Software Development Agency Vs A Freelancer
Every small to large scale business outsource professional services to improve their revenue, sales, and traffic. The one question that revolves in a business owner’s mind before outsourcing is whether to hire a professional software development agency or individual freelancers for their projects. Majority of people believe that hiring an agency will be more expensive than the freelancer as they will charge more than their services. Here we are going to compare both sides and let you know which would be helpful for you to get better value for money.
1.Quality of Work: An agency has a team of skillful people such as designers, developers, testers etc. who are experts in their fields. Testing and Quality are the two major parts to keep a product successful and a certified agency can do this job done easily. A project manager drafts the milestones, the scope of work, the designer will design and coder will code into the application and the testers begin considering automated testing situations that are created alongside project development. On the Other Side, a freelancer is a one-man army. No doubt he can compose good code, test it well but the main goal is to finish the job and get paid asap. A freelancer can test only on limited devices but an Agency has a huge collection of gadgets to test the Web and Mobile App.
2.Time: Agency has a team of specialists who do not work other project and will focus on your project but a freelancer will work as a side gig after finishing his real job. After the long 8 hours work, a freelancer can’t work effectively and efficiently on weekends or nights.
3.Service cost: No doubt an agency is generally more expensive as compared to a freelancer. But agencies offer several offers, packages that can be cost effective in the long run. A Freelancer can be less expensive than a professional software development company. But keep in mind sometimes a freelancer fails to do the job as per the client’s expectations and hiring another freelancer can be more expensive than an agency.
4.Experience: Last but not the least point is experience. An agency has a team of experts who work and brainstorm together to provide results beyond the expectations of a client, but a freelancer is a single person and can depend only on himself.
5.Versatile Backend: A professional agency create back-end of every web application and guarantee the smooth performance. They care about their brand reputation than money so try their best to provide best services. No doubt a freelancer also did his best to satisfy client needs but you can’t expect backend support from a freelancer.
6.Continuous Support: A software Development Company is available all the time to provide support even after the project is completed but you can’t expect same from a freelancer as he/she have to finish his real job first so a freelancer can’t be available immediately when you needed.
7.Confidentiality: An Agency have some terms and conditions which they follow strictly. Some agencies sign NDA to keep client’s information secure and safe. You can also sign non-disclosure agreement with a Freelancer but still have some risks. A freelancer work for you today can work for your competitor tomorrow and can reveal some of your information after completion of your project.
8.Productivity: A freelancer is only one person who deals with the client individually so there are no chances of telling you that they are late on schedule because of someone else. Agency has a team so different people can communicate with the client and sometimes it becomes more time-consuming process.
9.Flexibility: A large agency worked in shifts so can be available 24/7 to work according to client’s convenience. On the other side, freelancer can only work according to his availability on nights or odd hours as a freelancer have to do his real job first.
10.Dependency: In an organization, work is divided in a team so one person is dependent on another but, a freelancer strive to get the job done as soon as possible as he/she never consider himself an employee and don’t have time to waste on office gossips.
In a nutshell, We can say that a freelancer and an Agency both have some plus or negative points. After reading this discussion, you can easily decide which option is better for you or for the growth of your company in long run. Good luck.