Partnering with external companies for the development of your websites and apps allows you to achieve specific goals, such as developing the product roadmap and growing the pipeline, without the expense or delay of hiring or scaling in-house teams. Rather than recruiting a whole tech team, many companies partner with a software agency that specialises in creating and supporting digital products within specific sectors or business models.
Here are some of the key reasons companies outsource their software development needs:
1. Focus is on your success 💸
The two most common drivers for using external companies are time and cost. Building a CMS in-house team means hiring developers, designers, QA testers, and potentially a DevOps team. The opportunity to partner with experts provides so much potential for companies to grow as they benefit from having a team of specific experts who are there to help them grow their business and let them focus their efforts elsewhere.
Why do it? You get a full team that already knows what they’re doing and can deliver a finished product faster. This work is not a one-time task; it requires ongoing SEO updates, performance improvements, and UX optimisation. Many businesses don’t have sufficient internal resources to keep up whilst also managing the day job at the core of the company, so outsourcing these skills gives them a more efficient and sustainable solution.
2. Faster Go-To-Market, Better Results 🚀
When you work with a software agency, you’re not starting from scratch. There's no need for training or onboarding. You’re working with a team that already understands how to scope, design, and build digital platforms.
The difference between a good agency and a great one is that the great one won’t just build what you ask for; they’ll create a product roadmap with you that will achieve your business goals. With project managers and technical leads overseeing the process from concept to delivery, you get a platform that’s ready to drive results quickly and efficiently.
3. Ongoing Support and Roadmap 🗺️
Digital platforms need constant attention, and we believe our customers should focus on their business rather than the everyday running of their website. Let your partner (us) handle the integrations that occasionally break, plugins that need to be updated, and anything else that requires the web to run smoothly.
This is where outsourcing adds real value. Whether you need a few days per month or ongoing support to iteratively improve your product by releasing new features and polishing, you can do so without hiring additional staff.
4. Scaling With Your Business 📈
A website should grow with your company. It’s often the first place customers go to understand what you offer. If your business evolves but your website stays static, you're leaving opportunities on the table.
The benefit that comes from having a partner create a product roadmap with you and take that journey from concept to creation is unmatched. Imagine getting exactly what you want instead of a pre-made platform. The great thing about having an ongoing partnership is that when your business grows and changes, the roadmap will follow and adapt to where you need it to be. We use open source, which means it scales with you, and we simply build magic on top of it.
What’s great about open source scaling with your business is that the costs are scalable as well. Initially, costs are higher as you need a digital product to be built, but once it has been built, costs can significantly drop, and what you pay for is the running of your website, including updates, integrations, etc.. A few years later, you may want another site or even a microsite, and again, these costs will change and scale with your business.
Choose Your Partner Carefully ⚠️
Outsourcing is only as good as the partner you choose. We believe delayed timelines, overpromised features, or lack of transparency reflect poor service and shouldn’t ever be expected by customers.
There are a lot of great agencies out there, and many do the same thing. How do our customers choose us? We are known in the industry for being transparent, trustworthy, and informal. We think that works well and our customers value exactly that. Our customers care about the service they receive, and we make sure to provide them with the service we promised. The proof is in the pudding.
Why Customers Work With Full Fat Things 😺
One thing of which we’re super proud is that we have customers who stay with us for years. They even take us with them when they move jobs. At Full Fat Things, we focus on delivering high-quality, open-source solutions, particularly in Drupal, where we’re diamond-certified and home to some of the best developers in the field. But we’re not limited by allegiance to specific tech; we choose the right tools based on what your project needs rather than what’s in it for us.
Our customers value our attention to detail, our commitment to doing the job right, and our open, straightforward approach to working together. We keep communication clear, we listen carefully, and we manage projects with a level of professionalism that builds trust. It means a lot to us when our customers appreciate the service we provide, not only for the build and roadmap but for our communication, the support, and always finding the impossible solution. Our team is hand-picked, we take it very seriously with who we hire, and we love that so many of our developers have been developing since they were young. When our customers come to Full Fat Things, they come because of the humans behind it.
We may be informal in how we talk, but we’re serious about our work — and even more serious about the long-term partnerships we build.
“Full Fat Things has been invaluable for us to actually be able to challenge ourselves, be challenged and actually come up with better outcomes.”
- Mark Elliot COO, Europa Science