If you have decided to opt for custom software development for your company, the intention can involve anything. Among them, streamlining company processes, and expanding the organization in scale and size, among other options. Depending on the purpose of the custom software application, you will have to look for a company that best suits your needs.
In this article, we will discuss all the actions you should take before asking a company to develop your software. We will also discuss some important tips to keep in mind when contacting the company that best suits your company’s needs and the requirements of the software you will develop. Let us see:
- Why should you define the goals of your software?
- How can you find a company to develop your software?
- Why should you request a portfolio from the company you choose?
- How does the software vendor approach business objectives?
- Why it is important to consider which technology will work best for your project?
- How do you understand supplier communication and the company’s development approach?
- What is your security practice and business structure?
- Why is it important to consider Agile and DevOps?
- Why consider all these criteria when choosing a software development company?
1. Why should you define the goals of your software?
You probably already know the phrase “keep your eyes on the prize“. The goals that our software will accomplish are “the prize”. In this case, they represent the general statements or reports that describe what the software intends to accomplish.
Before you start with the development of your software, you must have an idea of what you want to create. This implies that before you talk about hiring the services of a software company, you should have an end goal. You do not need to have everything mapped out from the beginning, but you do need to have a decent plan mapped out before you start your search.
Marking a goal for our software becomes very important and the reason is simple. It saves you time and money by having to describe an abstract concept to the development team, who will not understand your vision unless they see diagrams or similar work.
The biggest mistake you can make consists of thinking you have understood their point of view when you both have very different interpretations of the work. Make sure you and the software development company you hire get on the same page.
2. How can you find a company to develop your software?
After you have met the requirements, timeline, and skill set. The next step involves finding a team that meets your needs. There exist many ways in which you can find software development companies.
The simplest way to find software development companies involves Google search results. Either paid or organic results can prove to be useful. On their websites, you can get information about their software development services, the different industries they have worked with, their past clients, and how the software company works.
Browsing websites to choose a software development partner can yield some results. However, it seems very likely that you will not discover certain things by doing such research. You should solicit a portfolio from the developers if you want to find out more about their experience. Custom software development companies will provide you with brochures or information packets.
Examining the case studies will help you determine which companies show the most promise. Your decision may come down to how close your idea matches a project that the company has already produced or something else entirely. In either case, you will need to develop a list of suppliers that you like.
3. Why should you request a portfolio from the company you choose?
Once you have narrowed down your choice of companies, it is time to compare them against each other. The best way to do this involves researching the software companies’ portfolios and customer reviews. Check out who they have previously worked with and what kind of work they have done. This serves several purposes.
This will allow you to see if they have done something similar to what you need. It also allows you to gauge the company’s level of experience. And finally, understand the extent of the work the company has done and whether they can carry out your task.
Here we do not mean that companies with a wide range of customers and a portfolio of companies make the best use case. The key point concerns whether the outsourcing partner has expertise in your business processes. If the software development company claims to have the expertise, but cannot share any information, this can be a red flag.
It remains true that outsourcing companies cannot always share their past projects due to confidentiality agreements. However, they should at least provide you with a comprehensive summary of their past projects, how they were developed and how they benefited clients.
4. How does the software vendor approach business objectives?
Expertise in specific technologies, tools, and programming languages is necessary to create a decent product, in this case, software development, but it is never enough to create an excellent one. Before deciding if you want to work with a particular custom software development company.
Make sure that both you and the development partner are on the same page and that they understand the business needs you, want to solve. With the help of business analysts to help with your application requirements, you can ensure a more favorable outcome for your application.
A very important thing to always consider is whether they provide post-development support services, software customization, maintenance, and backup services. This way, it will be easier to work with them knowing what you are getting and what the expectations of the services are. A little tip: the more questions they ask, the better.
Pay attention if your partner wants to make sure they are on the same page as you in terms of business requirements. You and your potential partners should go through a software lifecycle discovery and development process. If your partner does not take the time to understand your needs during the sales process, choosing that software development partner is not a brilliant idea.
5. Why it is important to consider which technology will work best for your project?
Commonly, a software development company is accustomed to using certain technologies and will specialize in creating applications with them. This can be an advantage, but at the same time, there are certain things to pay attention to.
We should always look for a software development company that is up to date with the latest technological advances. New ideas and innovations are essential. The perfect software development company you select should have a strong desire to be at the forefront of any new updates and changes in your technology stack.
We must pay attention to the expertise of your software developers. If you need your solution to focus on a specific problem, then check out companies that focus on solving those situations. Locate a company that specializes in what you are looking for. It also means avoiding organizations that carry a multitude of specializations because no one is an expert in everything.
You can gauge whether they meet your expectations by assigning a small project. See how the project is delivered, and how the technology and process work for you. If things do not go as you imagined it would be time to look for another company. If it does meet your wishes, consider a new project on a larger scale.
6. How do you understand supplier communication and the company’s development approach?
Software development involves a complex process with communication issues at every step, from defining requirements to developing stakeholder and user feedback. Good communication skills provide the key to good working relationships and a satisfactory final software product.
Ensure that the company you select offers a consistent communication process in your software development project. It always helps to be able to discuss, share and clarify different software development ideas and processes. This way you will know that you and the development team always get on the same page.
A good development structure makes the process smooth and efficient and allows one to face the challenges that arise along the way. Therefore, it becomes necessary for software development companies to use appropriate methods. You should check if the project manager of the development company uses Scrum or other agile methods.
Choose the software development company with the best development process based on adaptive planning, early delivery, project updates, and communication tools. This means you can see what is happening at every stage of your project development. Every company understands agile methods slightly differently, so you need to clear everything upfront.
7. What is your security practice and business structure?
Working with the right software development company means transferring sensitive information. You need to know how the company handles it and what measures they take to ensure that your confidential ideas, products, solutions, and materials do not become public. Then there comes the other side of the security coin: how do you ensure the security of the solution to develop and what level of security (if any) should you assume?
One of the most important things to consider about a software development company concerns its business structure and the dynamics of its development team. Once you become interested in using a particular company or getting involved with it, you need to know how it is structured and how the team members work together.
Some custom software development companies do not have such a structure and this gives a good indication that you should not do business with them. The level of organization within a company is a good way to understand its dynamics. A well-managed and structured team will likely handle its task accordingly.
8. Why is it important to consider Agile and DevOps?
In today’s volatile market, launching digital products at lightning speed becomes a necessity. Product development thinking helps companies find the right processes and frameworks to accelerate feedback and time to market. This often expresses itself through Agile and DevOps.
A dynamic and iterative process, an agile development environment simplifies the process and incorporates a customer-centric mindset that drives the level of innovation at every stage of development.
The average IT organization with a “close the project and move on” approach will not implement patches as robustly as possible. When they encounter bugs, they provide workarounds rather than maintainable solutions. In design, agile methods help make informed, iterative decisions: in UX/UI. They produce product architectures and solutions that truly delight the end-user.
9. Why consider all these criteria when choosing a software development company?
It remains true that your requirements and needs may vary from project to project. On Connect Tech, we advise you to consult these checklists with any company you consider using as a software development team. In the end, it is not complicated, but it does take some work to find the best fit.
In any case, the time and energy you put into choosing the right candidate will impact the final result. Therefore, remember to compare and evaluate your options, but if none of them fit, do not be afraid to discard the list and try others.
Are you looking for a company capable of solving your software development needs? Look no further, on Connect Tech we are specialists in software development. If you want to know more about us, you can call us at +971 43 316 688. Another way to contact us is to write to our email address contact@connectech.dev.
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