Why it’s better to hire an app development agency like Sentia instead of doing it in-house/using freelancers

An established company or startup always has two main options when building their app or web development project. They can either go in house and use their own team, or they can outsource to a professional development agency such as Sentia.
With any choice there are pros and cons to each. At Sentia we think there are many more pros than cons to going with an agency and here’s why:

Faster sign offs and approvals with an external team

When a company representative or team is chosen and works with a development agency, the buck stops with them. The project has already been signed off and they have the power to move things along quickly. With internal teams there can be many stakeholders who have to sign off on each part of the process. Without the internal bureaucracy, Sentia can help to move things along faster and maximise efficiencies.

Development agencies carry lower risk

At Sentia we have the expertise required to translate a project vision into a working reality. The team will understand features which can cause issue and know how to best handle them to fit with scope and budget.
There is also the added bonus in not having to build a team from scratch. Sentia is perfect for building out your MVP because you also don’t need to build development processes and can get to market quicker to validate your product. Examples of companies who used an external agency to build their MVP include Slack, Alibaba and Expensify.
On the flip side, in house teams may not have the right expertise, but can also get caught up on feature sets which can affect the intended timeline and budget of projects.

Sentia gets the bigger picture

Yes, your company and internal teams know the company’s DNA inside and out. The internal team understands the brand voice, the target audience, the competitors and the politics within the organisation. However, these are the details that companies can get bogged down with and often miss the trends and nuance that fresh eyes and development expertise can yield.
On any project, Sentia will spend time learning about both the project build at hand, as well as the company itself. We will look to understand both aspects in tandem and how they best integrate together. This approach will not only create an end result that fits the company voice, but it will also create a functional tool that uses the latest development trends to work best for the company and the end target.

Less investment when using a development agency

Companies building their own web or app platforms may have to become familiar with the processes and regulations in place to launch these tools. Sentia understands all of these practices and also has existing licenses on the software required for the development. This leaves the company to only focus on the development project and its cost, not the associated infrastructure costs.

External teams avoid scope creep

With an external development agency, scope and budget is set from the project’s launch. Contracts with Sentia allow for a certain number of revisions and feedback rounds. This means that going outside of scope comes with red flags to budgeting and timeline revisions. This helps to keep a project in check and ensure time and financial constraints are not broken. For internal teams, these checks and balances are often ignored as the team is a fully accessible resource. This can cause problems internally in the long run as excessive hours may be spent on certain elements without meaningful progress.

Agencies have strong existing team dynamics

The Sentia team works well together, relationships are established and we have experience on multiple projects. We understand our strengths and weaknesses and know how to upskill quickly. Furthermore, at Sentia we are more efficient because we have implemented similar features many times in different projects so we know what works in the first instance, can implement quicker and consequently there’s less waste.
For internal teams, if there is a gap in skill set a new hire is required which means finding the right recruit, then on boarding and getting the new team members on the same page as the existing team.

Agencies possess more experience over generalist backgrounds

At Sentia we have individuals who are strongly skilled in different areas of expertise. This allows us the wide berth to have the right skills for any particular project. Internal teams usually select generalists which can leave gaps in knowledge required for builds.
Additionally, our team prides itself on allocating the right resource to the right project elements allowing for better efficiencies in pricing. Internal teams don’t have this luxury and are forced to allocate the resource available which may be more expensive than required.

One last bonus in choosing a local Australian agency

If the development work is done in Australia, you can qualify for grants and cut backs from the Australian Government, but only if work done in Australia. It can’t be billed in Australia; it must physically be done in the country. Sentia can help with this and all our work is done in the country.

Taking the next step

At Sentia, we believe that choosing an external development agency is the best way to go. That’s what we do and we do it well!
However, we understand that this isn’t always possible and can provide hybrid solutions to best suit your needs.
If you’d like an initial chat to better understand how your build can be a reality, get in touch with us via our contact form

Sources

Ahuja, Lalit, October 11 2017, What is better: in-house mobile app development or outsourcing app development?

Desai, Abhishek, June 5 2016, Which startups have hired design/development agencies to build their product? For example, Slack outsourced to Metalab

Duo, Matteo, 18 April 2017, 14 Multi-Million Companies Who Were Built Leveraging Outsourced and Remote Developers

Duo, Matteo, June 12 2018, 3 Successful Outsourcing Examples That Changed the Way These Businesses Operate

Gerber, Scott, November 18 2013, You’re your start up really need to hire in house developers?

Lee, Simon, August 23 2017, 7 Essential Reasons to Hire an App Development Agency to Create Your App

MindSea Team, Should You Build Your App In-House or Outsource to A Mobile App Agency?