It’s always a challenge to turn a business idea into reality. You have to worry about the cost of the project and the research that you have to do to find yourself a competent developer. Broadly speaking, you have two choices in front of you. You can either hire a company for software development in the UK or anywhere else or get a freelancer on board to fulfil your development requirements. However, this choice is often the most challenging part of the process. If you get this decision right, you will not encounter any problems throughout your software development project.
It’s about choosing someone who you can entrust your idea with. If it’s all about the money, the logical choice would be a freelance developer. On the other hand, working with a freelancer may not be the right option if you are considering a long-term relationship. You need to make a selection keeping cost, quality, and time benefits in mind. So let’s now put both the options to the litmus test and evaluate both on different factors that most businesses consider while hiring a developer for custom software development UK or any other country.
The project cost
Make sure you have a budget in mind when you start looking out for a freelancer or software development company. This will ensure that you don’t face any surprises or disappointments later. Put the cost you are willing to pay against the quality of work you expect the developer to offer. Hiring a software development company may seem like a costly investment initially, but the quality on offer is entirely worth it. Also, the cost will even itself out in the long run.
On the other hand, the cost of working with freelancers is a lot less. The cost difference between a company’s development services and a freelancer is majorly due to the costs that only companies have to bear, including employee salaries and benefits, infrastructure costs, and others. Freelancers are independent contractors that don’t have to bear these expenses. Also, freelancers usually hold expertise in a particular skill or language. So you can use them for adding a feature or two to a project or fixing a bug. But when it comes to complete projects that utilise different skillsets or projects that may require maintenance in the long run, hiring a software development UK will be the wiser choice.
The communication style
You have to decide whether you are comfortable working with remote developers or not. If you are used to meeting the development team in person and sharing your inputs face-to-face, it might be hard for you to change your communication style suddenly. This is why it is very important to weigh in the pros and cons before choosing to go either way.
Most freelancers usually use internet-based communication tools to speak to their clients. Freelancers can accommodate clients that come from different time zones, but if they have two clients that are located poles apart, it would most certainly hamper their productivity. On the other hand, a software development company has a team of developers. So it can divide the team to work separately for clients from different time zones. Plus, the way companies work is more organised than freelancers. So they can streamline development projects, respect timelines, and deliver a successful project without compromising on quality. Communication is also a lot smoother with companies than freelancers.
The reliable option
We are not going to judge a book by its cover but how reliable are both options is a question that you need to find an answer to before making a decision. The fact is that software development companies are more accountable than their counterparts. When it comes to a freelancer, you will never know how many projects they currently have in their kitty. So while they promise you a bulk of their daily work time, the reality might be totally different. Discerning the quality of work delivered by freelancers is also a tough job. We are not saying that they are unreliable, but you should dig deep before you hire a freelancer.
Finding out if a company is reliable is far easier. You can look at customer testimonials as well as their previous work. And companies give you a wider pool of talent to choose from. They are officially registered for providing software development services and hold expertise in the same as well. Also, they have a market reputation to take care of as well. So the chances of a company offering sub-par services are very low.
The choice is hard but make sure you keep these things in mind when you are looking out. The decision of working with a company or a freelancer should be made keeping your specific needs in mind. What worked for someone else may not work for you.