Today, all small, medium or big company can´t be out of digitalization. Therefore, these companies need a software development company that helps them in this process. The IT solutions should bring growth and automation to processes, improving or solving problems that would otherwise remain unresolved. For this to be possible and affordable, you need a software company that understands your business needs and that accompanies at every moment of the process. This article will focus on providing useful advice and suggestions when evaluating and considering hiring an IT company.
Market research
It is important to consider several software company alternatives that can adapt to your business needs. Evaluate the solutions they offer, their delivery times, how flexible they are, etc. Contact companies in the same area as yours to find out what alternatives and solutions they found, which were useful, which they had to abandon, and why.
Work Methodology
The company you choose must offer you a comprehensive custom software development service (view) covering every step of the process in a reliable, secure and flexible way. It must provide ideas and solutions, ultimately serving as a consultant. The proposed solution should be affordable and functional for your team.
Reliable supplier recommendations (success stories)
It is important to ask the software developer for links to both the team and the developed solutions. As much as possible, ask for recommendations from companies with similar characteristics.
Estimating different budgets
Consider similar offers and solution types to have more than one option. Consider within the budget: delivery times, partial deliveries, flexibility of the proposed solution, communication, equipment availability, product warranty, etc.
Use of appropriate and modern technologies
The technologies and solutions offered by a software company must be tailored to its people and needs, not the other way around. The company must use and have advanced technologies so that the system can be updated over time without the need for migration.
Partial Delivery Agreement (Software Evolution)
This is the key to testing and reviewing a solution that was thought out for your company. Test, evaluate, and revisit the points to be improved for the final decision. Partial deliveries mark progress towards a major goal, enabling implementation, elimination, re-evaluation, and evaluation of each step of the project.
Transparent communication
Find a company that focuses on transparent communication, continuous improvement, and honest values. Consistently showing progress, adding value, and explaining your current state is fundamental to a healthy long-term relationship.
Questions to ask to your potential partner
Here are some questions you can ask a customer development company to make sure this is the partner you would like to work with.
- What is your specialization?
- How would we communicate during the project to find out about progress and solve problems? What video calling programs or other communication tools do you usually use?
- What are your main values?
- What´s your company´s mission and vision?
- How can you help us delivering a product that meets market expectations?
- How is software quality guaranteed?
- What software architecture will you follow?
- Are you working on technical documentation with tools?
- Do you run software testing benchmarks to improve performance?
- Could you provide me with the profiles of the designated developers?
- Can I speak with the most qualified person on your team who will be working on our project?
- How will you decide / build …? (Hint: Provide an example of a problem in your future application and ask the developer how they will fix it.) This will give you an idea of how it works.
- Could you share your best practices with me?
- Why are you better than other software companies? What makes you special?
- How easy will it be to scale a team of 3-6 developers? How much time do you need?
- What’s your pricing model?
- Have you done any projects like mine regarding industry / technology / product characteristics?
- Could you provide any feedback or recommendations from your previous clients?
- What are you doing for the software development community?
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that when choosing a software development company according to your needs, it is important to consider several elements: communication, budget, work team, selected technologies, partial deliveries and others.
These are problems that seem obvious, but the truth is, they don’t always happen. This is why it is important to consider all of the tips described above that will help you make your business successful.
