2-1/2 Minute Read Highlighting Six Factors Agencies Consider When Outsourcing Web-dev.
One doesn’t need to be a Mighty Mouse fan to know the song lyric, “Heeeeere I come to save the day!”
Andy Kaufman helped keep it at the forefront when he made it part of his shtick on the inaugural episode of Saturday Night Live (Oct 11. 1975).
But save-the-day has actually remained popular because most of us occasionally need to have our days saved.
Or our somethings saved.
In the marketing agency world we all know what that means—often enough, we need a major miracle. And no matter the godsend, it ultimately translates to making things easier and more profitable.
Website Development and Divine Intervention
There’s no single definition of how outsourcing can save time, money and reputation when it comes to delivering quality website projects as promised and at a nice profit. It’s not just for those agencies that have no in-house capabilities at all. It’s a transparent partnership that simply helps fill gaps, wherever they might be.
Some Scenarios
1. Loss of staff (royal pain)…
Agencies still need to continue to support their clients even as their rosters go through changes. Outsourcing can fill gaps when web-dev employees leave, or while new hires are being vetted.
The Great Resignation
79 percent of agencies report moderate to severe business impact due to staff loss.*
2. Specialized skill sets (no one can do everything)…
Even when a good-sized staff or some dynamite unicorns are already in place, partners can fill gaps in capabilities that might be shy—it’s much less costly and less challenging than hiring.
Average Salaries†
UX/UI designer: $89,907
Front end Developer: $101,514
Sr. WordPress Developer: $99,401
QA specialist: $73,443
Systems administrator: $92,248
Digital Marketing Specialist: $64,362
3. Scope development (versus scope creep)…
More than 90 percent of software projects that fail are due to lack of scope-creep management‡. Or, another way to say it, the amount of work in web-dev gets miscommunicated and under-compensated. But outsourcing can ask the right questions, define the structure, collect the resources. Or handle security questionnaires, and pre- and post-launch technical checklists.
Nearly 60 Percent
Number of clients who don’t recognize how much work the agency does for them.*
4. Ad hoc work (death by a thousand cuts)…
Is an agency going to make money fixing a broken plug-in or a slider or a form or a this or a that? The higher margins are, of course, going to be in the big ideas and service offerings of the agency instead of the distractions that a partner can handle.
Niche – Winning The Hearts
Agencies that identify as thought leaders are the most likely to identify that they have a strong niche.* Who says they’re a strong troubleshooter?
5. Turnkey Solutions…
With digital transformation there is more opportunity to capture more business per website project—interactive website engagement, compelling video work and the entire UX/UI design of a site, for example. Providing strategy and creative and execution translates to not leaving money on the table.
How Many Use Outstanding?
76 percent of agencies use white label partners*
6. Fixed costs Vs. variable costs…
Outsourcing partners and be picked up off the shelf and put back on it throughout the course of a relationship. Filling gaps with freelancers is an option. But industry-respected partners who are full service (for whatever service is needed) provide a singularly focused resource from a provider who has a lot more skin in the game—members of the agency’s very own peer group and trade affiliations.
Less Than One-Fourth
Only 24 percent of agencies report access to outsourcing as an issue.* Partners are a readily available alternative to fixed-cost staffing.
Outsourcing is all about filling gaps—no matter where those gaps may be—and saving the day.
Once that partner’s super-heroic powers are plugged into place, agency owners can allocate more effort toward opportunity and what they do best. Then, the bandwidth can get more width, and account people can sell more capabilities as limitations and bottlenecks go away.