Digital product studio VS design agency VS internal product team?

Welcome to Part 3 of the #ProductStudioSeries. In this edition, we will be discussing how a digital product studio is different from other comparative services like dev/design agencies, freelancers, or internal product teams. Let’s dive in. 

Digital product studios are a relatively new type of service business that has overlapping benefits with design and development agencies, hiring freelancers, and building out an internal team. Below is a brief explanation of how digital product studios are different from the options mentioned above for creating category-leading digital products.  

“The focus of a digital product studio is to deliver a working digital product and assist their clients all the way from strategy to commercialization. Although digital product studios usually don’t have an equity stake in the products they create, companies who hire them see them as part of their internal teams.” - Aram Melkoumov 

Hiring a product design and development agency vs. digital product studio 

With an agency, whether it's design or development, you come to them with a brief or a very well outlined structure of what you want to be done. It's basically - here's the job, go and do it. 

Typically, there is no one at the agency who will be asking hard questions like: is the problem you’re trying to solve actually a problem worth solving, will the technology you're deciding to go with still be relevant down the road, and are there more effective ways to reach product-market fit quicker?

Working with a digital product studio is different because a client does not need to come to them with a blueprint of exactly what they need. Requirements, features, and technology can be selected collaboratively throughout the product development process. 

Moreover, digital product studios can help with multiple critical areas of the product development process because of their diverse suite of capabilities. Instead of hiring and managing 3-4 different partners, digital product studios can simplify processes and help companies cover multiple gaps. We’ve personally seen this synergy improve a) final product quality, b) time to market, and c) overall client experience.   

Hiring freelancers vs. digital product studio 

Freelancers are a great alternative to digital product studios when tasks are small and well-defined. Hiring freelancers also requires less commitment and cost than working with an established digital product studio. However, when you need to build out something that is complex or not well defined, digital product studios are a far superior option. 

Digital product studios are partners that can work on your product from ideation all the way to launch. Moreover, digital product studios have a diverse set of skills, including strategists, designers, engineers, product managers, and marketers, which leads to a more holistic view of the product that is being developed.  

Digital product studios are also less risky to work with than hiring freelancers in the sense that a freelancer might just be one individual. In contrast, a digital product studio is a company with a roster of talent that can be switched in and out at the client's discretion. Moreover, freelancers might not have the same security and privacy standards held by digital product studios.  

Building an internal team vs. digital product studio 

A good chunk of companies out there have a hard and fast rule when it comes to keeping all their product design and development work in-house for reasons that could include privacy, IP protection, or wanting to have greater control over the process. 

What those companies miss out on is the flexibility and speed of working with a digital product studio. Instead of hiring, nurturing, and allocating internal teams, working with a digital product studio allows you to get access to vetted talent that can be scaled up and down depending on the demands. This alone helps your company de-risk product development, in addition to saving time and resources needed to find, interview, and hire new talent. 

Other benefits we’ve noticed include increased efficiency, objectiveness, and output. Set budgets, timelines, and processes push digital product studio teams to complete essential tasks fast. Without the distractions caused by office bureaucracy, constant check-ins, or defined roles, internal teams can be bogged down by extraneous variables that are completely unrelated to the success of the product. 

For new product development, existing product maintenance, or new product discovery, digital product studios standout above using internal teams if you are optimizing for agility, domain expertise, and objectivity - not to mention an entirely new set of people giving their expert opinion on how the product can be made better with less effort. 

That was my quick summary of what a digital product studio is and why they exist. In our next segment, we’ll be discussing how a digital product studio is different from other comparative services like dev/design agencies, freelancers, or internal product teams. 

Be sure to follow me on Linkedin to stay up to date on the latest post. You can also find all the parts using #ProductStudioSeries.