Web development outsourcing for UK-based companies – why and where
Are you running an UK-based company? Like many other British companies, you may find yourself in need of web development outsourcing. If you have already tried it, chances are you are now hesitating to entrust your project once again to a company overseas due to all sorts of problems that may have arisen. Read what makes Poland an (almost) surefire way of getting web development outsourcing for UK-based companies right.
UK companies are some of the most innovative organizations in the world with the UK ranked by the Boston Consulting Group among the most innovative countries thanks to its free market and world-class universities among others. As such, they often turn to web development outsourcing to bring their startup and innovative service ideas to fruition. But just like any other convenient strategy with the goal to cut costs, it may backfire as the quality of software houses vary greatly. In this article, we would like to tell you why we believe that Poland is an especially interesting direction when it comes to web development outsourcing for UK-based companies. You will also learn some general rules of thumb that will help you to avoid software houses that will fail to deliver on their promise.
Web development outsourcing is about quality resources
… and Poland has them. Only two years ago, the very first world tournament in programming took place. The “Hello World Open” contest in Helsinki had teams from all over the world participate in a challenge to code an AI for a race car. The Polish “Need For C” team triumphed. And it is merely the shiniest of many examples of Polish programming successes on the international level. Polish programmers are widely considered as some of the world’s best, owing both to the quality of Polish universities as well as strong sense of individual self-improvement. As a matter of fact, if you choose a Polish web development outsourcing company, you’re likely to find a fair option even without any particular research (not that we recommend this kind of approach!).
Affordable, but not cheap
One of the most attractive things about web development outsourcing is that it allows companies to save a lot of money hiring people and making a solid team out of them in-house would cost. Logically, the outsourcing relationship is often one of a company from a developed country with high living costs and a company from a country that provides relatively cheap workforce. Unfortunately, the quality of developers from cheap workforce countries tends to vary to the point that making a not fully informed decision about your outsourcing partner is way too risky.
When compared to some of the cheapest destinations for web development outsourcing, Poland is more costly, but still incredibly affordable for companies from the British market. That’s thanks to the costs of living in Poland that are much lower than those in the UK and other countries from the Western Europe as well as the U.S. As a result, what Poland provides are some of the best programmers in the world at a price that is impossible to come by in the UK, greatly decreasing software development costs. Being a member of EU as well as a country where almost everyone starts learning English at a very young age (ranked 9th in the world in the 2015 English Proficiency Index), it provides a very suitable web development outsourcing environment for UK-based companies
Overseas… but still close by
Unlike a lot of other popular web development outsourcing destinations, Poland is located fairly close to the British Islands. As a matter of fact, for us, the Sensinum software house, a fly to the UK takes about 2.5 hours – a feat comparable to a trip between our office in Krakow and the Polish capital city of Warsaw. Another big advantage of this relative vicinity of Poland is the fact that our working hours are almost identical. A mere one hour of difference means that you can expect to communicate easily online with your web development outsourcing partner from Poland during your daytime.
How to find a truly expert web development outsourcing company?
As you can see, there are many reasons why you should include Poland in your research of the best web development outsourcing options. However, even in Poland you may still come across a subpar software house. While overall a great market, it’s by no means any more immune than others to software houses that lack expert resources and struggle with efficient communication with their foreign clients. You still need to have a way to tell a good software house from one you should definitely avoid. How can you do that?
The most straightforward way is to look at their portfolios. But instead of just looking at projects that you recognize or that appeal to you visually, you should try your best to find projects that a low quality software house would never tackle. There are many software houses that make simple static or WordPress-based web pages. But only a handful of them are capable of developing large-scale web applications that utilize advanced data processing algorithms to power its features. Data engineering is just an example, which happens to be close to us as this is what Sensinum is now focusing lots of its resources on. But this specialization may very be e-commerce, eHealth, fintech or any other field of expertise that requires both deep algorithmic expertise and the knowledge of certain industries. The bottom line here is that top-notch software houses have all sorts of deep specializations and unique competences that go far beyond common web development.
Meet with your outsourcing company in UK!
Recently, we wrote a few pieces on how we solve common problems that arise while working with an overseas software house. We tackled the initial planning stage, which includes development of the project specification, the project kickoff meeting as well as the ways we go about making sure that our communication online goes smoothly. Still, no matter how efficiently you can communicate online, one cannot overstate the value of a face to face meeting. Just one is enough to make sure that every single stakeholder and team member understands the common objective of the project. It also does wonders for the client’s confidence that everything is going to be alright.
Develop your project specification
Aside of possessing the right expertise and being there always when you need it, quality web development outsourcing providers help their customers develop a project specification during the workshop sessions. Developing a solid project specification, which is a basis of a successful kickoff meeting and the entire project, often proves difficult for companies interested in web development outsourcing as it requires deep technical knowledge, which, after all, happens to be exactly what they’re looking for through web development outsourcing.
What’s more, even if the company ends up not signing a long-term deal with the provider, they get to keep the specification and are free to do whatever they want with it, having only to pay for the actual number of hours spent working.
Web development outsourcing can be very beneficial for UK-based companies. The biggest advantage is a very easy access to an experienced and efficient team of software developers you don’t have to invest in, only paying for the actual number of hours worked. But it can very well turn into a nightmare if you make a bad choice. Entrusting your project to a Polish software house that provides expert web application development services greatly increases your chance of succeeding.
Sensinum is ready to meet face to face for a project kickoff meeting regardless of where you are. But if you are in the UK, we can meet regularly. Since Sensinum often works with UK-based companies, our representatives fly there at least once a month. Contact Sensinum today and let us see how we can help to turn your project into a magnificent product.
Sensinum is a Polish software house with top skills in providing software development solutions to companies, marketing agencies and teams. You can hire Sensinum as a subcontractor or cooperate with them on your own project in order to receive fast and effective services brought to you by experienced developers. See what we can do for you, contact us and consult your software idea for free.