perfect scenario is when the whole web development is done by one team.
One team knows the project from A to Z, it reduces communication constraints, and allows to implement changes and fix bugs faster than in a hybrid format. For you as a founder, it means efficient delivery, consistent process, and one contact point.
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How to Outsource a Good Web Development Company
We talked a lot about when and why you need to outsource web development, what the benefits are, and all this naturally brings us to the question "How to outsource web development?"
Here're some tips on how to outsource web development right from the day you decide to outsource to the end of the collaboration.
Step 1 – Research the options
Once you know what to look for, it won’t be so difficult to pinpoint the best candidates.
Now, you can search for your new partner on Google, but that may not be very helpful. Google will show you the top results relevant to your search, and those might be great companies, but not every company on the list will suit you?
It brings you to another question – where to look for a web development partner?
Check out the reviews for a particular company will shine some light on its services, expertise, experience, and reputation.
Quora is among the best online sources where you can find facts and honest opinions, but Clutch might be even better. It’s data-driven and contains reviews and ratings of the leading IT outsourcing companies.
All the companies on Clutch create their profile, but the platform is responsible for all the completely objective reviews. You can rely on them to learn more about how various companies work.
Step 2 – Check Testimonials
Just like reviews, testimonials can help you gain a clearer picture of how a particular web app development company operates and serves its clients.
Testimonials are either written or spoken statements about an organization and its products or services. As such, you can rely on their authenticity and transparency. There’s rarely anything that can give you more insight into a company than its previous and current customers.
Also, ask the web development partner the contacts of their current / previous clients and get on the phone with them. That way you can ask deep questions and get to know how it’s like working with this vendor.
We can say with 100% confidence that one 10 min call with a previous outsourcing client counts as one day of research.
It's hard for an outsourcing company to arrange such calls because we need to bother our clients and take their time. But that’s why it is valued that high. And every time when we managed to arrange a call, our prospective client became an official one.
So if there is a chance to set up a call with previous clients or have a short chat with them, grab this opportunity and prepare your questions.
Step 3 – Explore Case Studies
One of the best ways to check your potential partner’s experience and expertise is to explore their works. Look for their previous cases and dive into every little detail that will showcase how they work, and what makes them different.
Case studies will show you how a particular web app development company has solved various challenges that they previously encountered. They will show you what solutions and features they implemented, what tests they used to make sure everything ran smoothly, and how they managed to create great user experiences.
Perhaps someone from their case studies is still their partner, so you can even learn more about how they operate in ongoing business relationships.
Step 4 – Evaluate Company’s Culture
A company's culture is the personality of a company that provides you with an insight into the company's values and behaviors in its work environment.
To learn about the company's ethics, goals, and expectations, you can ask for an Introduction call or visit the vendor's office. Take this moment as the opportunity to talk with several team members (not only sales and project managers), and see the real company vibe.
We are working with Eatable – a foodtech company from Sweden and helping them to develop a web app for ghost kitchens. Emanuel Possnert – founder of Eatable visited our office to meet the team in face. It was a great way to spend some time with Uptech team, discuss the project and check that culture match.
Check how it was!
Step 5 – Interview the Developers. Not Only the Sales Team
The sales team may know all about their developers’ experience and expertise, but do they understand their work? Do they know exactly how various types of software function? Do you know who does? Developers.
So, once you put together a shortlist of companies, be sure to set up meetings with all the web developers. Only then will you be able to evaluate who are the right people for the job.
No matter if you're able to meet in person or remotely, make sure you choose a web development team of professionals who are dedicated, meticulous, and genuinely passionate about business. They need to be as committed as you are so that you can seamlessly work together toward achieving your goals.
We at Uptech, work with our clinets as partners. We communicate transparently, ask questions, and develop a product with business’ and users’ needs. It helps us develop products that users love and clients are satisfied with.
Outsource Web Development: What Services Uptech Provides
Uptech – is an international web development company. We build responsive web applications for variety industries to meet clients’ business needs with the latest technologies and the best talents. So once you decide to outsource web app development, we are here to help you and offer the following services.
Custom Web Development
We build robust and scalable web applications while prioritizing your business needs. We help you develop websites and web apps – all based on your needs and feedback during user interviews and tests. You can hire Uptech developers, designers, QAs and Product managers to help you build your web product.
Web Modernization & Redesign
When it comes to particular web modernization, our team is here to help. Everything we do on the project is carried out with the product in mind: no excessive coding or useless technologies. Instead, we only implement the features that match the business goals and users needs.
We have experience developeing apps in the following industries:
So we know and learn the industry trends, latest technologies and implement them into your product.
API integration
For 7 years we have provided web development services and integrated only reliable APIs. Our team has experience working with companies in any industry, regardless of project scale and complexity, involving API integration. We know how to do it step by step.
Web Development Outsourcing: Uptech Cases
Here are the web apps we crafted web apps with love and care.
Nomad
Nomad is a real estate platform targeted at the Dubai rental market. Back then, the real estate system in Dubai was chaotic and complicated and provided little value to potential tenants.
So starting to work on Nomad, we had to work on our database of rental offers. By creating Nomad, we solved this problem and streamlined the process of real estate rentals in Dubai.
Eatable
Eatable is an extra gas pedal for the restaurants. It’s a foodtech company in the field of ghost kitchens. When Eatable came to us, they made one thing clear – growth and scaling are their goals.
To meet Eatable goals, we had to create a fairly effective solution to the users' problem, so they chose Eatable instead of available alternatives. After the discovery, we came up with the B2B solution for Eatable partners and the restaurant market. It was an AWS-based Plug and Play (PnP) system focused on last-mile food delivery. Unlike alternative food delivery platforms with multiple logins and contact points, the one we developed for EaTable allowed restaurants to quickly upload and edit the menus themselves.
Plai
Plai is a startup in people and performance management industry. It helps teams stay in sync, grow and focus on what matters with OKRs, real-time feedback and praise, effortless performance/360° reviews, effective check-ins, and 1:1s.
As any startup, Plai grew fast and we had to move fast and quickly to grow the product.
Despite a constantly growing feature set, we didn't lose speed delivering new features. The end-users and customers were impressed with how fast we added new features and improved the product. It helped us to maintain their loyalty and achieve great retention overall.
How Much Outsource Web Development Cost
The cherry on top is the price of web development outsourcing. We've talked a lot that outsourcing saves a lot but how much exactly? Well, it's hard to say the accurate price, as there are too many factors involved such as:
- The complexity of the product;
- The scale of a web product you want to develop;
- The number of specialists involved;
- The location of a web outsourcing company;
Even with so many uncertainties, we can calculate the approximate cost of your web app. From our experience, web development of the middle complexity product takes 1200 hours or 3 months and a team of 5 specialists. Hourly rates in Easter Europe, where most of the Uptech team works, are between $45-70. So it'll cost you $54K - $84K to build a web product with an outsourcing company like Uptech.
The price will vary depending on the region, so you need to find a balance between money and quality.
Summing Up
Ultimately, a successful outsource web application development depends on fusing the clear goal (why you need to outsource web dev) with robust preparation (research) and wise decision-making. It really takes lots of effort from your side to make it happen.
But the result you get, worth it. With a good web outsourcing company, you will save up money, deliver products faster, and get full tech support from top specialists.
Hope outsourcing web development became more clear to you, and now you're fully-fledged to start outsourcing. If you still have questions or want to create a product together, drop us a line!