Big Changes for Small Agencies

In 2017 the second Drupal Business Survey was released with good news for businesses offering Drupal services. Drupal is growing steadily and Drupal 8 has a strong place in the market. But the survey also points to some trends that Drupal shops need to be aware of. For example the survey had this to say:

The evolution of the CMS marketplace to favor more comprehensive and thus also more complex solutions is favoring bigger companies with stronger competences through number of experts in specific fields. This can be a struggle for small vendors, as mastering clients’ needs requires more expertise than is available on their staff.

If the trend is truly towards larger businesses building enterprise level projects, how will smaller Drupal agencies survive? This session will discuss how the release of Drupal 8 and trends in the marketplace affect smaller Drupal agencies. We’ll look at how the release of Drupal 8 has changed our target market, and propose ways for smaller Drupal shops to thrive in this new environment.

What do we mean when we talk about larger businesses? How big is a large Drupal agency? What do we consider as small. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics 90% of companies are under 20 employees. There are only a few large Drupal service providers with over 500 employees. And while there are many Drupal agencies with over 20 employees, most businesses providing Drupal services are closer to 12 employees with the majority being microshops with 2 or 3 employees. Let’s look at agency sizes and how size may relate to competitiveness.

Yes the sophistication of Drupal 8 is more suited for larger projects and great for the enterprise. Let’s parse out what types of projects are more suitable, and where smaller Drupal shops can provide value. We'll look at some lessons learned from past experiences in the enterprise market, and make some connections with Drupal's enterprise aspirations.  

There’s a lot of talk going round about Drupal 8 demanding more technical expertise. Let's take a close look at the skills required to provide solutions with Drupal 8. What do these changes mean to site builders. What might smaller agencies do to survive the move to Drupal 8.

What do these trends mean for the Drupal community? This session will take a look at how trends might affect the Drupal community, contributions, and the Drupal labor pool. What are larger firms doing? What can smaller agencies learn from them.