Without question, finding a reliable software development partner is one of the most important things that you can do for your business. Everything that you and your staff do revolves around having the right software. It is essential to find a solid partner for your personal software needs as everything from security to customization will affect your business.
However, if you yourself are not an expert in the field, knowing what to look for can be a challenge. How can you find the right expertise if you yourself are a novice in the field?
This is a legitimate concern to have, but fortunately there are things that you can do to find the right match for your needs. In the sections below, we will provide an overview of what you need to do to secure the right specialists.
What Should You Look for in a Software Development Partner?
Getting started in your search can be the hardest part. If you simply go online and look up “software development specialists,” you will be presented with a blinding array of options, each of which claims to be the best. Therefore, you should be prepared with a checklist to go through so that you can hone in on the best option.
Technical Expertise
You undoubtedly have particular needs with regard to software development. Whether your needs are web development, particular kinds of customized software, or other things, you should look for a partner with experience in the specific technical areas that you need.
It also would be helpful to find a company that understands the broader scope of systems related to yours as experts can provide insight on larger systems development and integration.
A company like ECO & Tech, for example, is one with a 17-year history of working with businesses in diverse fields, providing web development, UX/UI design, customized software, and more.
Industry Experience
Obviously, each company has its own particular needs with regard to technical expertise. Whatever your speciality area is, you should look for developers that have a proven track record working with companies like yours.
If you work in the medical field, you may have needs related to wearable medical devices that connect to the IoT. If you work in logistics, you might need specialists with experience in transportation and warehouse management.
Regardless of your industry focus, you should look for a partner that has expertise in your area specifically. Collecting information on past projects completed by a potential partner is important.
Communications Skills
Getting the right software for your company is not simply a matter of making an order and waiting for it to come in. You want a partner that you can develop a relationship with throughout the software development process.
Getting customized software, mobile apps, web development, or other related products involves a lot of small details that are particular to your company.
Communication both with executives and a company’s staff is important in this process. Getting upgraded software involves time and money, and you want to be sure that it is done right.
There will be many aspects of design, functioning, and brand specifics that you will need to communicate to your partners during the development process.
Create a set of questions on communications style for your potential partners, including:
- How often they communicate with clients
- What their preferred methods of communication are
- How flexible they can be in adjusting plans along the way
Clarifying these points in advance will help ensure that you and your development partner are on the same page from the beginning.
Pricing Policy
This is another area in which companies often end up frustrated because they neglect to pin down policy specifics before starting out on a development project. Your potential partner might offer what appears to be a clear pricing policy at the beginning, but there might be hidden costs involved that only appear at the end.
Before you decide on a partner, clarify the following points with potential candidates:
- Can they provide a detailed cost breakdown of services provided, including potential extra charges for documentation, testing, etc?
- Does the company have different hourly rates for different specialists (developers, testers, etc)?
- Does the company have a fixed-price model or a hybrid one?
Once you determine the answers to these questions, you should negotiate an overall price. Be sure to determine the company’s level of post-launch support. It often happens that new systems require clarification, fixing bugs and glitches, and other types of support. You should ensure that your new partner will provide this.
Strong Reviews and Testimonials
Like any service that you might look for, it is important to find a software development partner that gets strong reviews from other customers. You should go about the process of researching reviews systematically.
Be sure to look at third-party review sites, rather than simply developers’ own sites for reviews. For example, Laravel Development Services is one that ranks highly in multiple different forums.
In conducting your research, you should figure out what the industry standards are with regard to the leading discussion forums. It is on these pages that you will find the most substantive comments.
It may be the case that a company you are considering gets really good reviews for technical work, for example, but is not totally honest in their pricing policy. Be sure to do this thoroughly and systematically, and you will be confident that you found the right partner.
Take the Time to Do It Right
If you take the time to start your software development partner search early and go about it in the right way, you will maximize your chances of finding the right partner. Be sure to go through the points mentioned here carefully, and keep track of your candidates as you go along.
Make note of any minor points that appear suspicious about certain companies, and be sure to look into them more deeply to ensure that you don’t get caught in a bad situation.
If you take the time to look carefully, you will end up with the right software for your needs, and everyone on your staff will benefit. You will also see the results in your sales numbers faster than you imagined.
