Your guide on How to Choose
Web Development Outsourcing Partner

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic continues to claim thousands of lives across the globe. While the health consequences of the deadly virus have become apparent, its economic outcomes have only started to emerge.

This crisis is going to change the global economy in many ways. One of the obvious trends that will rise in the coming months is getting goods and services online. The growing preference to online purchases over in-person shopping is giving rise to an increasingly digitized economy.

In short, we will see more demand for web-based applications, portals, online stores, and entertainment. Digital agencies across the globe will see a tremendous surge in website design and development work, along with other digital marketing services.

How Do You Ride
This Change?

One way to do more without extra overheads is to outsource web development and design work. You can also focus on getting more leads, something every business owner must do in this economy.

However, finding the perfect web design and development outsourcing partner is easier said than done.

You need someone who lives up to your expectation. Here are a few tips that’ll help you find a perfect outsourcing partner.

Experienced Team Vs Multiple
Freelancers/Contractors

When outsourcing web development work, you can either hire a contractor or a team of experts. However, a contractor often specializes in one or at the most two areas, forcing you to rely on additional contractors to work on the issues outside of their specialization.

Working with multiple contactors means you will have to explain your vision and ideas again and again, and also keep track of multiple project timelines. Juggling between multiple contractors is mentally exhausting, which beats the very purpose of outsourcing.

Even if you find a contractor with multiple skills, you would rather work with a team of experts than a jack of all trades. For starters, a team has diverse work experience compared to a contractor. It often consists of professionals with different specializations.

As an entire team is working on your project, you can finish multiple tasks at the same time. Also, if something were to happen to one of the team members, others can take over to keep the project going. A team of professionals also has stellar communication and time management skills, making your life easier.

Experienced Team Vs Multiple Freelancers/Contractors

Multi-Tech Stack

When it comes to web development, you are faced with several different ever-evolving technologies. Each technology is developed with a specific purpose. For example, open source technologies like WordPress and PHP offer excellent customizations and hence are very popular.

On the other hand, technologies like Shopify and BigCommerce specifically cater to e-commerce web development needs. React, Node, and Angular, among others, help you build fast-loading websites.

If you work with a multi-stack tech partner, identifying and using suitable technologies for your project becomes less time consuming and more efficient. If you already have a set technology preference, working with a team of experts helps you secure the required skillset easily.

That’s why your web design and development outsourcing need to be backed by a team comprising a multi-tech stack. Make sure to find a multi-stack partner.

Processes, Tools, and Standards

Processes, tools, and development standards are the trifecta of a professional web development outsourcing company. You need to make sure the company has well-established web development processes. Most professionals would be more than willing to share this information with you.

Your would-be outsourcing partner should have following web development and collaboration tools among others.

  • Code Editors – Atom, Sublime, Notepad++, Visual Studio Code, and Vim.
  • Web Application Frameworks – Laravel, CodeIgniter, Yii, Ruby on Rails
  • CMS Frameworks – WordPress
  • eCommerce Frameworks- WooCommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, Opencart
  • Front-End Frameworks – React, Vue, Angular, jQuery, Backbonejs, Semantic-UI, and Foundation.
  • Git Clients – SourceTree, GIT CLI and GUI, GitKraken, GITHub.
  • Web APIs – REST and LambdaTest.
  • Communication and Collaboration Tools – Skype, Zoom, Trello, Basecamp, Slack

Furthermore, taking a look at the development standards will help you understand how the team will handle each one of your web development outsourcing projects. Although the actual work process may vary from project to project, the tech partner will follow the same development standards to maintain work quality and efficiency.

Choose a Flexible and Adaptable Team

When outsourcing web development work, you can’t compromise on flexibility and adaptability. Instead of forcing you to go by their development processes, the outsourcing partner should be willing to adapt to your work processes as and when required.

Web development is quite fluid. So, both you and the team will need to work together. The team also needs to be flexible. If your in-house team makes any suggestions or provides your partner with a few design ideas or rough web flow, they should be able to take it from there and complete the development.

The flexibility should also extend to onboarding team members with suitable skillsets, as and when required. The team should be able to make necessary personnel changes as per your project’s changing software technology needs.

Choose a Flexible and Adaptable Team

Multiple Pricing Options

The primary benefit of web design and development outsourcing is the cost savings. However, you should have the option to choose a suitable plan. The most common pricing options are:

  • Fixed Price
  • Time & Material Model
  • Hire Dedicated Reosource

Choose a Full-Service Team

While web design and development are your primary concerns, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and webpage content also play a critical role to hit the ground running for your new or refurbished website.

With a complete keyword and on-page SEO optimization and compelling content, your website can start attracting the target audience from the moment it goes live. When you work with a full-service team, they can ensure that the content resonates with your target audience and enhances the appeal of your web design.

The technical SEO and content optimization is also spot-on as the SEO team can get required insights from the developers every step of the way. This cohesive web development approach increases chances of your website’s success by a mile, not to mention, saves your money and time.

Choose a Full-Service White Label Team

White Label Project Management and Communication

White label communication is a critical aspect of outsourcing web development work. It usually involves your white label partner directly communicating with your clients regarding their projects. It eliminates the need to appoint a communications or project manager at your end.

