In the second post in the series on “Why Your Company Needs a Rails Shop”, we’re talking about the “first-mover advantage" and how outsourcing your development to a Rails company can get your product to market quicker.
What’s The Big Idea?
You’ve got a great idea. You know it’s great because you’ve done objective market research, talked to your target customers and made an effort to understand your competition. Now you need to get your product some legs of its own. Getting your product to market as soon as possible can be critical to the success of your initiative. The web is rich with the innovations of passionate people; the landscape is competitive. You have no time to spare.
Advantages of being first to market:
- Monopoly – Not the game, but rather a temporary monopoly of the market share. Being first to market in your niche means that you have the early advantage of being the only (or one of the few) players in your field, allowing you to capture a market share advantage.
- Good Looks – Being the first implies that you are innovative and proactive. You were smart enough to detect an opportunity and adept enough to act on it quickly. Getting to market quickly saves you from the “me too!” reputation that your future competitors might garner when they penetrate the market with a similar idea or product after you have paved the way.
- Experience – By getting to market first you get a head start on building experience with your customers, the technology, the feedback, and engagement of your product or service. This early experience is valuable when you use it to fine-tune your product and continue to release new versions or features. The early experience gives you the opportunity to foster exclusive and meaningful relationships with your target audience before anyone else.
Who You Gonna Call?
A Rails shop! When you need to get to market quickly, go with the pros. In last week’s article in this series we talked about how difficult it is to penetrate the competitive Rails market to find good talent. When you need a web application created quickly and professionally it makes even more sense to rely on an experienced Rails shop. Spending weeks or months trying to build an internal team will only delay your product launch.
Trying to hire your own team can be costly and time consuming when you consider this:
- Finding good Rails developers and verifying their experience level is no easy task. Ruby is a young language and Rails an even younger framework. This means that most Rails developers have only a few short years (sometimes months) of experience under their belts. Additionally, you might not know what to look for in a Rails developer, whereas Rails companies have experience vetting good programmers.
- It can take 2-3 months to hire experienced individual Rails programmers and assemble a small internal team of developers.
- Even after you’ve hired a good internal team, you won’t necessarily have an expert Project Manager on hand who is skilled in Rails to lead and direct the team.
- Assembling a team from scratch means that you don’t know how the new team members will work together. You have to allot time for personality and workflow differences as the team adjusts to working together.
- Hiring a team internally leaves you with the added cost and concern of providing benefits and having additional employees on your books indefinitely. In hiring a Rails shop you negotiate a straightforward contract for work and then you have a choice of keeping them on retainer for future maintenance if needed.
As a Rails shop that’s been around for awhile, we’ve learned a few things about hiring Rails developers, working with clients efficiently, and delivering projects on time. Rails shops are living in the Rails world every day – we understand the ecosystem, and can easily identify a talented Rails programmer. When you outsource your web application development to a Rails shop you’re inheriting the combined experience of a large team of experts. And when you need to get your idea to market, you need the power of experts to help take you there.
Full Service
Most of the popular Rails shops in the U.S. today offer a range of services to meet all of your application development needs. This mean that when you hire a full-service Rails shop you’re getting an entire team of experts to manage your application every step of the way:
- Designers – A team of experienced designers who are adept at listening to clients and transforming their vision into beautiful design and optimal layout.
- Developers – Expert Ruby on Rails developers who have been building web applications in Rails for years, and have key knowledge of the newest technology and advancements in the industry.
- Project Managers – Someone to oversee and direct the development process of your product, ensuring that deliverables are defined and met on time, and that the team is meeting client expectations every step of the way.
- QA Engineers- Skilled software testers that put your application through rigorous testing before it ever goes live, ensuring that the final product is secure and ready for users.
Rails Company + Your Product = Win
We all want to win. And it's easier when you partner with people that have a track record for success. Taking your vision to a reputable Rails company means that you get the assistance of a team of seasoned Rails developers, designers and project managers – all ready to listen to you, understand your intent, and breathe life and form into your vision. Having a Rails shop to work with ensures that you can get your application launched sooner. Plus, you’ll have a team on hand that is already experienced with your product when you need to work on the next iteration to keep you competitive and fresh.
About Intridea
We create custom web and mobile solutions for businesses large and small across a range of industries – from Healthcare, Government, IT, Education, Arts, Real Estate, Insurance and more. Our team of designers, architects and developers can work with you every step of the way to bring your vision to life on the web. Contact us today to find out more!