Budgets Ain’t What They Used To Be
A few decades ago, many businesses built websites for the same reason they printed business cards: legitimacy. But over time, the world changed, and a business’s website became the front door to the business. People began to recognize their site was one of the business’s most important investments, if not the single most important. So they spent what they had to, to make it great.
Well, these days, things have changed again. Websites are no less important, and you should still spend what you have to, to make yours great. But what you have to spend has changed—because technology has changed. Over the last half-decade or so, the tools for building sites have made huge leaps, requiring far less custom code and far more efficient development. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 80% of digital experience development will take place outside of IT departments—what was bespoke programming is now out-of-the-box, drag-and-drop functionality.
“…by 2026, 80% of digital experience development will take place outside of IT departments…”
What does that mean? Well, in our experience, it means a site that cost $100,000-$200,000 just five or ten years ago can likely now be built for $35,000-$50,000 (or less).
Timelines Ain’t What They Used To Be
Obviously, the reason budgets have come down is that the work involved with a redesign has been dramatically reduced. That means not only lower costs but less time. So that year-long site redesign that you may be dreading? A thing of the past. Yes, if your site is hundreds of pages and carrying a ton of unusual back-end functionality, we’ll eat our words. But even then—whatever the timeline would have been just a few years ago will be chopped down to size.
“That year-long site redesign that you may be dreading? A thing of the past.”
Where sites were routinely taking 6-12 months just a few years ago, Forbes now pegs the process at 10-14 weeks—from planning, through testing and review. Of course, that assumes you’ve chosen an honest, competent partner. But let’s think positive.
More People People. Less Friction.
In the past, the web was the domain of engineers—folks who understood technology first and foremost and needed Fast Company guides to translate their plans for everyone else. But new technologies have empowered a different breed of project managers. The shift away from web design as a tech-first practice has made room for people with project management-first experience to steer the ship.
“New technologies have empowered a different breed of project managers.”
Net result? Your redesign can be managed by a person whose primary expertise is in project management and communication—a person who can learn and adapt to your culture and keep the project moving smoothly, even when your absentee stakeholders show up and change everything.
All in all, you can expect the people directing the project to be people people who put your priorities first.
