Constant change and improvement are the lifeblood of e-commerce. Every day there are more and more technological opportunities that need to be exploited to win a competitive position and increase profits. Magento is a well-known and widely used open-source eCommerce platform. Despite all its complexity, it is very popular among customers who want to create an online store. Choosing Magento, as well as any other platform, as a CMS for your online store, sooner or later, but inevitably, you will face such a question as hiring a developer. Finding the right specialist can be a real challenge for any business owner.
Choosing a true professional in the field of Magento development is a complex and lengthy process because many factors can influence the decision in this matter. In order not to make a mistake and choose a truly reliable and experienced contractor, the business owner must know what points to pay attention to. In today’s article, we will figure out what you need to focus on to choose the best Magento developer and solutions partner.
Magento Solution Partner — what is it?
Magento development company can join the list of solution providers by becoming a Magento partner. To obtain partner status, companies undergo a series of checks by the Magento headquarters, including:
- code quality level;
- availability of completed projects of a certain complexity and cost;
- the presence of the team of employees with Magento certificates;
- customer reviews.
Successful passing of all checks and fulfillment of all conditions will enable the company to be called the word “Partner”, which is proof and evidence of its competence.
Solution Partners can provide your business with all the services you need to develop a digital strategy, customize features to suit different business requirements, integrate with third-party applications, and set up creative strategies to set you apart from the competition. Let’s dive deeper and understand this issue:
- For small businesses that are just starting their journey in e-commerce, there is a status — Partners in business solutions. They handle the configuration and setup of the Magento store;
- A company receives the status of a Professional solutions partner if they have updated the platform to the latest versions, implement the latest practices and suggestions, and also support other Magento users in solving problems;
- If a company receives the status of an Enterprise solutions partner, it means that it has made a significant contribution to the development of the platform and has established itself in the world of Magento;
- And lastly, these are companies that offer a full range of services for the provision of solutions and follow-up consultations. Such companies have the status of a Global partners for elite solutions. They usually work on large projects like the Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000.
How to choose a Magento Development Agency and not make a mistake?
Now that you are familiar with the statuses provided to Magento partners, it’s time to answer the question: how not to make a mistake and choose a truly reliable and professional performer.
Pay attention to reputation. There are many sites where you can read reviews and reviews of various companies providing Magento development services. There you will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the portfolio of the company and find out if it has worked on projects similar to yours. It also does not hurt to contact a representative of the company for further details and additional information. After building a complete picture of the company, you will be able to determine for yourself whether you want to ask them for help with the development of your online store or not.
Check out the company’s portfolio. In most cases, if a company does not have a portfolio, this is not a very good sign and a signal that you need to think before ordering services. Of course, the situation is not excluded when you can get the best online sales platform by being the first client of a developer company, but why take the risk? It is better to find professionals with many years of experience and an extensive portfolio with all the information about the achievements and results of the work.
Don’t forget pricing and tariffs. You may not see development prices on the company’s website, which is not surprising. Each of the projects requires a deep analysis and planning of all processes and necessary resources. It all depends largely on your budget, project complexity, and deadlines. You may not have enough developers, and you need additional resources.
Location plays an important role. Why? — you ask, because now with the help of the Internet you can keep in touch with every corner of the planet Earth. However, there are other factors, for example: if you work with foreign companies, you need to take into account the time difference for scheduling meetings, because, like you, it will not be convenient for a developer to wake up in the middle of the night to discuss project details. Some cultural differences can provoke various misunderstandings.
Transparency and free communication are very important. Working interaction ensures that there is a complete understanding between developers, managers, and the business owner. Due to communication, the risks of missed deadlines or project failure are eliminated. Most often, companies work according to the Agile methodology, which is based on cyclical work and constant communication.
Mandatory availability of certified Magento developers. This factor can be decisive since the presence of a certificate from a developer means that he is serious about development and is savvy with deep knowledge of the platform’s features. Thus, you can be sure that your platform for selling goods or services online will be created with the highest quality and will not be inferior to competitors in any way.
Magento Solution Partner Company. As we said above, the reliability of a company is determined by the status of a partner. They will be able to create the right solution for your business with the Magento platform. To find out if a company is a partner, use the directory of partners.
Domain knowledge is another thing that can indicate the professionalism of a developer. If you are dealing with a professional, then he has spent years learning all the possibilities of the Magento platform and earning awards, so he should be ready to answer any of your questions and find a solution for any request.
Support after deployment. This is the last factor on our list that you need to consider when choosing a development company. Keeping an online platform up and running is just as important as just building it. If you are choosing a development service provider, be sure to pay attention to this important point.
Final Thoughts
E-commerce is in high demand right now and Magento is the best platform to showcase all your products to customers and run a successful e-commerce business. However, without the help of qualified and experienced developers, this CMS can be useless, because due to its complexity, Magento requires a high level of technical knowledge. Therefore, if you want to run a full-fledged online business but are not familiar with Magento, you will need a trained specialist to help you with all your problems. You should exercise caution when hiring developers, and you should only decide after carefully considering many factors, including their experience, responsiveness, cost, etc
