Drupal is a powerful and flexible content management system that helps businesses create dynamic, scalable websites.
Known for its versatility, Drupal supports everything from simple blogs to complex e-commerce platforms. Its open-source nature allows for extensive customization, making it a favorite for businesses seeking tailored solutions.
Choosing the right Drupal development agency is key to your project's success.
Why?
A skilled agency ensures smooth implementation, timely delivery, and efficient resource use. The right partner turns your vision into reality, giving you a competitive edge in the digital marketplace.
If you’re like Sarah, a Marketing Director at her company, finding a reliable partner is at the top of your list.
She needs an agency that guarantees on-time delivery and maximizes return on investment. The right agency will understand her business needs, offer innovative Drupal solutions, and provide ongoing support. This partnership minimizes risks and ensures her Drupal project runs smoothly, delivering real business benefits.
Sounds like something you are after? Then, keep reading to discover how to choose the right Drupal agency for your needs.
For insights on building secure and compliant Drupal websites for government agencies, you can refer to our detailed guide on the subject.
What Makes a Top-Tier Drupal Development Agency?
Like any service provider, a Drupal development agency should meet its client’s needs. Whether that means high customization, timely delivery, or superior customer support it depends on each client’s needs.
We’ve asked experienced Drupal experts and project managers at OPTASY, including the company’s CEO, about what sets a Drupal development agency apart.
The main components mentioned by all of them were:
- Experience and expertise
- A diverse portfolio of clients
- An active participation in the Drupal community
Let’s look closer at what Adrian Ababei, the CEO of OPTASY, believes a top-tier Drupal development agency means:
- Works on Drupal core as much as possible
- Supports initiatives of the community
- Involved in security releases
- Certified Drupal developers across back-end and Acquia products
- Experience with other CMS platforms to be able to understand the differences between Drupal and other CMSs
- Drupal is very complex, and the agency should be capable of explaining complex Drupal concepts in non-technical terms to the clients
- Powerful communication skills in connection with clients
- Transparency in client billing and project time management
- Regularly updates skills and knowledge to stay current
- Proves expertise and website security to clients
When asked about what a top-tier Drupal development agency means, Mark Yuasa, Business Analyst at OPTASY, said:
- Extensive experience with Drupal versions 7, 8, 9, 10
- Holds Drupal and Acquia certifications
- Demonstrates a strong track record across various verticals
- Effective communication skills
- Implementation of robust processes, such as Agile methodology
- Experience in rescuing projects from less experienced vendors, showing deep understanding and capability
5 Steps to Choosing the Right Drupal Agency for Your Business
Choosing a Drupal agency for your business is a big commitment. This means you might spend a lot of time on research and agency meetings, which doesn’t always give you the right answers.
We’ve put together a 5-step process for choosing the right agency without wasting time or becoming overwhelmed.
1. Understand Your Business Needs
Start by identifying your specific business needs and project requirements.
- What goals do you want to achieve with your Drupal website?
- What type of website do you want to build?
- What’s your target audience?
- What key features are you looking for?
- How much do you want to spend on building your Drupal website?
Taking the time to answer these questions will give you clarity and a relevant direction for your Drupal provider hunt.
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2. Evaluate the Agency’s Experience and Expertise
This is one of the most important things to consider when researching a Drupal provider.
The agency’s experience working with Drupal gives an indication of how well equipped it is to meet your needs.
The best way to evaluate a Drupal agency’s experience and expertise is to search or ask for relevant case studies.
Here’s how a case study summary from a Drupal provider should look:
‘Mechanics Hub stands as North America’s leading recruiter for diesel truck mechanics and heavy equipment technicians. It operates a high-traffic website featuring a job board and is a comprehensive resource for diesel machinery professionals in the USA and Canada.
The site provides industry news, training resources, and a community forum for over 10,000 active members.
Challenged by its high-traffic and content-heavy nature, the OPTASY team migrated the site from WordPress to Drupal to leverage Drupal's robust content management capabilities and advanced access control.
This transition was part of a broader effort to enhance the user interface, restructure the information architecture, and implement a new, modern design, emphasizing a strong black and yellow color scheme that aligns with the brand’s identity.
This redesign aimed to simplify navigation and improve the overall user experience, making the site responsive and easily accessible across various devices.’
To read the whole case study, click here.
3. Review Client Testimonials and References
This step is important to determine if a Drupal agency is right for the type of project you want to complete.
Here’s how you can effectively utilize testimonials and references in your decision-making process:
- Check for specific details: Look for testimonials that mention specific benefits, such as the agency's ability to meet deadlines, handle complex technical requirements, or provide exceptional post-launch support. Specifics can indicate an agency's strengths and how they might align with your project needs.
