What criteria are important for a large client when choosing an agency for web development?

Hi, Habr! I propose today to discuss what key criteria a large customer should first look at (several large functional sites for different products or groups of CA, a number of promotional sites, a pool of development tasks, a lot of support work) when choosing a contractor for design, design, development and support.

For starters, we took the leaders of the five leading web productions of Russia (based on the 2016 uniform web developer rating just published by us ) and asked them a simple question:


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“What are the most important points / criteria that a major customer should pay attention to in the process of selecting potential candidate agencies (bidders) for a comprehensive production service for their entire fleet of Internet projects (design, development, integration, development, support, etc.)? "

And that's what they think about this:

Mikhail Tokovinin , co-founder and managing partner of AIC + QSOFT

“The most important criterion when choosing a contractor is the ability to work with it for a long time and productively. The customer should make sure that the contractor is able to work with long projects, that you are comfortable working together and it turns out to seek a compromise (in the early stages this is already clear). It’s not worth chasing a large list of potential services; it’s likely that the contractor can do something well and does something that is frankly bad. It is better to immediately select those who are not proud of the long price list, but who know how to work in conjunction with other specialists. ”

Alexey Persianov , CEO, ADV

“Experience in required competencies and implementation. The presence of a team allocated to the project exclusively. Processes and reserves that compensate for the human factor. Focus on customer's business goals

Alla Alexandrova , CEO of DEFA

“Ratings are a good tool for finding a partner for the implementation of Internet projects. This is a list of companies that actually work on the market and produce worthy projects. It is necessary to pay attention to the experience of implementing projects of a similar scale and complexity. Also it is necessary to take into account the recommendations and reviews of real clients of agencies.

Then comes the choice of <cost / reliability>. That is, an understanding of how much you are willing to pay for confidence in meeting deadlines and in the quality of implementation. It must be remembered that the high cost is most often justified by factors that guarantee reliability: professionalism and size of staff, tax and legal purity. ”

Yaroslav Popov , CEO Actis Wunderman

“The main criteria by which it is necessary to select possible agencies for the implementation of integrated services in the field of Internet projects can be divided into two categories - these are qualitative and quantitative.

The quality indicators include such parameters as the history of the agency, experience in similar projects and in the industry, the agency’s entry into a large network, the level of the agency in the ratings and, of course, the agency’s desire to work with the client. You also need to pay attention to the capabilities and abilities of the agency to develop the client’s business from the point of view of strategy, business understanding and business objectives - does the agency have international experience and understanding and experience in using the best cases.

The quantitative indicators include the size of the agency, the cost of services, the number of professionals of a certain profile, the number of employees in the staff and in the production department, how many people-hours the agency will need to perform certain works and services, the cost of a person-hour, the quality of services provided and processes.

However, we must understand that in order to make the final decision, it is necessary to consider a complex of these factors and make an informed decision based not only on price. ”

Olesya Kucheryavtseva , Notamedia Development Director

“I, as a former representative of the client, can distinguish three main points:

1. Composition of work.
2. Cost and terms of work for each stage and for the whole project.
3. Range of services provided by the agency.

Priority has always been, is and will be with full-cycle agencies that understand that promotion and development follows the creation of a product. ”

What do you think? What criterion should be decisive when a large client selects a potential contractor?