Agency Age: What Founding Dates Tell Us About an SFCC Dev Team

We grow up to believe that our elders are wise and all-knowing. Youngsters place their trust in their parents and grandparents. The leadership of many tribal communities are led by their elders. There is something about the trustworthiness of all things aged that appears to be embedded into our psyche. And it seems to stretch into the world of commerce, where older brands are more trusted than younger ones.

Of course, not everything older equates to greater quality or trustworthiness. But the passing of time allows a business to learn and grow, to make mistakes and fortify against making the same ones in the future.

This points to a particularly simple trick when it comes to seeking out a Salesforce Commerce Cloud (Demandware) agency to take care of your website needs. And the trick is this: look how long they have been around for, because older companies can point towards greater expertise and competence.

Founding dates matter for a couple of strong reasons. Firstly, if a company has been around a while, it’s likely ran into a bundle of problems and managed to solve them. If a tech team has installed 5 websites then it’s unlikely to have encountered many issues. But if they’ve installed 500 then you know that they’ve come across a great number of problems that they’ve had to overcome, learned from, and carried the solutions with them into their future work. There is a giant knowledge gap between knowing “If A is done with B then C makes it work better” and “On servers such as A, it usually leads to error B, while the solution to this is using C that is often neglected.”

The passing of time can shape an inexperienced developer into an expert, who would have learned the theory and put it into practise, as well as discovering fresh knowledge spontaneously along the way, not commonly seen in textbooks. That’s why it’s important for you to know how long the software developers have been around for, to gauge their level of expertise.

Another reason why checking the dates is important is that young flames are quick to blow out. Aproximately 30% of new businesses fail within the first three years; and 50% within the first five. The passing of time without failing means solidifying your status, and stabilizes a business. As a tree grows its roots dig deeper, its trunk widens.

Older companies are around for a reason, whether it’s competence, quality, strong sales, or some other factors. Whatever it is, they’re doing something right, and have found a good formula. And just like those survivor shows set among the harsh wilderness, a tech consultancy that takes to the open seas and not only survives but flourishes can tell you a lot about its business.

PS: UV is one of the world’s leading Salesforce Commerce Cloud (Demandware) tech teams. Contact us to see how we can work together.