Development partnerships with the Ekreative super team

Three strands of business

Where does your business come from? At Ekreative our client base includes:

1. Individual companies and organisations who want us to develop a site or app for them
2. Small IT companies or agencies in countries where the cost of doing business is high, who are looking for a reliable and affordable development partner across multiple projects
3. Ourselves; given Ekreative’s success in helping other people’s startups succeed, we decided to start a few of our own!

Today I want to talk about that second group. Recently we decided to reach out to more small IT companies and agencies, as we realised the huge potential value we can offer them. If you’ve found our site as a result of a comic strip, perhaps it’s you I’m talking about!

Why do you need a development partner?

Talking to some of our existing agency clients, we recognised several problems they face which might lead them to start looking for a development partner.

1. High business costs

Firstly, the high costs inherent in doing business in the States or western Europe. Programmers with appropriate levels of experience and expertise do not come cheaply for a start. Combine that with the high overheads associated with working out of a London or New York office and the frequently encountered low cost expectations of many clients and suddenly it can become tricky to even make ends meet.

2. Worker availability

Secondly, part of the reason for their high pay expectations, is that skillful, hard working programmers are actually not at all easily come by. Outside of Silicon Valley, (where for obvious reasons a lot of programming talent gravitates), many companies struggle to find people with the right skill sets to handle their client’s projects. It’s surprisingly easy for elite companies with small, highly skilled teams to find themselves turning down potentially profitable projects as they don’t have the manpower and there’s little appropriate local talent available to grow the team with.

3. Fluctuating workload

Conversely, many smaller companies also struggle with a seemingly arbitrary seasonal workload. No one knows when the current streak of good projects will end, perhaps not soon, but you can’t be sure and if you make new hires now and then the projects dry up you’ll be left with deadweight and may need to lay those people off again.

4. High pressure moments

Finally, client expectations can be very demanding. Of course this is to be expected in any sphere of business, but sometimes when deadlines are looming or a client is unhappy with the existing progress, things come to a point where it’s necessary to call in the cavalry to make sure that everything gets done on time and to a standard conducive to ongoing, positive word of mouth recommendations.

Bonus skills

Of course there are plenty of other reasons small companies or agencies might look for a development partner, but these four sum up a lot of the major concerns. Another frequently cited reason, usually for one off partnership work, is that a company lacks personnel who work with a specific technology required for their current project. They could hire a freelancer to complement their existing team and in many cases this will be the right choice, but it comes with some risks. That’s why for key clients, such companies like having us available as a consistent and reliable back up skills pool.

Why is Ekreative a good choice?

How else does Ekreative help address the needs outlined above?

1. Cutting costs

Cost is certainly a big factor. Partnering with Ekreative is a great option for those looking for ways to cut expenses without experiencing a drop in quality. We’re not the very cheapest option on the market, but toy with those asking for less and you can easily find yourself in dire straits. Ekreative’s high standards, reliable team and ongoing commitment to professional development and keeping up with the latest technological trends ensure that if you partner with us you’ll still be delivering projects that meet and even exceed client expectations, despite your drop in expenses.

2. Professional team with wide skills base

Rather than wasting resources on a fruitless manhunt or risking handing key tasks to untried new recruits or freelance help, developing an ongoing relationship with Ekreative gives you confidence moving forward that if a juicy project appears just after you commit your team to something else, your back is covered and you won’t need to turn anyone down.

3. Pay as you go

At the same time, paying on a project by project basis eliminates the risk of making new hires and then hitting a dry period in which your fresh new workers could become a burden to the company.

4. Effective project management

Working with demanding clients is a given part of life in the app and web development sector. All our project managers are friendly, communicative and professional, which is why many agencies even prefer to have clients work directly with us, allowing them to focus their energies on sales.

Still got questions?

Again, there are a lot of reasons why Ekreative makes a good development partner for small firms and agencies offering app and web development. I’ve fleshed out the details of four of those reasons for you here, but perhaps you’d like to hear more or have some other concerns that you’d like to hear our take on? Whatever’s motivating your search for a dependable development partner, start a conversation with us today and you’ll soon find that Ekreative really does have what it takes!