3 secrets your tech vendors would never tell you

…for fear of losing your business!

You: “The app is still buggy even after you said it’s been fixed. How come?”

Tech vendor: “Oh, really? Actually I’m not sure. Let me check again and get back to you.”

***

Tech vendor: “Sorry, we need more time to work on your app features update.”

You: “What?! It’s been weeks since I flagged this up to you?!”

***

Tech vendor: “One of our partners in Indonesia is looking into your request now.”

You: “Indonesia!? You further outsourced our project to an external vendor? But the delay is too long…so who exactly do you work with in Indonesia?”

Tech vendor: Yes, we work with partners in India, Vietnam, Indonesia and more…um, let me send the partner a chaser now.”

***

Do these scenarios sound familiar?

Are you losing your sh*t over nightmarish tech vendors?

Or heard horror stories of timeline overruns and delays from some of your startup friends about working with outsourcing agencies?

Working with a tech vendor or outsourcing agency is akin to being in a relationship, where you want to be cared for and loved all day, everyday (especially if you’ve paid an arm and a leg for their service).

Alas, reality bites. There will be days of misexpectations and miscommunications that will leave you feeling frustrated.

And with that, here are 3 secrets that no tech vendor will tell you (but we will!):

1. Outsource-ception!

Outsourcing your app development project to an agency isn’t always as straightforward as you’d imagine it to be. That’s because your agency is likely to further outsource your project to external vendors and independent developers, whose identities may never be fully disclosed to you.

Whether to cut cost or to make up for lack of in-house tech expertise, one thing is for sure: be prepared for a [possible] labyrinth of outsource parties to be involved in your project when you work with an agency or a tech vendor — something we, at MomoCentral coined as “outsource-ception.”

To get the low-down on “outsource-ception”, check out our blog post.

2. No love from project manager? Deal with it.

So, you’ve invested a huge sum into hiring a tech vendor; of course you’d expect nothing less than absolute dedication from your project manager. This is where you couldn’t have been more wrong.

Even if they won’t admit it, some project managers, too caught up with multiple projects, simply have no time to pore over every single one of your emails of bug fixing requests, app features modification and whatnots.

Don’t be surprised that some project managers are simply playing the middlemen by forwarding emails between clients and the external vendors and/or freelancers.

3. Website templates can, easily, be bought off the Internet. Yes, and cheap too.

You started a company and needed a professional website. What do you do? You’d hire an agency designer and get things done. Right, except you’ll be paying tens of thousands of dollars, a sum heavily marked up, to build a corporate website — something that could easily be bought off the Internet for a fraction of the price your agency is charging.

Highly customisable and mobile-responsive ready-made website themes, that include user-friendly interface and plenty of built-in functionality can be bought from WordPress Theme for as little as — gasp! -USD59.

What’s more, here’s the not-so-secret secret: most developers take this shortcut, i.e. use a ready-made template as a base point to make more complex adjustments to suit client’s branding and needs. #truestory

Now that the insider secrets are out, we hope you’ll consider these pointers before hiring your next tech vendor or agency!