Great businesses are built on the foundation of partnerships. Choosing the right Magento development agency can be a tricky affair. There are tens of hundreds of development agencies that claim to be good. According to Magento.com, there are 350 Magento partner agencies across the globe. But, how do you zero in on a Magento eCommerce agency that can deliver what it promises? After all, there is time, money, and valuable resources at stake.
Here are 8 questions to ask your Magento eCommerce agency to help you appraise your options better and pick at the right one.
So that brings us to the first question to ask your Magento eCommerce agency.
A Full-service Magento Development Firm?
A full-service firm is an agency that offers end-to-end website design, development & deployment services. Compared to a one-man shop, they have a team of Magento experts who can handle diverse roles and responsibilities with ease. It brings down drastically the delays and inefficiencies that a single person development team would be prone to. So, to begin with, ensure you are engaging with an custom magento development services agency that is a full-service firm.
What Is The Size Of Your Magento development agency Team?
Taking sides with a full-service firm is a wise choice, but, do they have sufficient development process expertise? Ask the Magento development agency the size and breadth of experience of their team. Ideally, when looking for a Magento development company in the USA, they must have a dedicated team made up of experienced and certified Magento experts.
There are four types of Magento certifications:
- Magento Certified Solution Specialist
- Front End Developer Certification
- Certified Developer
- Developer Plus
Depending on your project requirement, you can look for Magento development services agency that has a team with adequate certifications.
Certified Magento developers will adhere to code standards in development process that will run smoothly without the hindrance of bugs. And, the experience means that work gets done faster with results.
Can You List Some Magento B2B Commerce Achievements Of Your Firm?
This is just like asking a candidate about his/her past achievements in an interview. The motive is obvious. Has this agency helped its clients overcome critical challenges with its Magento B2B commerce development services?
A company which does not have much to talk about is not an ideal candidate. If they can demonstrate the list problems they solved, the innovative ecommerce solutions especially during development process they devised and the final results they delivered, the company is an ideal option to go with. In fact, you can head straight to their website’s case studies section to find all the information to get a heads-up.
What is your project management process?
Agile. Agile. Agile.an Agile project management is the perfect partner you can ask for. The Project Management Institute reports that at least 71% of the organizations use an Agile approach for project management.
Why Agile project management?
Because it is inherently beneficial in delivering benefits like:
- Better project control
- Reduced project risks
- Faster ROI
- Stable releases
- Continuous testing
So, a Magento development agency that follows an Agile methodology should be your natural choice. Agile project management methodology ensures that your project turnaround is minimal, which brings us to the next question.
What is your average turnaround time?
There is no definite answer to this. Each company would have a different timeline. A Magento eCommerce agency with immense expertise and experience, shouldn’t take long. However, don’t be misled by the assumption that a company that delivers within a short phase of life is good.
Your focus should be in finding out whether the company has a solid process of sticking to a timeline. It is here that a company following an Agile process would prove beneficial. They run sprints with established goals that push the project towards completion at a constant pace.
How would I stay in the loop about the project update?
As a stakeholder, you have the right to be updated on the project status, the plans set for the next sprint, bugs that need to be fixed and so on. This is because the project would be usually handled by a person other than the business development executive who attended to your inquiry.
In a well-established Magento development agency, there would be a dedicated project manager who would be the one-point contact for everything related to the product. The PM would be responsible for sending status reports, following up bug fixes, attending to client calls for a revision in project requirements, timelines and so on.
What if something goes wrong?
Things rarely go wrong with professional firms. But, when they do, there is always a backup plan in place that ensures that things are reset to resume progress. Before engaging the Magento B2B commerce development company, ask for their Escalation Matrix.
An Escalation matrix it the list of people and their contacts who should be alerted when something doesn’t work the way it was supposed to work. The matrix would include everyone from project manager to the director depending on the level of escalation. Without an escalation matrix, holding the firm accountable for its shortcomings would be a problem.
Are they Magento Partners or accredited with Magento?
Magento rolls out several forms of business partnerships that ranks the capabilities of the firm. Solution Partners, technology partners, community insiders, are some of the partnerships that Magento currently offers. Each type of magento partners offers a varying magnitude of service that can out your project in the fast lane to completion.
Here are a few add-on questions that could help further assess the agency’s competency
Is there clarity on your short and long term goals?
As a technology partner, the partner you work should have clarity on both short and long term goals. Taking into account the big picture, the Magento eCommerce agency has to work back to smaller objectives, which in turn will help achieve the long-term goals. The more clarity the agency has, the better it can determine the functionality levels a new platform can provide.
Can they leverage the platform to help expand your sales channels?
As the online store grows, expansion through new markets and sales channels is inevitable. Ask the partner if they have experience in brand expansion. It is essential to evaluate their expertise in providing multi-channel management solutions, which is cost-effective and saves time as well. Irrespective of the current stage of the buyer’s journey, the Magento development agency should help utilize the full potential of the platform during expansion.
Can the agency quantify the total cost of ownership as well as return on investment?
The cost factor is complex to determine during the initial stages of the project, especially when you cannot foresee future growth opportunities for your eCommerce store. Evaluate if the Magento development company can guide you through the total cost of ownership and return on investment derived from their analytics and expertise. The Magento eCommerce agency could advise right from the online store’s design to customizations during development and licensing fees to configuration details.
Big project, Short In Time?
