Custom software development is nowadays lauded as one of the best ways for companies to generate profits in the long run while simultaneously improving business processes. This process allows a client to create an in-house platform that would meet the brand's specific requirements and resolve issues that other software cannot.
Although custom software sounds like a fantastic solution, it comes with its fair share of risks. First, the development process is more expensive than subscribing to a generic SaaS for a few years. Aside from that, you also have to consider the potential issues that come as a result of hiring the wrong team.
While you can’t do anything about the costs, there are ways to mitigate the risks involved with the software development partner. In this article, we share a few tips that will help you find the right professional for the project.
Problem-solving
No matter the business you’re in, you should always prioritize hiring teams with advanced problem-solving capacity. Each custom project is a unique case with its fair share of challenges, some of which developers will encounter once or twice in their careers.
As a result, the best software teams on the market are usually those that can overcome all obstacles in their way. They should have the capacity to quickly adapt to specific business and industry requirements and to understand the core problem that a company is hoping to solve.
The most reputable software developers are usually those who can think outside the box and develop creative solutions. An ideal software developer team should consist of members who have experience with several industries and are interested in the world around them. They should complement each other's skills and be ready to jump into tasks to solve bottlenecks.
Another thing that clients respect in software developers is their deep predictive capabilities. Not only should they understand how a business works, but they should also provide suggestions by predicting future trends.
Overall experience
When mentioning experience, potential clients usually refer to several things.
As you can presume, knowing how to code is the primary consideration when customers hire a new team. This isn't a shocker, given that the clients are looking for professionals who can deliver elite solutions in the shortest amount of time.
Most notably, experience is a big ticket because it allows the developers to make the right decisions during a project. For example, a well-versed team of experts knows which tech stack would be best suited for a specific task. And the older they get, the more programming they have mastered, offering a versatile service to a client.
Experience is also a factor when choosing a suitable methodology. Nowadays, most brands use agile methodology, but there are still cases where waterfall could prove to be the better solution.
Unfortunately, there are only a handful of things that a client can do to test the software team's experience. Perhaps the best thing is for a person to check programmers' portfolios to see how they behaved in similar situations. During this time, clients can also assess developers' experience with a particular industry and compare it with their specific business requirements.
Communication
Communication skills are often overlooked in favor of more-relevant, professional skills. However, they can be a major factor, especially if you're outsourcing work abroad to a remote team.
Even when clients have simple yet effective ideas, it's hard to turn them into actionable, real-world results without proper support. The situation gets worse when a foreign company has a bad command of both the English language and the clients' industry.
The communication issues might manifest themselves in various ways, and clients are often aware of the problem after several strikeouts. For example, a software team might struggle to implement features per client's requirements. As a result of communication issues, the entire project might overshoot the budget and timelines.
The only good thing about potential communication issues is that they can be spotted from the onset. A client will likely have several web meetings with software developers (might even be face-to-face meetings) before the start of the project. During that time, they'll get a better understanding of whether a potential provider understands their needs.
Testing
Testing should be a major part of every development process, and that's something that every experienced software team knows. Basically, by checking the results, developers can ascertain whether or not the final product meets clients' requirements.
Among others, testing is a vital part of software development as it ensures an error-free solution. After checking the tool's performance several times over, software experts can see if the product works as intended and whether it's suffering from bugs and other errors.
The best way to determine if a team uses the right procedure is by asking them about STLC. The acronym stands for software testing life cycle and represents a framework that top-tier experts from Entrance use to check software during development.
Continuous testing and use of STLC allow developers to find bugs in the early stages of the process. They can eliminate them from the start, which not only eliminates backtracking but significantly improves cost efficiency.
Honesty and transparency
Being an IT expert is really hard. Besides exhausting education and the continuous need for improvement, it also requires a certain level of business acumen. So, it isn't surprising that most clients know nothing about the programming process.
Given the complexity of the topic, it’s very important for customers to find a provider who is honest and transparent. Even when clients have no idea what’s going on, software developers should allocate some time to explain the progress and what’s next ahead of them.
If necessary, they should disclose all relevant project documentation and provide weekly and monthly reports. The best way to tell if someone’s honest is by contacting their previous clients and asking them about their experience with a provider.
No comments yet