As businesses work to keep up with the constantly shifting demands of consumers, having a development partner who can adapt to your specific needs is crucial. Every business is unique, which is why we've designed our services to be as flexible as your goals.
In this article, we'll take you through our flexible approach to commerce development, exploring how our services can be customized to fit your business objectives and help you achieve long-term success.
Why choose an agency with a flexible approach?
A flexible approach to software development collaboration puts you in the driver’s seat, allowing you to shape the project according to your needs and limitations.
By selecting the right blend of expertise and adjusting the team size as the project progresses, this model offers the flexibility needed to manage costs and timelines efficiently.
Designed to give you maximum control over the development process, this approach helps you meet your business goals without facing unnecessary delays or exceeding your budget.
Customization and control
Every business is different, and so are its development needs.
The flexible approach allows you to tailor the team size, skillset, and project scope to fit your specific requirements. Whether you need just a couple of experts to implement a particular feature in your eCommerce website or a full team to manage an entire project, you have complete control over how your resources are allocated.
Scalability
As your project progresses, the demands on your team may change. The flexible approach offers the flexibility to scale your resources up or down based on the current stage of your project.
If you experience rapid growth or need to speed up site development, you can quickly add more developers to your team.
On the other hand, if it's time to slow down or concentrate on maintenance, you can easily reduce the team size without any complications.
This scalability ensures that you're always working at optimal efficiency, without the risk of overcommitting resources.
Cost efficiency
Budget management is a critical concern for any project.
Our flexible approach uses a time and materials (T&M) billing model, which allows you to manage costs more effectively. You only pay for the hours worked and the resources used, giving you full transparency and control over your budget.
This model not only helps in optimizing costs but also provides the flexibility to adjust spending in response to changing project demands, ensuring that your investment aligns with your business objectives.
Learn more about the T&M model in our article - How Does the Time and Materials Contract Work, and Why Do We Use It at Rigby?
Service offerings overview
At Rigby, we offer two flexible services designed to meet your specific eCommerce development needs: Body Leasing and Full Team.
Each service is crafted to provide the right level of support, whether it’s targeted expertise for a specific task or a full team to manage an entire project from start to finish.
Body Leasing is ideal for projects that require additional development resources on a short-term basis. It allows you to bring in a couple of skilled developers from our team. You retain full control over the project, with the flexibility to adjust the number of developers and hours each month based on your needs.
Full Team is designed for businesses looking for a more comprehensive solution. This service is for the ones who want to build a new platform from scratch or replatform an existing one. You can adjust the team's composition, integrate your own developers, or even transition the project to another team.
Both services are structured to offer the agility and expertise needed to help you reach your goals, while also maintaining the flexibility to adapt to any changes that come your way.
Body Leasing: On-demand expertise
What is Body Leasing?
Body Leasing is a service designed for businesses that need short-term expertise to meet project deadlines while maintaining complete control over their development process.
This solution will be perfect for you if you require specialized expertise in Medusa.js to implement a particular feature or need extra hands to manage workload spikes.
How it works
With Body Leasing, you have the flexibility to bring in a couple of skilled developers to support your team.
This service allows you to scale your development resources based on your current project demands, without the long-term commitment of full-time hires. You retain full control over the project, directing the web developer to focus on the tasks that are most critical to your eCommerce website.
Each month, you have the option to adjust the team size and the number of hours worked, ensuring that your resources align perfectly with your project’s needs. This adaptable model not only helps in managing costs but also allows you to respond quickly to changes in project scope or timelines.
Full Team: End-to-end commerce solutions
What is Full Team?
Full Team is a service designed for businesses seeking an end-to-end solution for their eCommerce web development projects.
Whether you're starting with a new platform or replatforming an existing one, Full Team provides a dedicated team of developers, designers, and project managers tailored to meet your specific needs.
This service ensures that every aspect of your project is managed with care and precision, from initial planning through to post-launch support. You'll have the flexibility to scale resources and make adjustments as the project progresses, ensuring that your evolving needs are always met.
Option 1: Building a new platform
When you set out to create a new eCommerce platform, our Full Team service provides a flexible approach, ensuring that your project meets all objectives while staying on schedule and within budget.
Initial client meeting
The process begins with an in-depth meeting where we discuss your business goals, vision for the platform, and any specific requirements you might have. This meeting sets the foundation for the entire project, ensuring that our team fully understands your needs and expectations from the outset.
Requirement gathering and workshops
Following the initial meeting, we conduct detailed requirement-gathering sessions and workshops. During these sessions, we work closely with your team to define the core functionalities that need to be included in the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This phase is crucial for identifying key features, user flows, and technical specifications that will shape the development process.
Team assembly and execution
Once the project’s scope is defined, we assemble a dedicated team of developers, designers, and project managers who are ideally suited to bring your vision to life. This team becomes fully integrated into your project, collaborating closely with your internal stakeholders to maintain alignment at every stage.
MVP development and design considerations
With the requirements clearly defined, our team begins the development of your MVP. We focus on delivering a functional product that meets your primary needs while leaving room for future enhancements. Design is also a key consideration during this phase—if you already have a design, we implement it; if not, our design team works with you to create a user-friendly interface that aligns with your brand.
Post-MVP flexibility
Once the MVP is delivered, you have the flexibility to decide the next steps. Whether you want to continue enhancing the platform with additional features, slow down development to focus on other areas or integrate your own developers into the team, our service is designed to adapt to your evolving needs. We also offer the option to hand over the project to your internal team or another development partner if required.
Option 2: Replatforming an existing platform
For businesses looking to upgrade or overhaul their existing eCommerce platform, our Full Team Build service provides a strategic and phased approach that minimizes disruption while maximizing impact.
Scoping session and project mapping
The replatforming process starts with a thorough scoping session where we analyze your current platform, identify pain points, and map out the project. This includes reviewing your existing architecture, database, and functionalities to determine the best approach for migrating to a more modern, scalable solution like Medusa.js.
Phased module replacement
Rather than attempting a risky, all-at-once replatforming (Big Bang approach), we employ a phased module replacement strategy. This approach allows us to gradually transition your platform to the new system, starting with the most critical components. For example, we might begin by replacing the product information management module with a Medusa.js equivalent, then proceed to other modules like checkout, user accounts, or inventory management. This phased approach reduces downtime and ensures that your business operations continue smoothly during the transition.
For more insights into this topic read our article - Transforming Enterprise eCommerce: Phased Replatforming with Medusa Modules.
Ongoing support and integration
Throughout the replatforming process, we provide continuous support to address any issues that arise and ensure that the integration of new modules is seamless. Our team works closely with your internal developers or IT department to facilitate knowledge transfer and ensure that your team is fully equipped to manage the new platform moving forward. Additionally, we remain available for ongoing maintenance and further enhancements as your business needs evolve.
Conclusion
The flexible approach provides you with the ability to customize your collaboration, scale resources as needed, and manage your budget effectively.
Whether you choose our Body Leasing service, which provides on-demand expertise for specific tasks, or our Full Team service, which offers comprehensive project execution from start to finish, we ensure that your project is managed with the precision and adaptability necessary for success.
Ready to take the next step? Contact us now to discuss your needs and find out how we can work together to bring your vision to life.
