Thinking Offshore Web Design? Think Again!
Offshore web design firms promise ultimate convenience and savings to businesses around the world. Many companies even decide to hop aboard the outsource wagon and hire these design firms. In many cases, they get more than they bargained for.
While it is true that many offshore web design firms promise low, low prices for web design services, far too many companies learn that you get what you pay for. Many companies based outside the US simply cannot offer the services and quality of a home-grown business. When dealing with overseas companies, businesses need to adjust to time zone differences, which often make contact and meetings virtually impossible. Sending money to pay for services is often time-consuming and expensive. Wiring money and sending overseas transfers to pay for web design is not even always safe and can leave company owners vulnerable to identity theft.
Overseas companies often do try hard to compete on the global stage, but the truth is that any US company needing web design for the competitive North American and European market needs top quality. Many companies who hire overseas web design services often have to spend extra money to repair sloppy, ungrammatical copywriting. Unfortunately, not every offshore company can deliver professional web design – in many cases, fly-by-night overseas firms deliver amateurish, unusable work. After all, anyone can set up a company half-way around the world and promise design services. There is often no way for you to verify their qualifications.
Even when an offshore web design company tries very hard, the truth is that someone based half-way around the world simply cannot know North American marketing thoroughly. Even major companies are finding that their offshore outsourcing isn’t working – the experienced web design talent is simply not there. In far too many cases, companies look at the bottom line and hire these web design services only to realize after the fact that they need to pay to have their web redesigned all over again. Does your company really want to pay TWICE for web design services?
Before companies sign on the dotted line and hire an overseas web design service, they also need to think twice about the “deal” they are getting. In many cases, offshore companies offer an impressively low hourly charge, but take longer to finish a project. Even though a web design company only charges a fraction of its US counterpart in terms of hourly price, it can easily end up charging a similar amount, simply by taking longer to complete the same amount of work. Since your company could end up paying just as much for an overseas web design service, doesn’t it make more sense to hire a US-based firm and get guaranteed, quality work for the same price?
The biggest problem with overseas web design services is that offshore services come with no legal protection whatsoever. Laws are simply very different in other parts of the world and when a company decides to choose an overseas firm, they are in effect resigning themselves to no legal protection. If a web design company turns in a plagiarized product or a product that violates intellectual property laws, the company that hired the web design service will have a very hard time finding legal redress. Worse, it is the US company that may have to face the US legal system if any laws have been violated. In many cases, offshore companies operate only via email, which means that when there is a problem with a delivered service, there is no way to get a fast response. Companies may simply disappear when there is a legal problem. Buying offshore is buying “as is” – not the way you want to hire the web design services that will make your business succeed!