Be Wary Of 4 Things When Choosing An Offshore Joomla Development Company

The Joomla CMS (Content Management System) is an award-winning platform that has been chosen by millions of website owners across the world. It has been downloaded more than 50 million times as of July 2015 and is an open source (meaning free to use/no licensing fee/open to customize) CMS written in the PHP programming language. The Joomla CMS platform allows a website owner to easily update, edit and add content to your website. It is most famous for its ability to allow its webmaster the ability to easily manage large-scale content when compared to other CMS platforms in the market such as WordPress or Drupal. The Joomla CMS allows website owners the ability to power a website of all sizes such as corporate websites or portals, corporate intranets/extranets, Ecommerce websites, community-based portals, small business websites, government websites, educational websites and more. Some famous organizations that use the Joomla CMS to power their web needs are Harvard University, Citibank, IHOP, Guggenheim, MTV Greece, IT Wire and many more. When you combine the many benefits that the Joomla CMS provides and the benefits of going with offshore development, you can choose to work with an offshore Joomla development company to fulfill all of your development needs. Working with an offshore web development company can be a very rewarding experience if you choose the right partner to work with as it can save you loads of money, time and you can easily scale up or down your needs without the need to hire or fire anyone. We have compiled a simple yet important list of things you should consider when working or choosing an offshore Joomla development partner to work with:

✓ Experience – In any industry or business, experience is absolutely essential as it sets the weak apart from the strong. If you have chosen to go with the Joomla CMS platform and are looking for a cost-effective solution, you need to be careful on who choose to work with to fulfill your offshore Joomla development needs. Nothing matters more than experience especially when it comes to the Joomla CMS as it can be intimidating to a novice user. Even though the Joomla CMS is open source and written in the PHP programming language, it’s still requires some experience like anything else. For example, technically any PHP developer can work on Joomla since it is written in PHP but if a developer has worked on the Joomla CMS, they will really know the in’s and out’s of this CMS platform. All CMS platforms are different and unique in their own way so when choosing an offshore Joomla development company to work with, ask them what type of experience they have working on this CMS platform. Ask them to assign developers to your project that have experience working with the Joomla CMS in the past. This means that they will know how to easily install this CMS platform including have the knowledge of the extensions/modules that exist within the Joomla CMS and so on. The more experience a developer has working with Joomla, the better they will be so ensure that any offshore Joomla company you choose to work with has ample experience working with the Joomla CMS. Ideally, interview or ask to see the CV’s of the Joomla developers that will be working on your project which will give you a good sense of the work they have delivered in the past.

✓ Portfolio & References – Companies may say they have a lot of experience working with the Joomla CMS and can deliver what you are looking for but you need to be careful so that you are not getting false promises as is the case sometimes. When choosing an offshore Joomla company to work with, ask them to show you what/how many other Joomla-based projects they have completed in the past for other clients or what they are currently working on that is based on Joomla. In addition, ask them to show you if they have completed any similar Joomla-based projects as yours so you can get a sense of if they will be able to deliver what you are looking for. If they have worked on a similar project in Joomla to yours, then you will be able to have more confidence in their capabilities. Lastly, ask them to provide you with client references that you can speak to so that you understand what type of offshore company you are getting involved with. The more information you have about their portfolio and the more client references you speak to, it will allow you to really judge them on their Joomla capabilities. If an offshore Joomla development company can provide you good references and a robust portfolio, it will give you the confidence you need to work with them. It will also give you a very good idea of their support, communication style and overall working style even before you begin work which is a great thing.

✓ Communication Is Critical – The success or failure of your offshore web development project truly depends on the communication you have with the offshore partner you choose to work with. Any healthy relationship requires that you have an understanding of each others needs as well as what expectations need to be followed by both parties. When choosing an offshore Joomla development company to work with, you need to really need to emphasize the communication aspect of this working relationship. Working with an offshore development company in India or any other country for that matter means that you are located in a different country and communication is even more critical. For example, when you are evaluating offshore companies, ask them what type of communication and how much frequency of communication they will provide. Do you they have any preferred methods or perhaps you have a preferred method of communicating to them for the duration of your project. In addition, what type of project management tools do they have so that you are up to date on what is happening with your project/deliverables as well as timelines. They are countless ways to communicate with a company or manage an offshore development project such as Trello, Basecamp, Skype, Gtalk, Freedcamp, JIRA and so on. The bottom line is that you need to choose or more importantly agree on a communication method that all parties involved can stick/agree to. Set up weekly or bi-weekly meetings along with have notes taken during the meeting outlining what is going on that is good or bad and can be improved. The more transparent you are and the better communication you have with the offshore Joomla development company you work with, the better it will be for both parties to ensure a successful project delivery. Communication is absolutely essential and if you are in constant touch and know what’s happening as well as they know what to expect, it eliminates many of the most common pitfalls that take place when working with offshore web development company. Agree on something that suits everyone and make sure both parties stick to it so everyone knows what to expect as well as where they stand. Successful communication is something that really needs to be looked at closely when working with an offshore web provider.

✓ Contract & Deliverables – When choosing an offshore Joomla development company to work with, details are essential to ensure the successful delivery of your project. Firstly, ensure that you have clear deliverables and timelines mapped out for all parties so that everyone knows what you paying for, what a client expects as well as when it will be delivered. The more clear and concise your deliverables are, the better it will be so that they are no surprise or out of scope costs that arise. In addition you need to have a clear and concise contract which clearly details everything that has been agreed upon. Things such as support, warranty and other factors need to be clearly laid out and agreed upon by all parties. When everything is in writing for both parties, everyone knows their responsibility as well as what they need to deliver to keep each other happy. If timelines and deliverables are not met, then their should be consequences for both parties. A successful relationship with an offshore Joomla development company requires that you have everything in writing and it is signed by both parties. The more tight, clear and concise your contract and deliverables are, the less likely it will be that your project faces any delays, out of scope costs or other common mishaps which sometimes take place during the development lifecycle. When choosing an offshore Joomla development partner to work with, ensure you have all these details clearly chalked out as this will ensure accountability and transparency for both the offshore company and the client getting the work done.

Summary
Choosing an offshore web partner to help you with your Joomla-based project is by no means an easy task and can even be intimidating in some cases. However, if you go through the necessary due diligence and take some of the advice or guidelines we have mentioned above, it can be much easier than winging it on your own. Ensure that you are speaking thoroughly to the team that you will be working with along with client references and checking the Joomla portfolio of the company you choose to work with before you start your project. Working with an offshore Joomla development company can be a very lucrative endeavor as you can save time, money, HR costs, operational expenditures and so on. Don’t rush into any decisions and make sure you are fully confident with the offshore partner you choose as it will greatly affect the outcome of our project. If you are looking for an experienced, trusted and capable offshore Joomla development company to work with, please feel free to reach out to the team at Mind Digital for any of your development or digital marketing needs you have. If you have any advice or comments on things that should be looked at when choosing an offshore partner, please feel free to add your comments below as they are always welcome.