Offshore Work – Does It Work?
We always hear scary stories about sending our design, development, SEO, PPC etc work to offshore companies. Indeed, many of our existing clients approached us after failing in their endeavours abroad. Does this mean that all work sent offshore is doomed to fail? Many will say yes, I however, disagree. I have seen many cases where it is not the offshore company that fails but the expectation and lack of experience of the client themselves!
Individuals / companies that send the work abroad usually think that by simply giving a brief, the offshore company will be able to undertake work to the exact standards that UK companies can. The problem, in many cases, is that the offshore companies can undertake work to a high standard but this will not be done automatically. The client needs to know exactly what they want and have some experience in being able to effectively communicate this to the company and to project manage the whole process. This is because many clients fail to understand that they are purchasing the technical and design skills of the company, and this does not necessarily mean they will be great project managers, or indeed understand all the culture / language differences. The client should expect to project manage all stages of the work; simply thinking that everything will come back as they envisaged is neither viable nor correct.
If you are experienced in the field of web designing, development or online marketing, then it makes sense to save money, but if you do not have the knowledge or experience then this is a sure-fire way of not getting what you set out to accomplish. Remember, by saving money you have to invest your time and if you are someone who knows very little about how all this works, then deal with a company based in the UK. The cost may be higher than those abroad, but this is balanced by saving you time and injecting quality into the project, thus increasing the chances of success for your business.