- Scope of projects: Assess the scale and scope of projects the agency has handled. Agencies with experience in a broad range of industries or large, complex projects are usually well-equipped to tackle new challenges.
- Long-term relationships: References that mention long-term collaborations are a positive sign of an agency's consistent performance and reliability. An agency that retains clients over multiple projects is likely to provide great value and stable service.
- Outcome-based testimonials: Focus on testimonials that discuss the engagement’s outcomes. Whether enhancing website functionality, increasing traffic, or improving user experience, outcomes provide a measurable aspect of the agency’s effectiveness.
- Diversity of clients: Consider an agency with a diverse client portfolio. This diversity can demonstrate the agency's flexibility and capability to tailor strategies and solutions to different needs and contexts.
- Contact direct references: If possible, ask for the contact details of previous clients. Speaking directly with them can provide a deeper understanding of the agency's working style, communication, and problem-solving abilities.
4. Identify Red Flags when Evaluating Drupal Agencies
We’ve also discussed the red flags people should look out for before committing to a partnership with a Drupal agency. These include:
- Excessive cost of services
- Inadequate provision of value-add services
- Poor communication and overly technical explanations are unsuitable for non-technical stakeholders (clients need someone to take care of them, but not a technical person)
- Inflexibility in the development process
- Limited and outdated experience and expertise
- Absence of industry recognition or participation in the Drupal community
- Lack of transparency and poor communication
- Inflexibility in pricing models
5. Ask the Right Questions
When searching for the right Drupal provider, it can be easy to become overwhelmed with all the research and information out there.
To avoid this, you can use these questions our Drupal experts believe are the right ones to ask when evaluating a Drupal agency:
- How many years of experience in the Drupal community do you have? Drupal is more complex and high-maintenance than other CMS, and only agencies that have been in the industry for many years can understand It, know the client's challenges, and know how to solve them.
- Do you have examples of similar projects completed?
- What Drupal certifications do you have?
- Do you have a detailed proposal to justify the cost of using Drupal?
- What’s your agency’s mission and vision?
- What about the core values driving the agency?
- What partnerships do you have that support your Drupal services?
When to Hire a Dedicated Drupal Agency
How do you know you need to hire a dedicated Drupal agency?
Here’s what Drupal experts at OPTASY think:
- For long-term, complex projects that require continuous maintenance, security, and scaling
- When the project requires high flexibility and customization
- For significant changes requiring expert opinions on content management systems
- When their marketing team needs to make fast changes on the website while also cost-beneficial
- When you need changes on a bigger scale
- For ongoing support or projects requiring both short-term and long-term strategies
What are the key benefits of hiring a dedicated agency?
According to Adrian, these are some of the advantages of choosing an agency over a freelancer or in-house developers:
- More resources and up-to-date knowledge: Agencies have more time and resources to focus more on Drupal projects and stay up-to-date with the latest tech trends.
- Capability to offer full-house services, unlike freelancers: Drupal is very complex and enterprise-oriented, and freelancers won’t be able to offer full-house services. Freelancers just do the project that has been assigned to them and move on, but the agency keeps the connections and offers ongoing support and maintenance post-launch
- Ongoing support and post-project services
- Long-term cost-effectiveness compared with using internal developers—because they don't have to put a lot of effort, time, and budget into training their internal staff.
- Ability to scale projects as needed without internal procedural constraints.
- Deeper knowledge of Drupal changes: Compared to internal resources, company internal developers need to invest more to get as deep as an agency.
How to Choose a Drupal Agency for Complex Projects
To handle complex projects, a Drupal agency should:
- Have expertise in advanced Drupal Development
- Have experience with scalable solutions
- Demonstrate strong project management
- Have security expertise
- Have a proven track record with integrations
- Ensure support and maintenance
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If you want to get even more specific when choosing a Drupal agency for complex projects, here’s what Adrian and Mihael Shumelov, project manager at OPTASY, advise to look for in an agency:
- A broad range of expertise, from strategic planning to technical development
- Use of AI and commitment to the latest technologies
- Expertise in handling significant API integrations and custom functionalities: A complex project usually is the API integration between Drupal and third-party tools; has a lot of functionalities, for example, the ability for the users to search through the courses on an educational content website
- Team members who have worked for Drupal for many years
- Involvement in the Drupal industry
- Maintainers of the Drupal core
- Ability to involve clients in the project status updates bi-weekly through agile methodologies.
Wrap Up
Choosing the right Drupal agency for your business can be a tough call.
With the straightforward strategies and tips to look out for outlined in this article, you’re more than equipped to move forward.
Now that you’ve seen what it takes to choose a Drupal development agency, it’s time to make a decision. Are you ready to maximize your Drupal website’s potential by partnering with a reliable team of Drupal experts?
Contact OPTASY today to discuss your Drupal project.
