There are indecent offers, but in my practice - a little

It is generally accepted that web development is primarily coding. So it is, but coding cannot exist in a vacuum - without managers and clients. We talked about the work of the account in the web studio with Anna Rubey , head of the customer service department of the web studio Webbys.ru (Ivanovo).

- Anya, hello, thank you for agreeing to talk with us! What is your job?
- I am engaged in attracting customers, I work with them in all areas, and also try to do my best to make them satisfied with the quality of the services provided. I consider this the most important and correct, as well as logical in the conditions of such competition as now!

- Tell us more about the competition!
- The market today is multifaceted, on the one hand, there is a lot of work, but many customers are not "ready" yet ... Despite the fact that the Internet has ceased to be incomprehensible and strange, it has remained at the level of small and medium-sized cities. From the point of view of web studios, the order market, for example, in Ivanovo, is not ready for major serious developments, promoting SMOs, business plans and generally any structured work. He froze in the state of business card sites and online stores, and - sadly - this is the situation in many small cities. From the point of view of customers, there is no understanding of the cost of development, its need and, in general, “what is it”? I'm not talking about promotion! In addition to contextual advertising and SEO, customers do not perceive anything. We stayed far behind in terms of development with Moscow.

- How are you doing with corruption? Any "suggestions" come in?
- There are indecent offers, but not many in my practice. We can immediately say that the amount for services in the regions is much lower, and the studios try not to accept such offers! It's easy to spoil a reputation, it’s much more difficult to restore it.

- You work more with clients: tell me, do you have any work standards? Say, first fill out a brief, then hold a meeting, then develop a Terms of Reference?
- My work has developed in a certain way based on personal experience. Initially, I prefer to meet, because the customer does not always understand what he needs. Further, a brief is filled on its own or with my help, then the technical task, it is always discussed what the customer will see as a result of the work, where exactly is the moment when you can say “done”.

The customer is constantly aware of what is happening with the project and if he does not understand something, then you can spend an extra 2-3 hours to tell or explain everything. This will further add confidence to the customer in the correct choice of contractor. It is not necessary to conduct large-scale training, just tell the basics and help find the information of interest. As a rule, with this approach, customers turn to such employees repeatedly, or recommend to friends.

But if this is not the rule of the whole company, but only one manager, then the customers will associate the result and work with a particular person, and not the developer company.

- Do you have standard technical documentation? For example, brief, terms of reference, contract? Or do you work with each client individually?
- Of course, during the work, certain standards have been developed. They, of course, have not been accepted by anyone, but in our country there is no need to talk about standardization in the IT field. Documentation such as a brief is an established standard, at least for me. The contract has a standard backbone, but each time when working with the client’s lawyers, it acquires an individuality. As for project documentation, it also has certain standards, although part will always remain individual for each project.

I want to draw attention to the fact that there are standards for writing technical specifications (GOST 19, 34), but few use them, because they have long been out of date. They were written in the early 90's, and this is too long for a dynamically developing industry.

- Anya, tell me, does it happen that clients from other agencies come to you? Is it easy to work with them? Would it be easier if there were some common market standards of service or not?
- Yes, of course, there are such clients! Definitely work is easier. People who understand what they need, who are aware of pricing and stages of work - is always a big plus.

Difficulties are caused only by those moments when the question arises, why is your work structured differently. There is a lack of some generally accepted norms and rules; now everyone does what he wants and since he considers it right. Customers are confused at such moments and do not know what to believe.

As for web studios, few people could do a project on someone else's technical task. Part would probably be recycled. And one wants to avoid this, so that the client is not tied to a particular developer, but at any moment can get a service or product where conditions are more suitable for him.

- We recently conducted a study together with RAEC. Interviewed 2,000 professionals in the web development market. The result is such an infographic. Can you comment on her somehow?
- I agree with everything that is presented, but with one reservation! I believe that the most dishonest tenders and a greater number of kickbacks are present in the development sector for the public sector, not business.

- Anya, your wish in one sentence to the entire web development market?
- Improve the quality of services and produced resources. Communicate correctly with all customers and make every effort to develop norms, standards and laws in the IT field. The issue of laws is especially acute; I wrote a post on this topic on my blog .