Your web development outsourcing partner should be willing to handle your client communication. However, make sure the partner has the desired understanding of English, formal communication etiquettes, knows your cultural aspect, and the ways to present information.

Under Promise and Over Deliver

When you are headhunting to outsource web development, you will see many companies making promises that are rarely fulfilled. That’s why you should look for a partner that under promises and over delivers.

Any white label partner believing in this work approach will provide you more value for your money. They are often willing to go the extra mile to meet your business goals and uphold your brand value. Make sure to find a partner with track record to deliver beyond a customer’s expectations.

Single Point of Contact

Chances are you will be asking your partner to work on multiple web development outsourcing projects. As it usually happens, you will be assigned different points of contacts. However, talking back and forth with different point of contacts is time consuming, demanding, and may cause delay, which is why you should avoid it.

Be sure to look for a partner who can provide you with a single point of contact. Thus, you can avoid juggling between different communications managers. You should also make sure to talk to the point of contact to help them understand your agency values, your communication processes, and your work culture. It will help communicate smoothly even when your projects scale up.

No Retainer Fee or Contract

Retainer fee and annual contracts are fairly common in the world of web development services outsourcing. Depending on the amount of work hours and tasks, you would be charged anywhere between $200 to $1000 as a retainer.

However, accepting a long-term contract or paying a hefty retainer, especially in these volatile circumstances, is not a good idea. That’s why it is better to consider a partner who is willing to offer you the freedom to work with them as long as you want. It allows you to increase, decrease, or stop outsourcing projects completely based on your project volume.

Real-Time Communication

We live in a world of instant gratification. Customers often want immediate result, or at least to be kept informed of the work progress. That’s why real-time communication is extremely important.

Feedback is crucial for designing great websites, so your partner should be willing to listen to you whenever you speak your mind. Make sure your web development outsourcing partner uses multiple real-time communication channels such as Slack, Skype, WhatsApp, and iMessage, among others.

The partner should also know how to align the communication process as per the increase or decrease in the amount of your work. In addition to real-time communication, having tools like Clockify for time tracking and billing and Basecamp for sharing regular work updates, can also help increase productivity and transparency.

Real-Time Communication

Extended Customer Support

When your web design and development outsourcing involve multiple projects, you are bound to have an emergency or two on your hands. When that happens, you will need extended customer support from your web development partner.

See if you can find a partner that can offer you a quick and responsive customer service outside of regular work hours in case of an emergency. Your point of contact should be trained to hand over your queries seamlessly to the experts and keep track of your requests until they are completely resolved.

Extended Customer Support

Skilled and Experienced Resources

Web development requires a wide range of skilled and experienced team members including web designers, frontend and backend developers, graphic designers, project managers, SEOs, and copywriters. Each team member should have the appropriate educational qualification, relevant industry experience, and devotion to their job.

They should be able to handle their responsibilities in a balanced and efficient manner. Make sure to talk to your would-be web development partner about the level of expertise their team members have. Any professional white label web development company will be will to share the portfolio of their in-house resources.

Skilled and Experienced Resources

Proven Experience of Working with Agencies Like Yours

Having experienced and skilled resources alone isn’t enough. Whether it is a web development outsourcing company in USA or overseas, it should also have a track record of successfully working with agencies like yours.

This real-life experience proves that the company can handle the volume and technical intricacies involving in your projects. You can take a look at their client portfolio or ask the company to share a list of their completed projects. However, you should remember that NDAs may restrict a white label agency from sharing this information in some cases.

Experience of Working with Agencies

Scalability

One of the most important benefits of outsourcing web development is that you don’t have to bear the burden of hiring new talent as your list of client grows. Also, the number of web development outsourcing projects often keep fluctuating, especially in a volatile market like this.

That’s why your web development partner should be capable of scaling up the required resources, as and when necessary. Scalability means hiring new talent and/or investing in additional tools or overheads. Be sure your white label partner has the necessary resource to stay with your growing demand.

Scalability

Security

Web design and development outsourcing not only involves developing secure and robust codes but also keeping your client and other business information confidential. The partner should provide you with a clean code as well as ready to sign an NDA.

The while label agency should also take the necessary care while handling all your data and information to maintain its integrity and keep it safe from potential data breaches. You should also draw up a data handling process outlining how the data will be exchanged and the security measures the outsourcing company is using.

Security

Find a Partner Rather Than Vendor

Throughout this post, we have used the word partner rather than a service provider or vendor, because that is what you need. You are better off working with a white label partner that treats your brand as its own, offering your clients the same level of professional commitment and dedication that you would.

A partner offers transparency, flexibility, and scalability to help your business grow. They commit themselves to using the latest technology, experienced developers, and a result-oriented approach while working with you. Thus, you can focus on your core business responsibilities.

Wrap Up

From easy scalability to costs savings, the varied benefits of outsourcing web development make it an efficient business model for many web development agencies across the world. However, the success lies in finding the right white label partner, which is a tough challenge. Hopefully, these tips will speed up your search for a suitable outsourcing partner. Of course, you can talk to us about how we, as a successful and professional white-label agency, can help you in this regard. We are just an email or text away.