Risks Involved in Outsourcing Web Development

Today, a business is nothing without a website. Often people as a cost-saving strategy outsource business operations inclusive a website development. Outsourcing is a good decision but if it’s a web development project, think again.

Is it wise to outsource web development? Actually, it is something to ponder seriously and as a businessperson, you should have a solid reason for trusting a third-party web agency.

Till now, we have seen and read about the good things of outsourcing and now out-of-the blue why such an apprehension?

Besides the eye-popping benefits, there are numerous pitfalls of outsourcing a web development project. In this blog post, we will learn about each of them in detail.

What are the risks of Outsourcing Web Development?

Call it a sheer determination, business owners who don’t want to hire or train in-house resources, opt for outsourcing and end up paying more than what they had bargained for. Now let’s see in what terms.

• DIFFERENT TIME ZONES
  • The trend of running business operations in a multi time zone seems cool. A few hours of time difference doesn’t count, but a large time zone difference will definitely lead to operational inefficiencies.
  • We are not speaking about a call center service here; it’s a web development process. A real-time, live interaction with your agency is never possible and you may encounter issues with your web project.
  • Note: A large time zone difference cuts the communication thread.
• THE LOSS OF VISIBILITY AND MANAGERIAL CONTROL
  • Managing in-house resources is easier, but expecting to have the same grade of leverage on the staff members who are miles away from you is truly impossible.
  • Are the best people working on my project, the indirect relationships may often make you think this way. At some point of time, potential conflicts may arise and you may have to witness undesirable situations.
  • To be fair, for managing an outsourced process you should be working on your relationship with your third-party web agency. You should make them work on a common objective by giving them a clear picture about your ideas.
• HIDDEN COSTS
  • Why from start-ups to fortune 500 companies, the process of outsourcing is been extensively adopted? It’s the desire to protect the working capital. Well you know at the end of the year it all boils down to money, don’t you agree?
  • If it’s your bad time and if your vendors are smart, they will make you pay more.
  • What??
  • Yes, it’s a dark reality, and it comes with hidden costs.
  • What is a hidden cost?
  • Hidden costs are unlooked for expenses that are normally not included in the regular price.
  • What are the possible ways that you can incur hidden costs?
    • Currency Fluctuations
    • Failing to budget every process
    • Hardware/Software Refresh
    • Planned Headcount Reduction
    • Poor Communication Strategy
  • So before you hire a third party web agency, raise your concerns about hidden costs. It’s a misconception that hidden costs don’t make much difference. In reality, they do make a huge difference when we calculate the costs incurred in a year.
• SECURITY AND PRIVACY LEAKS
  • Failing to have a good security policy may put your organization at risk.
  • A professional security policy is something that distinguishes between common data and critically sensitive information. In the event of outsourcing, you should make it a point to clearly define the guidelines and standards with your business partners.