Outsourcing is a term heard often enough now as a way to pay for only what’s needed and avoid having an in-house team on a payroll. In the world of IT, it’s becoming much more ubiquitous as businesses realize that IT doesn’t always require using an in-house staff every day. For web design, outsourcing may work differently if you decide to go overseas to save further money. Things can get particularly complicated when trying to figure out how to communicate with a web designer living halfway across the globe.
It’s well worth outsourcing for web designers, because many of them are excellent, give you the latest design trends, and work for much cheaper. But you should scope some things out about their communicatory skills when considering them or interviewing them by video.
What to Look for in their Methods of Communication
You should probably meet by video conferencing eventually, because it can tell you a considerable amount about what methods they use to communicate. If that isn’t possible right away, it doesn’t necessarily count them out in their design potential.
Most likely, you’ll be communicating by email first. How long does it take for them to get back to you on that initial email? While the first time may not matter as much, a second, follow-up email should have a reply within at least a couple of days. If it goes on beyond a week, it likely means they aren’t the best on communicating and not worth the risk.
In your email, you should ask them what their usual methods of communication are. Do they have the capability to do video conferencing with Skype or even Google Hangout? If they do, it’s then when you should set up a video interview to see how they communicate when you’re talking directly to them.
Communicating by Video
When you have to convey something complex to a web designer, the last thing you want is someone who can’t understand you, or vice versa. The danger in outsourcing web design to other countries is that some of them won’t understand English well and perhaps talk in broken English so you can’t understand them. Regardless, not all are like that, because they depend on Americans for business.
Scope out the ones that can clearly understand you and can speak understandably in the language you speak. You’ll be able to analyze this within the first few minutes of a video interview. During the interview, you should probably talk about basic idea concepts so you’ll know that they can communicate well talking in web design terms.
And, by all means, check their resources on Google, even if you were impressed by the video interview. While showing examples of their work during a video interview can be helpful, proving complete credentials usually has to be done with your own online research to avoid fraud.
References:
http://acodez.in/outsource-web-design/
https://www.unidad22.com/Web-Design-News/communication-tips-when-outsourcing-your-web-design.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidteten/2013/10/07/how-to-hire-an-outsourced-web-designer-and-be-happy-with-the-results/
