Many companies tend to think that the leanest way of operating is to focus on product design internally. This approach has its benefits — but often leads to inefficiencies, loss of business, and burnout among employees. While it may seem like a waste of money to pay for product design services when your company could perform these tasks internally (at least in the most basic of ways), outsourcing may just be the secret to your success.
Hiring a world-class development team to perform product design services for your company is just better for the bottom line. In fact, outsourcing this aspect of the product development process consistently leads to long-term cost efficiency.
Here are just a few reasons why.
Outsourcing Protects Your People
In companies where employees are asked to wear many hats, they can experience burnout. We all tire out at work occasionally, but most people usually bounce back. However, consistently asking too much of your employees may cause them to seek employment elsewhere, which can be a major drain on both dollars and time.
Outsourcing to a firm that provides product design services is more affordable long term than hiring and maintaining employees. This is especially true when you factor in the cost of health insurance, retirement accounts, sick leave, bonuses, and vacation time. When you outsource these tasks, you pay only for the work that is being performed.
Outsourcing Product Design Decreases Your Time to Market
When companies are working on product design tasks internally, there are frequent delays in production — just ask anyone who has ever backed a Kickstarter campaign and been promised they’d hold a product in their hands by a certain date. Delays are inevitable, especially when your team is new, overworked, or inexperienced in product development.
Delays can be problematic in several ways. First, delays mean you’re paying your own employees to work on a product for a longer amount of time than is necessary, which costs you more money. Second, delays mean less time to sell your product. Remember: you’ll sell more of a good product in two years than you will in just one. This sort of opportunity cost is difficult to measure and can cause you to make decisions about your company or product based on guesswork.
You Can Depend on the Expertise of Highly Specialized Professionals
Another good reason to outsource is the specific expertise product design firms offer, which also leads to decreased costs. Development is a specialized and specific skill set. Highly specialized professionals are more efficient, which means less money out of your account. You’re paying for their heightened focus and dedicated time to your project. As an example, a company that specializes in development and prototyping can probably do it faster and fer less cost than your internal team.
And hiring a team of specialists is more cost-efficient than if you hired one engineer on contract. You’ve got different engineering specialties and support staff at your disposal, which also means things move more quickly overall, while your in-house team is free to accomplish other tasks.
Outsourcing Allows You to Better Utilize Your Infrastructure
Cost efficiency is more than just dollars paid to people — it’s wise to consider equipment and software costs, too. For many products, the tools required for development are expansive. While there are nice-to-haves and have-to-haves, true design efficiency requires a variety of tools and technologies that must be purchased.
If you choose to develop internally, you’ll likely need to buy some equipment you may never use again. Though you may be able to recoup some funds by reselling, there’s no telling whether or not these items will be obsolete by the time your product is complete
It’s good to be prepared for potential delays. But outsourcing gives you the advantage of having specialized equipment already in place (and people trained to use it). This is a far more efficient choice for many companies.
You’ll Make Better Products
Humans always have preferences when it comes to what we purchase, and these preferences tend to align with quality. Better products sell faster, and in higher quantities. A person who sells real estate could probably build a shed, but a carpenter is going to do a better job, as they will offer new and different ideas, technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and a vision unique to the profession. Despite the fact that both of these people work around houses, one is more qualified to achieve the desired outcome.
Further, if you have the option to hire a team of carpenters for the same price, you’ll want to do it. Exposing your product idea to new eyes means new opinions, suggestions, and avenues of thought. Your product will be discussed and evaluated by a group of people, which lead to greater innovation overall. Outsiders are also great at spotting potential problems if you’ve grown too close to your idea. This increased insight is invaluable in that it can help correct flaws before your product hits the market.
The Bottom Line on Outsourcing Product Design
Though it may seem counterintuitive, hiring a firm that specializes in product design services ultimately saves money and time. Like hiring an event planner for a corporate conference, outsourcing eliminates certain headaches associated with getting your idea off the ground. How can we help you get started?
Check out our pricing page for more detail.
