5 Rules for Picking the Right Offshore Web Development Company
Offshore web development services come with their benefits and risks. Outsourcing web design to India remains a top choice for businesses in high and upper-middle income economies. Cost efficiency is the prime motive for web design outsourcing. However, there are plenty more aspects that define the offshoring of web development services.
To make the most of offshore web development, you need to acquaint yourself with some realities of outsourcing. Moreover, to reduce risks, you would need to follow some simple steps while outsourcing web design overseas.
There are hundreds of thousands of web design outsourcing companies. Not every company can offer reliable services. Do some homework to choose the right company. These rules could be helpful.
#1. Background Checking
No one would want to work with an offshore company that lacks proper credentials. More importantly, background checking is not just about ensuring that the company is reliable. It is more than that.
- Check the Reviews
It is easy to be misled or even get duped. The offshore company you are seeking to hire would most likely not be covered by your country’s law. It is very easy for an amateur to win your trust by publishing flashy details. Do not believe in the testimonials! Even worse, there are people out to trick you by projecting themselves as web design outsourcing company. Beware!
The best way to avoid this is by checking company reviews from the online community. Real companies post regularly on their blogs. Accreditations are a bonus. Check the social media pages to get further idea. Try to contact the company office to check that they are a genuine company. This alone would not be enough, though!
- Past Work Samples and Experience
Asking the company for samples of past work and references has a dual motive. First, it is a part of ascertaining that the company is genuine. Second, it gives you the idea of the kind of projects that it has handled in the past.
You might be zeroing-in on the wrong company if the services they provide are not what you need. Besides, their work could be below the standards you are expecting. If the company claims to have designed some websites, you may simply drop emails to cross-check with them. It may take a few weeks, but it is better than making a wrong decision.
Take away: Check their portfolio to figure out if they have handled similar projects.
#2. Cost Efficiency
That’s the main reason why most businesses choose website design outsourcing companies. Note that it does not matter how much they charge. What matters is the quality of services, on-time delivery and the willingness to understand your business. These advantages or the lack of it has to be compared with the charges to measure cost efficiency.
Always check the average outsourcing rates in a country. It is a smart idea to opt for an offshoring location that has lots of competing companies for outsourcing web design. India is an example, where tremendous competition among web development services comes as a blessing to businesses. They are ensured of high-quality services at very competitive rates.
Take away: compare cost of the services, but do not forget the quality of work.
#3. Tools
Do not get into hiring an offshore company without knowing the basics of web development. It’s not that tough with so many informational blogs! It helps in striking the right deal and communicating your needs.
Prepare a questionnaire regarding the technical aspects of the project you are going to outsource. Ask the company about the tools it is going to use. How are they going to be beneficial for the results you desire?
Take away: Make sure that the methods and techniques they use are the latest.
#4. Language Matters
Distances are not physical when it comes to outsourcing. Rather, they are cultural and most importantly, linguistic. Many businesses suffer in their offshore partnerships because of vague communication. That seems to be a very trivial reason, but it’s true.
The level of proficiency in your language goes a long way in establishing clear communication. It is pertinent for dealing professionally and cutting the work-culture gap too.
Take away: A majority of businesses looking for outsourcing services are located in developed English speaking world. Clarity of the accent is an important factor that makes India the leading outsourcing destination over China.
#5. Dynamic Requests
Web development is an ongoing process, more so with the SEO component becoming a very important component of late. It can be a nuisance to keep changing the web development company every now and then. It is always better to stick to one company. You would just need to make a wise decision when you start.
The website might require changes in the design, website architecture or content while the process is underway. You may need a new host or an upgrade after some time. It is wise to choose a company that caters to your requests for changes whenever you like.
Take away: If a company does not respect your change requests, or is lazy in handling them, avoid choosing them.
You might want to avoid Putting all your Eggs in one Basket!
Choosing the right offshore web development company might seem a daunting task when you start. However, its fruits are worth the effort once you make the right choice.
If your project is complex and involves huge sums, you may try the services by assigning a small task. Finalize outsourcing only when you are satisfied. Also, be prepared and remain sensitive to the time-zone differences to maintain good professional relations. That goes a long way in getting the best out of an offshore web development company.
Try outsourcing your website design, web development, content writing, SEO or data entry work to ICO. Here are the answers to the FAQs on offshore outsourcing with us.
How to choose your Website Design Outsourcing Partner
Last week I stumbled upon an article How to Recruit an A-Quality Designer for Your Company. This made me think about discussing the key points which a Client should consider before Web Design Outsourcing.
ICO being an offshore outsourcing company in New Delhi, India 
believes and fulfills all the key points which should be necessary for an Outsourcing need.
If you are skeptical about why should you Outsource, I’d recommend reading the Benefits of Outsourcing to India.
Consider your Web Design Outsourcing company as your Partner, who will help in your business growth in ways explained here.
