Do you own or manage a business? Well. you must know that eventually, your business will need a website and perhaps a mobile app, too. And you can never be done with software development; it constantly requires updates and enhancements. Also, there is the promotion part. You will need to attract users to your website or app, and then convince them to make a purchase.
So, now you see how much work you are going to need. And then the question arises: Should I hire people, a company or companies? How much will it all cost and how can I make all these services as cost-effectively as I can?
Many companies, especially startups, don’t know what to begin with when they need to develop their software. Hire a team of developers? Start by developing a website or a mobile app? Go to a marketing agency? Start marketing activities right away or after the launch of software? These and tons of other questions require an answer right away.
Now let us see what your options are.
This must be the very first option you think of. Of course, it’s easier to communicate with your employees who sit next to you or behind the wall. When you think of communication, seems like there’s no more need to dig deeper and talk about pros and cons: this is the optimal solution. You hire a full-stack developer who develops all the software you need and then you hire a digital marketing professional who markets all you need.
Well, sorry to disappoint you but it’s not that easy. See, programming jobs are so diverse, very few professionals can do it all. And if you find one, they will be too expensive. You will at least need to separate backend from frontend and then hire other people for Android and iOS development. If you divide the job and hire them part-time, they’ll require a flexible schedule. That’s because sometimes one of the team members will have to wait until the other’s done with some part of the job to start their own. It means you will not have them at your office all the time which we thought will be great for communication.
And I’m talking about developers only. You will also need to hire a very expensive marketer or separate the job and hire several specialists. One for search engine optimization, one for social media marketing, another one for content creation. Oh, and I haven’t mentioned designers yet.
See, it’s all very expensive and hiring a full-time in-house team is only effective when you (and the size of your business) can afford it. And why hire people in-house if they won’t work full time and won’t be there all the time to communicate with each other directly? I see another solution here.
Here come all kinds of agencies. You can go to two companies and hire a team of software developers and a team of marketers. You are only going to pay for as much time as your job requires. And again, you’re facing the problem of communication. Well, you can hire a company that provides both software development and digital marketing. And, there is a common practice of managers visiting the agency and working directly from there, in order to constantly be in touch with all the suppliers. They will be next to each other all the time, no matter which one is working on your project at the moment. So the questions to each other will get answers immediately. And you can be with them twice a week for a couple of hours or whatever time it takes, depending on your project.
So, communication problems? Solved! Efficiency? Oh, believe me, there aren’t more efficient teams than the ones working together on various projects through the time. And, there’s a bonus here. You will no longer be involved in the never-ending process of recruiting, employees’ training and onboarding, oh and filling in for those who are on a vacation. Big teams have already worked it all out.
Where do I know it all from? Well. I’ve worked in both kinds of teams. And, the greatest advice my former boss wishes he had received earlier: never separate your marketing and development teams, ever. I mean, make their communication as easy as possible. If their communication is complicated and bureaucratic, it will damage the entire working process as much as lack of communication with you.
Ani Barseghyan
Shaghik Gevorgyan
Armenuhi Ivanyan