Increasingly you don’t need to engage designers and developers to build your online solution from scratch.
Whether you’re after a simple website, complex ecommerce, Intranet, or a ready to go learning management system, chances are there’s something off the shelf and probably able to meet 80% of your key requirements.
Typically, solutions will be well tested, have millions of customers, good customer support and a user community which is happy to help each other. You’ll be able to get up and running quickly at an affordable price for not only design and build but ongoing management.
Not all solution providers are based overseas with many world-class solutions built locally.
And with the possibility you may have freed up some of your initial budget you can consider allocating some to search engine optimisation and marketing, display ads, email marketing and site optimisation. Tasks which are often overlooked and can offer value to a growing business.
The key to successful selection and implementation is understanding how one or many solutions will talk to existing or new solutions, how they mix ‘n’ match.
For instance, you may want your accounting package to talk nicely to your ecommerce solution. Or your content management solution to a specialist email marketing tool. Or if your business is appointment based, a scheduling tool accessible by you, your workers and the website.
My advice is to look at the bigger picture first, what your overall needs are for your business before you deep dive into looking at solutions.