Hiring offshore employees has not lost it charm still. You may have had many bad experiences in offshore outsourcing.
But…
Those are solely because you blindly believe what your offshore partners promise. The flowery services and heavy cost savings offerings may have lured you to sign the contract. And it didn’t turn out well in for you.
This is the common scenario with companies who have tried hiring offshore and are now reluctant to do it again.
But they are seriously losing the opportunity to save on the huge cost of hiring in house. Also, this bad experience stories travel very fast over our World Wide Web, so the companies who haven’t tried hiring offshore are not considering it at all.
You have to be diligent in choosing your outsourcing partner. Do not just go with the very first choice. Make a checklist to be clear about what factors you just cannot ignore before finalizing one.
Make sure you cross check with the list below before hiring your Web Design Outsourcing Partner in India
Almost all of us must have booked a party venue, right? Do you just book the very first one that comes across you? No, right? You do your due diligence, check reviews online, see similar ones and then chose the best among all.
So, if we do not finalize a party venue just randomly, then here we are talking about our Business. One just cannot, rather should not randomly chose a outsourcing partner randomly, being lazy.
You can check out the positive qualities to look for in developers, and mistakes to avoid when outsourcing development. Once you have a shortlisted list of outsourcing companies, finalize the one which satisfies you by covering the below points.
Portfolio
Check their portfolio to get a glimpse of their previous work. Try to ask dig in to know their knowledge of designing and developing websites. Ask questions about their relevant experience, platform they use, how many clients have worked with them etc.
Some of the offshore services companies especially in web design field do not have enough work samples or testimonials on their websites or in their portfolio.
This is because they generally partner with web design companies in USA or UK and cannot display the work they do for them in their own portfolio.
So how can you check their credentials?
Best way to check their expertise for your work and the quality they provide is by giving them a small project for which you can pay once they successfully do it without any advance payment.
If they seriously want to earn your business they should be willing to do a small test project for you.
Case Studies
Ask them if they case studies where they helped clients in their growth. Also, ask them how much time and money have they saved for their clients in Outsourcing business.
Online Search
Search the company on search engines, Social sites, forums etc and get maximum information about it. Check the reviews, both positive and negative ones, and decide for yourself if they work for you
References
What’s better than hearing straight from the horse’s mouth. Ask for relevant references and and be attentive to what kind of project they did for the reference client. If they satisfied one client with similar development needs, chances are they won’t disappoint you either.
Technology Knowledge
This is crucial. They have to have advanced knowledge of the technology you wish to have your web design project worked on. As this is about Web Design Outsourcing, it is imperative to have thorough and updated knowledge about the tools, techniques and advancements.
Language
First and the most important thing is, do they understand and communicate in your language and how good they are at it? There is no point even discussing business if an off shore company is not able to communicate in English if you are based in US or UK.
You can always check by communicating with them over emails and also have few phone calls with them. This will give you an idea of their writing and speaking skill of English language.
Most tech guys like web developers and web designers are not good at speaking or communication in English Language, but if such companies can provide you a project manager who is good in communicating in English, to monitor your off shore employee and act as a point of contact for you then it is heads up for you.
Such companies may prove reliable as they are willing to take an extra step for you
Location & Holidays
Their location is very important. For example, if you are looking to find an offshore partner in India then you may come across thousands of small companies even one man armies promising flowery deliverables.
But you should be smart enough to check where in India you get quality web designers and developers or any expertise you are looking for.
Few locations in India where you find quality people who can actually deliver what they promise are National Capital Region, NCR, this is the area around New Delhi where all the biggies have their offshore centers, to name a few, IBM, Microsft, Dell, Agilent Technologies, Adobe and many others.
So if they can do that and save billions of $$, why can’t you.
People around this location are also very good in English.
Also ask them to share their Holidays calendar. So that the work schedule and deadlines can be arranged accordingly
Time Zone
Another important aspect while selecting your offshore partner is to check if they work as per your time zone. As this reduces the time gap which is a barrier in timely delivery of work. Otherwise you may need to wait for 24 hrs to get an answer to your questions.
You will find a lot of good Web Design Companies around NCR in India who work during night here and provide services as per your time zone. So you can get updates in a timely manner from such offshore companies.
Some companies also provide a local US number for their clients to reach them which is a very good offering. You can reach them by dialing a local number even if they are far away
Data Security
Data is everything in today’s Business World. So make sure to scrutinize the security measures taken by your to be outsourcing partner to prevent data leakage of your company. Confirm with your partner if they have reliable software, closed circuit television, guards etc. to protect the data
Documents
Sign necessary documents like NDA or SLA to avoid any future conflicts. It’s always better to the paper work in the beginning for a smooth process.
Payments
Fix the payments and mode of payments before assigning work to your partner.
Communication and Customer Service
How can you reach them is another point to be considered while selecting an offshore partner for your web design business?
