Why UK businesses outsource website work to South Africa

If the person who can solve your website problem happens to be in another country, does that really matter?

For a growing amount of digital work, the answer is no.

Website development, UX, analytics, search, design and content are already delivered remotely every day.

The more useful question is:

For UK businesses, South Africa is an interesting answer.

And not simply because work can cost less.

South Africa has become an established outsourcing market

South Africa's broader outsourcing sector is not new.

The South African government identifies digital infrastructure, a skilled workforce, English proficiency and alignment with major export-market time zones among the country's advantages for international business services.

The relationship with the UK is particularly well established.

That is broader business-process outsourcing rather than website services specifically, but it shows how established UK-to-South-Africa remote delivery has become. Sources: South African Government and the Western Cape Government BPO factsheet.

Website and digital work fits naturally into many of the same advantages.

The working day actually works

This is one of South Africa's most practical advantages for UK businesses.

South Africa operates on UTC+2 throughout the year.

That puts it:

• two hours ahead of the UK during GMT
• one hour ahead during British Summer Time

So this is not a model where one team finishes work just as the other starts.

For most of the year, you are effectively working in the same business day.

The countries are geographically far apart. Their working days are not.

Questions can be answered.

Calls can happen normally.

Developers and marketers can work together in real time.

Urgent issues do not automatically become tomorrow's problem.

For ongoing website management, that matters enormously.

English is not a working-language workaround

This sounds obvious, but it matters.

South Africa has a large English-speaking professional workforce, and English is widely used in business and higher education.

The South African government specifically identifies high English proficiency as one of the country's advantages for global business services.

For website work, communication is part of the job.

A developer needs to understand the requirement.

A strategist needs to understand the business.

A copywriter needs to understand nuance.

A UX specialist needs to understand what customers are trying to accomplish.

Reducing communication friction makes distributed teams considerably easier to integrate.

But the real opportunity is the talent

Time zones and communication make outsourcing convenient.

They are not reasons to hire somebody who is not good enough.

The real reason to widen the geographic search is that expertise does not stop at the UK border.

South Africa has mature software, creative, technology and digital industries. The government specifically highlights skills in technology as part of the country's global-services capability.

And that changes the outsourcing conversation.

Instead of where can we get this done cheaply? the question becomes:

That is a much healthier basis for the relationship.

Geography changes where the team sits. It should not change the standard of the work.

A website rarely needs only one specialist

This is particularly relevant to smaller UK businesses.

A useful commercial website can need:

• development
• UX
• conversion optimisation
• analytics
• technical maintenance
• search expertise
• content
• design

Employing every discipline internally would be excessive for many businesses.

But relying on one generalist to do all of them can create a different problem.

A distributed outsourced team allows a business to access different specialists without necessarily employing each one full-time.

That is where website outsourcing becomes much more interesting.

You are not simply outsourcing tasks.

You are expanding the pool of expertise available to the business.

We look at that decision in more depth in should you outsource your website management?

South Africa should not win because it is cheaper

There is obviously an economic difference between operating in South Africa and operating in the UK.

Pretending otherwise would be silly.

But I do not think that should be the proposition.

If the only reason to choose an outsourced partner is that they are the cheapest option, someone cheaper can always appear.

The stronger reasons are:

• the required expertise exists
• communication is easy
• the working day overlaps
• remote collaboration is practical
• the team understands international clients
• the relationship can operate continuously rather than transactionally

Cost then becomes part of the commercial equation, rather than the entire reason for the relationship.

The question is no longer where your website team sits

Remote work has made the physical location of digital expertise considerably less important.

You still need accountability.

You still need strong communication.

You still need people who understand the business.

And you absolutely still need expertise.

But none of those things requires everybody to occupy the same office or even the same country.

For a UK business looking for website development, support or ongoing digital expertise, South Africa gives you an unusually useful combination:

distance without much time difference, international capability without a language barrier, and access to a substantial digital talent market.

That makes it worth considering.

Not as somewhere to send cheap work.

As somewhere to find good people.

If you want to see how that works as an ongoing arrangement, our how it works and services and pricing pages explain it.

If you are in the UK, working with a team that is not raises a specific set of practical questions. Hours, currency, contracting and how the month actually runs are answered separately.

Frequently asked questions

What is the time difference between the UK and South Africa?

South Africa operates on UTC+2 all year. That makes it two hours ahead of the UK during GMT and one hour ahead during British Summer Time, so both countries work through most of the same business day.

Is language a barrier when outsourcing website work to South Africa?

South Africa has a large English-speaking professional workforce, and English is widely used in business and higher education. The South African government identifies high English proficiency as one of the country's advantages for global business services.

Should cost be the main reason to outsource website work to South Africa?

No. If the only reason to choose a partner is that they are cheapest, someone cheaper can always appear. The stronger reasons are available expertise, easy communication, an overlapping working day and a relationship that runs continuously rather than transactionally.

Does outsourcing website work abroad mean losing accountability?

It should not. You still need clear accountability, strong communication and people who understand the business. None of those things requires everyone to sit in the same office or the same country.