Being the platform of choice for web developers worldwide to develop dynamic and custom–built web applications, PHP has taken centre stage in today’s web technology arena. Its popularity can be judged by the fact that almost two out of three websites developed nowadays use PHP in some form or the other.
When it comes to selecting a vendor for outsourcing your PHP development tasks, you will find that numerous vendors exist at every price point. Quite a few of them would try and compete on price. But care should be taken not to be carried away by the low price offered but instead find a vendor who can cater to your specific web development needs. Price alone cannot be the deciding factor in such business-critical PHP development projects, instead the reputation and track record of the vendor assumes significance. For the benefit of users who are concerned about the success of their PHP Project, we have enlisted a few pointers that will help fellow readers to make an informed decision regarding the choice of a PHP Vendor.
If you are about to spend money for your PHP web development needs, then you should perform an analysis and examine the vendor on the following parameters:
- Technology Strengths
- Domain & Ecosystem Expertise
- Community Strengths
- Project and Quality Management
- Business and Legal
Let’s examine each of the above parameters in greater detail:
Technology Strengths:
The first and foremost thing that you should do is to check the technical expertise of the service providers whom you have short-listed based on references obtained. Whether you require a PHP vendor for standard day-to-day support or for a specific product that needs to be developed, you need to ensure that vendor has the technical expertise to deliver results within the constraints of time to avoid costly delays. Typically a PHP Development project requires some of these skill sets:
- Native PHP (Version 5 and above)
- Framework-Expertise in PHP Frameworks like Zend Framework, Symfony, Codeigniter, CakePHP etc
- Database – It entirely depends on your preference. Some of the databases that are used in PHP application development are MySQL, DB2, PostgreSQL, MSSQL and Oracle
- System Administration: Knowledge of Server OS typically a Linux Box or Windows coupled with knowledge of Cloud Hosting (if required)
- Some specific projects also require extensive knowledge of Front End (UI) Development technology frameworks like JQuery, Prototype, EXT JS, and DOJO etc.
If your application is based on an existing PHP based product / solution then extensive expertise on the same is required. Asking the right questions to vendors is important as it will help you to elicit answers that will help you in taking informed decisions. You may like to ask the following:
- Team Strength
- Number of application architects on board
- Number of engineers on board with Zend Certification
- Number of PHP Engineers in the team who have worked with PHP products that you use (like SugarCRM Developer, Magento, Drupal, Process Maker )
- Number of database experts in the team who have expertise in the database relevant to your project and their roles in PHP development projects
- Request for some sample projects done in your chosen framework to know whether the vendor has expertise in your chosen framework.
- Take a look at the internal training calendar to know about the training programs conducted internally in the recent past
- Ask about the induction process of a PHP engineer as it will help you to know whether the vendor invests in training or not.
- Request for details about PHP/QA practices.
Domain & Ecosystem Expertise
Success of PHP Projects lies not only on the knowledge of PHP but also on familiarity with a particular industry vertical/domain and the associated PHP Ecosystem technologies. The following elements may determine how successful your project would be and how quickly you will be able to market it to your target audience:
Industry Vertical
- Has the vendor worked in the industry vertical in which you require a solution for?
- If not, has he provided a similar solution for any other vertical?
EcoSystem
- What is company’s database expertise in migrating legacy systems, database Administration, Security, Performance Tuning, Replication, Backup, Fault-Tolerance and designing and developing a customized database?
- What are Linux / Server Management services provided by the company like monitoring, support, backups and more?
- Cloud /SaaS and Hosting Expertise
Community Strengths
PHP comes from Open Source Community.Open Source Communities are built on principle of sharing and co-creation of Intellectual Property. One of the best ways of judging the maturity and seriousness of a PHP Vendor is to gauge the vendor’s standing in the Open Source community. Typically, a vendor who is very active in different communities shows signs of collaboration, team work, deep domain expertise, stability and longevity. It goes without saying that you will obtain the best return on the time, money and energy invested if you work with such vendors.
Here are some of the methods by which you can judge a vendor’s standing in the open source community:-
- Obtain first-hand information about the vendor’s active participation in Code contribution and ask if they have released any software for Open Source communities
- Have they contributed in Core PHP?
- Ask if any PHP book or article has been published by the vendor?
- Are they participating / creating / promoting Open Source Conferences/ Un Conferences and events?
- Do they have PHP Brand Ambassadors who are promoting PHP at various forums?
Project and Quality Management
Project Methodology and Quality Management are critical for any PHP Project. It has been observed that many companies do not have full blown quality management practices when it comes to PHP projects. And most of them rely only on Manual Testing. Here are some of things that you should keep in mind while judging the quality practices being followed by the vendor:
Unit Testing:
Does the vendor know about PHP Unit Testing? Which PHP Unit testing framework is used? Ask for examples of code written with Unit Test Cases. Ask about the tools used for various kind of QA parameters like:-
- UI Testing
- Black box testing
- Stress Testing
- Workflow Testing
Check if the vendor has a Certified QA team (There are number of QA related certifications):
- Request for a sample of written test cases
- Ask if the vendor has any recognized quality certification
Business and Legal Strength
Last but not the least, check out how the vendor approaches collaboration & legal issues. Some of the relevant questions that can be asked at this juncture are:
- How big is your local presence? Will you be able to serve me in my time zone?
- I like to sign contract, NDA which are enforceable in my country, is your company incorporated here?
- Do you have any kind of liability insurances?
- When was your company incorporated?
- Are you profitable?
I hope the above points will surely help you in choosing the right vendor for your PHP web development needs. And I will be more than happy to answer your any queries and await your valuable comments and feedback.
Balaji has spent over 18 years in the IT Services Industry. With an experience encompassing Services and Product Marketing, he has successfully managed globally distributed Marketing and Product teams. He’s an analytical marketer with strong understanding and experience across marketing strategy, demand generation, field marketing, technology partner marketing, account based marketing, digital marketing, event management, analysis and third party relationship, PR/Media, people management, etc.
