If you are a business owner or someone working in the corporate world, then you’ve probably thought of designing a website. If not, you will consider it soon. In fact, web design and development are among services which are in highest demand today, and that is for a good reason. According to statistics, 91% of customers have visited a store because of their online experience with a brand. Thus, any company willing to stay competitive needs to have a strong online presence.
However, creating a website or an app is a time & effort-consuming process. So, before starting your cooperation with a web development company, you should be aware of possible problems & risks you might encounter. In this article, we will describe the common issues in web application development as well as how companies can solve them.
Website & web application development – where to start?
To build a high-performance web-based solution, the first thing you will need is a team of skilled tech specialists. Depending on the type & scope of your project, your web application development team should consist of two to ten members. As much or as little as you need – to deliver desired end results.
However, even hiring the most experienced web developers won’t guarantee you success. The quality of end result depends as much on you as on your development service provider. So, prepare yourself for possible pitfalls & risks. By staying informed about all potential dangers, you can find the most effective ways to mitigate them.
Here are the common issues you might encounter:
Web development issue # 1: Budget overhead.
“How much does it cost to build a web application?” – this question is among most popular questions that clients ask. Depending on the type & complexity of your app, the price of professional web design and development might range from four to six-digit numbers. However, this also depends on the country where you’re looking for web developers and how much of them you need.
Unfortunately, the price often becomes a disruptive point between a development team and a client. If pre-defined requirements change over the time, the necessary budget to accomplish a task might increase as well. Companies turn out unprepared to such costs modifications, and might even leave the project.
For example, your specific business needs change due to some circumstances. This affects the whole web development process, scope, and of course, budget.
Solution
The key preventive action you can take is to stay realistic. Identify your core priorities – whether it’s time, cost or quality. If you need a Premium software solution for a reasonable price, its development process will probably take time. Also, study your target audience and business specifics beforehand to minimize further changes.
It’s critical to communicate with a web design service provider. Set the minimum and maximum cost limits, fix your software architecture in the written form. All the parties should agree to that visualisation of a web product. You should understand where exactly your investments go before starting a cooperation. Normally, creation of a web application involves such services:
- analytics & user experience planning
- designing
- front-end programming
- back-end coding
- qa services and post-release maintenance.
Additionally, consider including extra expenses when planning your web app development budget. If you decide to add a new feature after the work launch, you should do it without risk of running over the anticipated budget. Since change of expectations or requirements happen quite often, you should know to adapt quickly. Thanks to such flexibility, you can choose a more optimal solution, even if it appeared later.
Web development issue # 2: Exceeding timeframes.
Sometimes it happens that your partner in web application development delays the project launch. The main reasons for this are:
- ineffective team management
- wrong planning
- more resources needed
- last-minute corrections & updates
Solution
To avoid missing your project deadlines, remain in constant communication with your web developers. Take into account that debugging takes 50% of software development time. If you’re creating a website, this stage includes cross-browser testing, fixing existing code bugs and usability testing. To create a well-functioning software solution, you should dedicate a decent amount of time on the QA stage. So, keep this in mind when fixing the deadlines.
Furthermore, make sure that your web development team members are entirely focused on your project without scattering their attention on other tasks. By creating work schedules with deadline for each task, you can avoid loads of accumulated work later. In such way, no matter what is the size or complexity of your project, you can achieve the end result within indicated timeframes.
Web development issue #3: Unmet requirements.
Identifying clear requirements is critical for any IT project. Without having predefined goals on paper, you will most probably miss them. The product might not work the way you envisaged, or a visual image might be different to the image you had in your mind. Clients often miss non-functional requirements as they think that these requirements don’t need explanation. Meanwhile, forgetting to include a single requirement can cost you time & budget overhead, or worse, poor software quality. For example, it’s difficult to include safety features to the already existing software architecture.
Solution
Create a software requirements specification and show it to all the stakeholders. Make sure your web developers read and understand the complete list of requirements. Review them all together to find those that are missing. You can also ask the technical team members for suggestions, as they can provide valuable additions that no businessman could ever think of.
Every party involved should have a clear vision of the final product, its features and functions. Provide a description of tasks that a user should perform with help of your software product or system. This allows to avoid excessive code updates, bugs and side effects during further stages of web development.
Web development issue #4: Poor quality of end product.
The worst outcome that could possibly happen is a software solution of poor quality. A poor quality website damages your business & its image. So, why this can happen?
First and foremost, because of misunderstanding. If your web development company didn’t understand the product objectives and features, your final product might be of poor quality. The language & culture barrier can serve an additional point to such outcomes.
Secondly, if you turn to the unreliable web development company. Willing to save on time & money, companies decide to outsource their web application development. If done properly, this might turn out a winning strategy for a business. However, not all of them turn to a reliable web development agency. You should not neglect the importance of this, as it will affect the whole web development process.
Solution
At all cost, avoid sacrificing on quality of service. Hiring a trusted web development company should be your #1 priority on the initial stage.
But how can you distinguish a reliable web design & development agency from a risky one? Lots of factors should be taken into account.
If you screen through companies, pay attention to their case studies, time of existence, region where they are located. Ukrainian web developers are recognised for high quality of service, although not every country has a good reputation.
Moreover, use online platforms like Clutch.co or Goodfirms. They were created particularly to connect the best IT service providers with their clients. Finally, hiring freelancers is considered to be more risky then working with agencies.
Web development issue #5: The lack of skilled web developers.
Last but not least, you might have troubles finding skilled programmers for your web development project. The common reasons of such problems are the following:
- you don’t know what type of specialists you need
- you don’t know where to search
- services of tech experts cost too much
Web app development cannot be successful without skilled workforce. Thus, companies around the world compete for qualified employees, offering them unique perks and high salaries.
Solution
Here are a few tips to give you a hand in finding the perfect candidates:
- Identify your specific needs. Again, it all starts with your strategy & business needs. To achieve the best outcome possible, be as specific as possible. Whether it’s .Net, Python or PHP that you’re going to use, make your decision and stick to it.
- Choose your collaboration model. If there’s the lack of necessary specialists in your country, try searching globally. The two most popular options are traditional outsourcing and setting an offshore dedicated team.
- Develop an effective hiring process. Instead of interviewing dozens of candidates, choose only those specialists who are pre-selected to your requirements. Or, you can also hire experienced IT recruiters to make your recruiting process more efficient.
Web design and development in the digital age
Website & web app development is more challenging now than ever. With so many websites existing on the Web, it has become nearly impossible to stand out. Any modern website must be fast-loading, mobile-friendly, user-friendly and appealing. These are just the basic requirements.
So, to face these challenges and make your web app development successful, have tech experts on board. With our help, any business mission or strategy will become a reality. We know all the ins and outs of website development process, so you can avoid all potential risks. Create your next web-based solution with skilled Ukrainian experts!