When financing an app, you may either go with a local development team or a company outside your city. While you may be tempted to look for a team overseas to cut costs or because you don’t think it matters in the age of remote working, it’s almost always best to go local. Here are a few reasons why:
#1 They Speak Your Language
Communication is essential in any partnership. Ideally, both you and your app developers should comfortably speak the same language to avoid miscommunication, which can cost time and money. Sometimes, meaning is lost in translation when you’re using Google Translate to talk to a developer.
In some cities, the importance of language can be doubly important. For example, if your startup speaks French Canadian and some English, it would be best for you to hire a mobile app developer in Montreal rather than a team from Alberta or even another country.
#2 They Know Your Culture
Although cultural familiarity isn’t essential for every type of app, it can be critical for some apps. Here are some types of apps that may benefit from a local developer:
- Financial: Intimate knowledge of local banks and other financial institutions can prove to be vital for a financial app targeting local users.
- Real Estate: When developing a real estate app for a city, you should pick a local developer with firsthand knowledge of the real estate market.
- Food: Any food or grocery delivery app must leverage local maps.
- Tourism: A local app developer will more competently develop an app that guides visitors than creators who have never been to the city.
- Shopping: If you are developing a shopping app that incorporates the latest deals in town, local insight is useful.
#3 They Are Easier to Collaborate With
The best app development companies like to treat their clients like partners, working with them collaboratively at every step of the process. In the modern age, it’s easy to collaborate over the Internet. Still, there’s something to be said for periodic face-to-face meetings. Such meetings ensure that everyone is on the same page and can also strengthen the relationship between client and developer.
#4 They’re Easier to Verify
There are two reasons why a local app development team is easier to verify than someone out of town. For one, you can visit their office and interview them firsthand. In addition, you can verify a local team’s portfolio more easily because their clients are also likely to be local.
By contrast, it’s easier to get scammed by overseas app developers. For example, one small business owner developing a dating app was scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars by an overseas developer that kept demanding more money instead of completing the project.
#5 They’re in the Same Time Zone
Saving money by hiring a low-cost developer may seem like a good idea until you realize you are in radically different time zones. Next thing you know, you’re up at 3:00 am for the next meeting or are frantically calling them to resolve an emergency post-launch issue while they’re off duty.
There are multiple advantages to hiring a local developer, even if the cost is higher. Remember, in the end, you always get what you paid for.
