In-house or Outsource? How to Determine What Web Development Option is Best

Web development is an important marketing strategy. With a navigable, rich in text and graphics website, customers will be attracted. In addition, search-engine optimization (SEO) web development techniques can help the website to the top of search engine results. However, investing in web development brings up an issue that all businesses face: does one focus on in-house development or does one outsource the development duties?

Cost

In terms of cost, in-house development has its advantages. Using the web team the business already has, the website development can be focused on by those workers. As a result, the typical wages paid for the workers is maintained. When a company outsources the web development, it will often be more expensive. This is because the services provided by a third-party will have competitive pricing that would cost more than paying workers in the business. However, if you have to hire new employees with the technical expertise to do web development, you may end up paying more for the overhead costs of acquiring a workforce than would be offset by the premium of an outside company. In considering cost, it's best to weigh your specific situation to see what will save most.

Expertise

In terms of expertise, the outsourced company may have its advantages. The information technology (IT) team at the business may have other responsibilities and have only general ideas on how to conduct web development. A third party, like SolutionStream.net development company, hires workers whose expertise is web development. As a result, every employee that works for a client will most likely be an expert on web design and internet marketing in relation to web development.

Timetable and other Responsibilities

The responsibilities factor plays a role in the timetable for the project. An in-house team will most likely have other responsibilities for the business besides the website development. If the business' team has multiple duties and tasks per week to complete, adding a website project could reduce the effectiveness and quality of every in-house project. An outsourced company can often promise that their team will work with the business as their exclusive client, promising a quick timetable. However, larger companies may approach the business with some distance and fewer personal touches. Moments where the business does not feel they are the exclusive client for the outsourced company may sound an alarm that the promised timetable is not set in stone.

Creativity

Finally, there is a creativity issue. In-house website development teams will know exactly what the business wants because of clear communication between management and the marketing teams. In addition, in-house workers, who may have worked for the business for years, know the unique selling point of the business. Outsourced companies will usually hire very creative website developers, but their creativity might work beyond the wants of a client business. It is not uncommon for an outsourced company to present a client a website development idea and the client rejecting it.

The best strategy to determine if the project should be in-house or outsourced is to review what the business has in terms of capital and workers. Internet marketing is key with a good website, so the business managers should review if their IT team has the freshest insight with internet marketing. This includes having a person who is knowledgeable in copy-writing and knows the marketing strategies to expand brand awareness via a website.

Also, the business will need a person on staff who can demonstrate their knowledge in website coding. Website coding is its own programming language, so even the expert programmers on the team might not know the coding needed to develop a website. In addition, the business should have a graphic designer who can supplement the web development by applying rich-graphics to the website.

Reviewing the existing in-house team with these factors can help a business decide if outsourcing or keeping the development in-house is best plan. Often, a hybridization might be the best option with an outside company doing the initial development an in-house staff providing continuing maintenance and development. Consider these factors while making your decision.

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