Onit Digital News   •   December 17, 2017

How do you know when it’s time to find a new web development company?  Outsiders may say, “It’s easy,  if they’re not performing just go get someone new”.

For those of us on the inside, however, the option to find a new web development company may not be so easy.  In many instances it’s not cut and dry.  Here’s many of the things we hear when consulting with clients:

• Sometimes they perform, sometimes they don’t.
• We had a great delivery last week, but it took months to get there
• No one else knows the code like they do
• We don’t have access to the code
• We’re so close to delivery.  It’s not worth it to switch now
• We’ve paid them most of the budget and we don’t have the money to move ahead with another partner

These certainly are difficult questions that get raised if you find yourself in this unfortunate position.  The following 4 tips will help you identify if and how you should proceed.

Tip #1:  Own The Code

Negotiate all of your contracts up front to own the code.  This can be done by contract by placing a clause in the contract that allows you access to the code upon request.  Be sure to also specify that the code is work-for-hire.

More aggressive and technically savvy clients also request login access to all of their code. This ensures that they have access to the development boxes at all times.  If you can’t get access to the development environment, you can also request that all of the code be placed on your staging server.

By heeding this advice, when/if you want to find a new web development company you’ll be able to do it on your terms.

Tip #2:  Hire an Independent Project Manager

Having to find a new web development company in the middle of a project can be an absolute nightmare.  Make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons and that you have run out of options.  We find that many clients look to getting a new web development company because of their own lack of internal project management.

Hiring a project manager to evaluate the situation and to put more accountability in the process may be a better, less risky and less expensive option to switching companies completely, find software developer bootcamp nearby.

Tip #3:  Get All of Your Assets Before Making the Announcement

There are many unscrupulous web development companies out there.  They will hold you and your project hostage when things go haywire.  That’s why before announcing your intention to move to a new web development company it’s important to gain control of as many assets as possible.

Tip #4:  Don’t Worry About The Code

If you’ve come to the point where it’s time to find a new web development company, don’t worry about the expertise and experience of your prior developer, look maid easy az.  A new and more skilled web development company will be able to evaluate your code and get you going quickly.

Many unscrupulous web development companies tend to pray on the fears and worries of their clients.  Many of these fears are simply unfounded.  Either you have good code that a new web development company can dive right into, or you have spaghetti code that needs to be reworked anyway.   Either way, don’t worry about it.  If you’ve been spending too much time and money with a prior vendor it will only cost you more to wait.  Get going and make the move as quickly as possible.

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If you need to find a new web development company, we don’t envy your position.  Don’t despair.  With your new web development company in place, you’ll be back off to the races in no time.  When it’s time to find a new web development company, we suggest you check out these tips for finding a top web development company.