In today’s day and age there are many businesses, SME’s and even individuals who would need either one or all of the following: Website, Mobile App’s and Digital Marketing. As the Digital age progresses and we move further into the virtual world, there is an ever-increasing need to have a very health digital footprint.
As the market grew and the demand increased, so did the providers. Along with that came many challenges and an ever-increasing sense of confusion on what to do and finally came the question: Should we do it ourselves or should we outsource? Either option has both a positive side & the dark side and choosing one over the other can be a pretty daunting task, May the force be with you.
We have broken down the pros and cons on some pain point and arguments for both sides so that it may better assist you with your decision.
One the biggest pain point out there for everyone is of course the cost value associated with the project. When it comes down to it Cost is the biggest and the most important factor in deciding whether to do it on your own or go to out in the market and hire/buy something.
Pros: It is cost effective. Well this one is a no brainer, if you are going to do something yourself then you would not be paying anyone for their product or services and thus keeping the cost down to a minimal would be relatively easy.
There are many tools available in the market that can help you achieve your goals, some are completely free and some have a very low cost attached to it. Ranging from website builders, to marketing automation all the way to free stock images you will be able to find everything that you need to get your project up and running without braking your bank balance.
Cons: Is it really saving you money? Unless you are a professional or an expert in a particular field, anything that you create might not be up to the industry standards be it in terms of form, features or functions. And any of the above might not be an issue initially, and you may be able to get away with them for the time being.
Eventually once your business grows these “cost effective” measures will catch up to you. Once that happens you will have to hire professionals to work on your project, you may hire one in house or find a company who can do the job and outsource to them. They will have to re-do the work you have done, adding on the cost and time on top of what you have already spent.
Great, so you have managed to save money on your project and managed to do it on your own, but now let’s look into what you have created and how well does it perform. Anyone who has been in the industry for a while, will agree that one of the most important aspects to get right is the function.
Pros: Get what you want. One of the benefits of creating something ourselves is that we can get what we really want. As you are your own boss; you can create what you want how you want it, and nobody is going to tell you otherwise. You can create your own design, add the features you want and get it to work and do the way you want to.
Working on your own can be a huge benefit, you can be really creative and it would be easier to execute your vision as you don’t have to explain it to anyone else. With all the products, tools and add-on’s in the current market, it gets really easy to do things yourself by simply integrating multiple tools to get the needed function.
Cons: Do you have what you need? We all know the difference between want and need, and this applies to any DIY project. As in most cases you won’t be an expert at what you are creating and thus may not know what is really needed for the project to be successful. The down side of not having anyone telling you what to do is, that there would be no one telling you what to do or even if you are not doing things properly. Another down side using plug and play tools from the market is that they are not always compatible and you never know how they are going to react with each other, and if that happens you won’t know how to fix things if things do go south.
For example: You created a website, you have used a ready template or a tool to create one, and to get the functions you need you have used a few plugins and off you go. Everything is great and you are patting yourself on the back for saving money and creating a great site yourself and bam! You get a message from one of you friend/client saying that they can’t see the site and its down. You rush and log in to the admin panel and can’t find any issues after hours of looking.
Now, you have to get a professional to look at it. In a few minutes, he tells you that a couple of those off market plugins are conflicting with each other and had caused an issue in security. And one of those pervasive viruses has found and exploited the security issue and messed up the scripts.
If you have managed to do right by your business, one of things that’s going to catch up to you fast is the issue of Scalability. Scalability can be caused by a new of issues, your business has grown and your DIY is not able to handle the load or it can be it a technological issue. One of the biggest hurdles to a technology project is the rapid and fickle nature of technology itself.
Pros: One Click Upgrades. One of the biggest positives of using third party apps and tools in the market is that most of them would offer you upgrades on plans to fit your need. All you would need to do is pay some extra fees and be on your way. In a DIY project, there are not a lot of pros you can find If you ever run into the issue of scalability . Once that happens you will have to pay someone to upgrade your project.
Cons: Re-do the project. You might have started with a certain tool and before you know it, it becomes obsolete. Either a new version comes along or competitor just comes out of the blue and dominates the market. Sooner or later you will be left scrambling to catch up and adopt. Once that happens your only options would be pay someone to either upgrade your systems or re-do them completely to cater to your current and future needs.
In the best-case scenario, the professional would be able to take what you have made, do the needed modifications and get you going. But in most cases, they would tell you that it would cost you more money and time to upgrade rather than to create a new one. Or in worse cases, that it’s not even possible to upgrade.
All we can do is lay out the Pros and Cons for you in regards to both the paths. Ultimately, the decision is up to you on whether you want to go the DIY way or hire someone professional. If you decide you need some assistance and would like to get a professional to work on your project, we would be glad to work alongside to help complete your project.