The need to cut down costs and increase efficiency in operations has become the need of the hour. Technological improvements are driving Digital Transitions and business decisions are becoming the point of change to make or break your company's history.
Large companies often embark on pilot projects to judge out whether increasing in-house capabilities will be something practically possible. In today’s world, falling behind the curve can lead to a disaster. Organizations rely on legacy systems which are outdated and could cripple a system and that is when outside help comes into play.
The best systems which I have come across that large firms prefer is one of staff augmentation - it gives you additional skills, same team without shouldering the costs of nurturing full time employees and reduced risks of outsourcing a whole goddamn project.
Companies may ramp up and down to adjust with changing demand. Ensure that the company you are hiring to complement your in house staff gives you a taste of their task with a two week or so pilot project so that you understand each other and check whether this works for you.
A typical technology project should involve these :
Phase 1 : Planning & Strategy Development
The augmentation team studies the client brief, understands end results, problems and ensure that right goals are set, as that would build a strong foundation for the project and a detailed brief would be a good checklist for future.
Planning would also include gathering information from the client, reviewing content, creating a project schedule along with timelines. Since the team becomes a part of your in-house team they discuss strategies and timeline as that would help them to map project’s progress. A well defined strategy would include performance goals, user experience creations, analytics and insights.
Phase 2 : Budget & Resource Allocation
After the strategy is in place, the parent company will use it to understand the budget in terms of time that will be taken to complete the project and the resources which are being utilized to do each task.
At this stage, accurate costing and resource allocation becomes essential. Time is of an essence, thus, clear expectations should be drawn in terms of time allocation, and it should be accounted from both the sides. Not taking into account the time required by the client's team can be a key contributor in web projects going over budget. A well defined scope of work and a good understating of resources being used will help you set a realistic budget.
Phase 3 : Designing The Concept
A design speaks a lot about the work. Design includes style, tone, user interaction, and user interface. Once the visual concept is agreed upon, the design is applied. A well designed visual concept would result in a good user experience. Which will of course depend upon your requirement.
Phase 4: Development
The team - in house plus outsourced needs to have all in place, gather elements from the prototype and implement them to make a functional project.
Phase 5: Testing & Launch
Testing is required to ensure the functionality of the website and to detect compatible issues, if any. Tests will be conducted to ensure that the website is compatible with other browsers. After testing is done, the site will be hosted and launched.
While building a web project, it becomes easier if there is a process to follow and these guidelines will help you work better by keeping you focussed on each stage. The process flow for developing a web project remain the same: learn, plan, design, develop and launch.
Just make sure that while selecting a vendor, you choose and get settled upon the one you can trust to, who takes the time to understand your goal, timeframe and deliver the tangible result.
Image Courtesy : https://www.xpandcorp.com/images/staff.jpg
