Choosing the right software outsourcing partner is not an easy process and shouldn’t be taken lightly. There is so much to consider before coming up with a conclusion. From costs to communication, you should prioritize your project needs. You should carefully analyze all aspects and interview potential vendors before a decision.
Having worked in the industry for 12 years, we have prepared this guide for you to investigate the common steps and issues that you may have when searching for a software development partner. Hope you can find the right tech partner for your project.
So let’s get into the 8 important stops while choosing your software development partner.
1. Clarify your goals and priorities
You should help your potential partner understand the scope of your project which will be the most crucial information in the evaluation and estimation process. You should have a discussion with your team to put together a ‘must-haves’ checklist for the capabilities required from a software development company. Analyze different project management approaches and methodologies, engagement models, and billing methods to discuss with your potential business partner. You should think carefully about the concept of the project, and what key features and design it should have. It would be good to work with your team and create technical requirements but if not software development companies are open to help with the definition of technical and non-technical requirements. Find additional information about the benefits and challenges of software outsourcing in our recent guide.
2. Define the best suitable location of your partner (availability and time frame)
You should consider a local country vendor if there will be a need for frequent onsite meetings with the development team. If you are open to working remotely with onshore or offshore companies then should consider at this early stage the difference in time zones, the avaYou should consider a local country vendor if there will be a need for frequent onsite meetings with the development team. If you are open to working remotely with onshore or offshore companies then should consider at this early stage the difference in time zones, the availability of each developer as well.ilability of each developer as well.
3. Create a list of potential partners
You can search for software development vendors either by simply googling them by your desired location, technology, or project management style, and find them in IT company catalogues like the clutch, goodfirms, techbehemoths and others, and lastly apply to platforms like amplifier who cares for the matching process by the unique data-driven approach analyzing requirements and finding the most compatible software vendors.
The tips for this process would be not to be limited by the first 10 results, as usually in the first ranks appear companies with quite good marketing and SEO. You should rather search wider and go deeper into each one of them, analyzing their websites, social media activities, founders’ and employees’ Linkedin Profiles, etc.
Be careful with the IT company directories as well. Sometimes there are top listed companies who appear there as they pay more. So you should thoroughly investigate the details.
4. Investigate the price
The lowest offer is not the best option. The cheapest price is not necessarily the most cost-effective one because of quality issues. Clarify how the change process will be handled. Some companies add a dramatic increase in cost by offering low prices, then initiate lots of changes by adding new charges to the project. So protect your budget and timeline by discussing such issues beforehand.
5. Discover the experience of the company
Understand where the development partner possesses expertise. Analyze the portfolios, consider the industry experience as a bonus factor, check the technologies they are experienced. A tip for this phase would be the caution against the companies with tons of listed services and technologies. They may transfer projects to third party vendors and increase price by adding a margin there. Considering the length of time they have worked with their own clients is a more preferable metric of expertise level. Besides, sometimes clients don’t allow the development partner to publish the projects in their portfolios.
6. Make a shortlist for interviews
Filter the companies you found by the factors defined in the previous steps. Record the information about them. Have up to ten companies on your shortlist. Use red flags as factors for excluding companies from your list.
7. Contact and ask questions
Now you should be actively contacting your shortlisted companies and directly asking your questions. Ask about the challenges they have faced so far. How have they handled them?
Consider the communication style including the language limitations. Speak about the potential vendor’s software development model, engagement models and project management approaches. You should discuss also the post-sale service options.
The tip for this phase would be to be prepared to speak with different staff not only the sales representatives. You should interact with executives, project managers and technical staff there. Ask the technical staff how they maintain the code quality, and insure code simplicity or code review. Ask about the QA process and how the software development estimation is done.
Besides, you should clarify their previous experience as sometimes clients don’t allow the development partner to publish the projects in their portfolios. So you should ask and you will get answered. It’s a common practice to ask for official references from previous clients.
8. Do your best choice
To be able to choose the best software development partner for your project you should secure that your needs and requirements are met, your resource limitations are considered and red flags are looked out out. Besides, you should be able to work together on the same vision ensuring common working styles and effective communication.
In this guide, we tried to cover common steps and issues that you may have when searching for a software development partner. Hope you can find the right tech partner for your project. If you will need advice, contact DevelopWay, to get the answers to your tough questions and get help to build the software designed specifically for your business needs!