Having a business these days means realizing how important online presence is. Promoting your business services or products via the web gives you the ability to reach to your target audience all around the globe. It’s also important to understand the amount of competition out there because there are companies like Amazon and Walmart on top of the list. In any case, a business website is a must-have these days and the stronger and better your online presence is, the more chances you have to increase your online sales.
But what does it have to do with engineers and developers? Depending on what kind of services of products you sell, using the right software can increase your business efficiency and improve your revenue.
Software Engineers vs Developers
Although the web is filled with argues on this topic and there are different opinions, there is a difference between a developer and an engineer. For an entrepreneur, it’s not critical to be aware of these differences so I don’t really want to get into this a lot. Basically, a software engineer has all the skills a developer has but is able to work not only with software but also with hardware. It goes way beyond this explanation but it really depends on your project requirements to decide which one you need. Some projects are so comprehensive and complicated that it takes a whole team and different specialists like developers, engineers, designers, Q&As (testers), software architects to work together in a synergy.
Hiring Remotely vs Locally
Working with remote employees is no longer extraordinary, especially in the IT industry. While companies still feel more comfortable with hiring in-house employees, many choose to hire remote engineers to open up new opportunities and talents. Of course, along with the benefits it brings, there’s a number of issues you can face. If you are to dig deeper into the most popular remote work models like freelance, outsourcing and, most importantly, outstaffing, you’d find out that all the possible disadvantages can be eliminated with the right approach and tools. Meanwhile, remote work popularity is constantly increasing. You can take a look at the main benefits of hiring developers for remote work on a picture below.
So, the major advantages include but are not limited to:
- access to the global tech talent pool;
- ability to cut the costs of your project;
- staff augmentation is much easier;
- no need for micromanagement;
- your existing team can focus on your primal goals.
You can get the most out of it only using the right model and only with the right service provider. So, choose wisely.
What Are the Benefits for a Business
In a modern world, any business is somehow based on technologies. Let’s have a look at a few most common situations when you would want to have developers or software engineers on board.
Affordable Web Development
Clearly, you can build a website for a much lower price. Set up a team of professionals who would provide you with a successful website. Modern web development is all about using the right set of technologies, creating an intuitive user interface to result in an amazing user experience. There are so many little things to keep in mind while building a website and each of them can have a huge impact on your bounce rate, conversion, and sales. Thus, it takes a team of highly qualified and experienced designers and web developers to get it done properly. The thing is, hiring each of them locally and providing them with a workspace, hardware and software is a headache. Meanwhile, offshore web development will give you peace of mind and you still get the right people for the job but also save a lot of money in the process. Once your website is established, SEO techniques should be applied to reach your target audience.
Mobile App Development
If your business is sufficient enough, you should consider having a mobile app. People tend to buy online and they spend a lot of their time using their mobile devices. Mobile commerce statistics show that having a mobile-friendly website or mobile app would help you to increase your sales significantly. But mobile application development can be pretty affordable and requires huge efforts. In this case, offshore software development is the model many startups and companies with low budget use. All the job is done by a service provider and what you do, is pay a fixed fee for each employee engaged instead of hiring and setting up a whole team by yourself.
Custom Software Development
If you have a sufficient business you’re probably using a lot of tools and software that helps you to improve your business processes. Sometimes, out-of-the-box software does not have what it takes or is too comprehensive for you to use it efficiently. Thus, companies often use custom software development services to get a particular software built for them. Once again, working with remote teams will help you to keep your existing team focused on your ongoing business flows as well as significantly cut the development costs.
How to Manage Remote Teams
Working with remote employees can be either complicated or simple, depending on what type of remote employment you choose.
Clearly, if you are working with freelancers, you cannot avoid micromanagement or expect them to always be engaged in working on your project although this way would be the most affordable one. On the other hand, using outstaffing model is more expensive but you get almost everything done by your service provider and you still save on taxes and the access global talent pool. So, start by choosing the right model for your project and keep in mind its requirements.