That's why cheap can quickly become expensive
You may already have an idea of the goals, needs and budget for the new digital solution. But in 2 or 4 years, the needs may have changed. If you think too short-term, you quickly fall into the trap of letting yourself be dazzled by price rather than long-term
All solutions have different needs and budget
Like most agencies, we at Increo are flexible about what we deliver — and how we price it. No project is the same, and all clients have different needs and budgets.
- There can be many paths to the same digital solution, and each has its own price tag. Just because they may be similar to each other doesn't mean it's similar “under the hood”.
- Vladimir Janjusevic, senior developer of Increo.
“It can be expensive to be poor.
The developer sees that many agencies settle lower in the price terrain when bidding competitions are announced. We at Increo have done the same ourselves, but think it's a rut. It quickly ends up with far greater costs for both the customer who orders and us who deliver the solution.
- Less budget means we have to four on quality. It's that simple. It is clear that the customer must consider the price, but often they had deserved better than what will be the result of a smaller budget. A developer who does things at half price isn't twice as good, but may have to take twice as many shortcuts. It will be poorly coded, and it will cost you in the long run.
Vladimir points out that it is natural to be wary of anyone who wants to sell you a more expensive solution. But “buy cheap, buy twice” also applies when it comes to digital solutions.
- In the cases where we advise our clients to go for a more expensive solution, it is not because we want to make more money. That would be short-term thinking on our part as well. We do it because we believe that what it will pay off in the long run for them.
Testing and documentation of code
Vladimir highlights some examples of work with an additional price tag, but which pay off over time.
A classic is called “unit tests”. There are little bits of code that self test code. If I create new functionality for a customer, I can use the unit test to ensure the quality of the code. Then I know it won't screw anything up when I publish the code.
Also read the post about automatic testing with developer Marcin, here.
Something else is the writing of documentation. If the budget is too tight, this is probably one of the first things to be downgraded. It can also be expensive at the next crossroads, Vladimir says.
- Documentation is essential for handovers. Maybe you switch developers, or someone gets sick, or ownership changes. Proper documentation will ensure a smooth transition that does not cost unnecessary extra hours of work.
Flexibility. Stability. Scalability.
During his years at Increo, Vladimir has seen that the curious customers who dare to bet are also most satisfied with the result.
And not least, they save money. Those who start with the bare minimum end up having to spend huge sums of money constantly adding new things to a code that isn't rigged for it. The more solid foundation we have made at the bottom, the easier and faster it is for us to add new functionality,” he explains.
At Increo we work with digital solutions which makes it more efficient and online store solutions as converts, and Vladimir emphasizes that in such projects it is all the more important with rock-solid code.
Thorough testing and “peer review”, that someone else looks through the code, is absolutely necessary to quality-assure the solution. Cheap solutions eventually become slow and tough, and you simply lose customers. But a well-worked and optimized solution will both give you the stability and scalability you need to boost your top line,” he says, concluding:
- And when you get an increase in profits, then we are satisfied.