A good web design outsourcing company will always provide enough modes of communications for example chat, email, phones etc. You must see which way you are comfortable in communicating with them. As you may get into a situation where you are not able to reach your offshore partner when you need them the most.
So phone call is the best and chat applications are added advantage.
Control and Reports
If the companies, you are in conversation with fulfill the above criteria then you must check how much control you have over the resource you hire at their location.
Resource should be accessible over phone and chats while working for you. You must be able to send work directly to the person you hire. Which may be monitored by the project managers or supervisors at their location.
You must ask for daily or weekly or monthly reports for the work done for you.
Code
Ask the outsourcing partner to maintain the Code Standards by keeping the code clean and properly labeled. This will help if someone else from your internal team wants to work with the code later.
Above all, think wisely.
There is a lot which offshore web design outsourcing can offer. You can save thousands of $$ by choosing the right offshore partner for your business.
Contact ICO to hire your Web Design Outsourcing Partner in New Delhi, India and save almost 50% of your in-house hiring cost.
How will Outsourcing help your business?
Benefits of Outsourcing
The understanding of the word “Outsourcing” has gained depths within the last few decades. Initially, Outsourcing simply meant to hire a third party resource without paying a lump sum and get the work done with no compromise on quality.
Now, Outsourcing means to hire the best person offshore or locally and get the job done with complete perfection. All the industries benefits the most by outsourcing in terms of finances, accuracy and perfection.
Why is Offshore Outsourcing Management necessary?
Signing-in is the Beginning
If you think that after signing in the contract you are free and the Outsourcing process is complete; you are wrong my friend. It has just begun. Now you will truly start the business relationship and effective and meticulous Management oversight will be essential hereafter.
You must be thinking, I already have a management team to take care of Outsourcing projects, I don’t need to worry about it. But, here is the difference, it doesn’t matter if you are a big corporation or a small business, but if your plan is to regularly outsource work, you will need to frame a systematic structure to manage your outsourcing process. I have collaborated a few points which will help you manage your business for successful outsourcing.
Why do I need Outsourcing Management to improve my business?
Yes, absolutely! I need not mention the many benefits of Outsourcing, but undoubtedly the outsourcing process also requires good management to make it an accomplishment. It starts right from selecting a service provider, to negotiating the deal, managing the relationship and dealing with the distributed process, outsourcing needs a good management strategy to be followed by both client and service provider.
Connecting a good management structure for an outsourcing process can help attain:
- Enriched performance and quality
- Healthier risk and crisis management
- Better coordinated and organized team
- Further reductions in overall expenses
- Improved streamlining of the outsourcing process
- Increased Success Ratio
What core functional areas should I emphasize on?
For the successful management of the Outsourcing process the Client and the service provider both need to concentrate on the below core functional areas. These critical areas include:
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Analyze the scope and price of the Outsourcing Project
Cost is often considered one the most important reasons cited for choosing outsourcing. It is therefore necessary that both parties analyze the scope and pricing of the outsourced project before they sign a contract.
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Communication should not be a barrier
Communication should not be a barrier or a hindrance while managing the outsourced projects. This is key to establish a well-managed structure for successful accomplishment of outsourced projects. Communication strategy should be formed such that it lays importance on, reliable contact between client and service provider, regular feedback, clarity in instructions and the development of a dependable system for clarifying any doubt and solving it efficiently.
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Never compromise the Performance
To measure the performance you have to concentrate on both, the Project Quality and the Project Delivery Timeline. To establish this, the client must keep a close eye on the quality by comparing it with the previously discussed parameters. The client should also focus on monitoring the deadlines and demand liability reports in case of any delay.
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Always have a backup plan
It is always better to be prepared for any undesirable situation, this holds true for both sides of the outsourcing process. For this, you need to have a back-up plan in place so that if anything does not go as per plan you have a strategy to control the panic and lower any risk involved.
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Periodic project training
The clients must train the service provider in regular intervals or when required with the new and updated information related to the project. By doing this the client can be rest assured to facilitate better production, improved timelines and increase the overall quality of the outsourced project. The client must closely monitor and manage the projects to attain and analyze the need for training.
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Maintain a healthy Client-Vendor Relation
This may sound as a less important point but trust me it is a very crucial one. The client and service provider have to have a healthy business relationship for the success of the project. Business relationships can be maintained with communicating on regular intervals and having transparency with each other.
Management of in-house team is equally important
The external and internal management of the outsourcing arrangement go hand in hand when the motive is to attain maximum success ratio. The in-house management team should be headed by a Project Manager, who is fully responsible for the guidelines of the project being outsourced. They have to be skilled to maintain a balance between the demand and supply and take necessary steps to distribute the work between in-house work and service provider.
ICO Web Solutions delivers 360 degree of IT solutions for a wide range of services that include web designing, web development, mobile phone applications, SEO, content writing, data entry, data processing. Outsource to ICO Web Solutions and take advantage of the many benefits of outsourcing.