Top 17 Things to Look Before Choosing a Software Development Vendor
Choosing a software development vendor can become challenging if you do not follow a systematic approach. Here is how you can simplify the process of searching for the best one for your business needs.
By 2027, the IT outsourcing market is expected to reach $937.6 billion USD. As a business looking to outsource software development, you will be exposed to a vast ocean of countless software development companies if you carry out a simple Google search.
Choosing a software vendor has thus become a tough challenge for businesses when each one markets itself as the best.
The question of how to select a software vendor that can meet my business’s requirements keeps haunting CXOs, as the need for a proven shortlisting framework becomes more acute.
Ensuring consistency throughout the software development lifecycle, employing certified QA practices, and offering uninterrupted post-development support requires proven skills and a dedicated infrastructure – all possible with an excellent financial standing. Any deficiency in fulfilling these requirements can render your software development initiative ineffective.
Here, we have compiled a list of all those criteria that will come to your assistance when choosing a software vendor.
Understand what the portfolio speaks
The portfolio of a software development business is the first important parameter to consider. Examine the past projects that the vendor has executed, the number of projects they have completed so far, and the clients they have served. The best way to ascertain if the software development vendor has expertise in your domain is to read through its software development portfolio.
It is generally believed that software development companies with more experience have a proven methodology for executing projects, while those with less experience are still in the development stage. However, this is not always the case, as you may come across software developers that are still relatively new but have an impressive portfolio, and the reverse is also possible.
What’s the delivery time
Pick a custom software development business with a track record of delivering projects on time. Not only will this provide you and your team ample time to test the program and report defects (if any), but it will also allow your staff to get trained and oriented to utilize the application more effectively.
It is advised that during the first round of negotiations, determine the deadline for delivering the application. Deadlines must be considered based on the time required for training and troubleshooting.
Does the partner offer the first free consultation?
First-free consultations allow you to understand the potential of a development vendor. So, you must not miss confirming that the software development vendor offers the first free consultation. Remember, with only the preliminary consultation, your project’s pilot implementation can begin. You can determine whether the identified software development vendor is best suited to your project.
Receiving the first free consultation on your software development project helps you develop a successful plan to complete it swiftly and without any hassles. You can premeditate the steps that must be initiated from your end for the successful completion of the project on time.
Don’t ignore communication skills
The effectiveness of communication skills is an important software vendor selection criteria. Every stage of software development, from identifying requirements to figuring out stakeholder input and feedback, brings challenges.
Remember, effective communication is the foundation of a high-quality software product, as it facilitates a successful working relationship between the software development and business teams. You must be sure that the software development team and you are constantly communicating clearly.
Pay close attention to how the team interacts during the initial phone or video calls and via email. This should help you determine whether their communication style matches your preferences.
Be focused on user interface and user experience (UI/UX)
Choosing software vendors that lays a strong impetus on user interface (UI) design is a key focus of businesses for ensuring great user experience (UX). Today, UI/UX is as critical to your software application’s success as the technical performance of the application. As a result, selection criteria cannot be imagined without UI/UX as its part.
You must choose a custom software development business that applies design thinking methodology in software development and possesses the knowledge and resources necessary to offer outstanding user experience (UX). Even if you have to spend more dollars on a highly well-designed, user-friendly application system, you should have that readiness. This will only prove beneficial to your business in the long run.
Post-development maintenance and support are crucial.
Maintenance is essential to accommodate all types of improvements required for developing an utterly perfect software application under the shifting wants of the consumer. Therefore, care is crucial in the process of developing an application because your investments may go waste if, on account of poor maintenance assistance, the software fails to adapt to the changing needs. Since maintenance accounts for a significant portion of the entire lifecycle cost, a robust app maintenance strategy is necessary for cost management.
After an app has been created or made available to the public, support includes all of the tasks carried out by the app development business, including maintenance and support. The maintenance support team ensures that necessary resources are available to quickly fix issues that arise during the applications lifecycle, and adjust the application to meet the user’s evolving demands.
Technical skill sets make a difference
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to product development. Therefore, businesses serious about IT outsourcing should steer clear of software development firms focusing solely on a single type of technical architecture.
Suppose the project’s leaders haven’t studied extensively and settled on a preferred technology. In that case, they should consider all relevant criteria during the discovery phase before selecting the best technology to serve the project.
Skills and practices are equally crucial as technological options when choosing a software vendor. So, you should look for proven technical expertise in a range of fields pertinent to developing products similar to the one you want to develop.
Do they follow Agile or DevOps principles?
Choose software development firms that adhere to the DevOps and Agile philosophies. By doing this, you can ensure that the software development companies you’ve chosen have the necessary expertise, can fulfill your needs, and can complete your project on schedule.
Most software development companies now adopt an Agile methodology and DevOps philosophy since they know that it takes collaboration to create software that fully meets client expectations. Additionally, they give you more control over the management and execution of the project.
A software development vendor that uses Agile frameworks might provide a one- or two-week free trial, letting you assess their workflow and communication throughout the early stages of development.
How’s the quality assurance
A reputed software development vendor proves its worth through the effectiveness of its quality assurance framework. So whether it is a software agency for SMBs or startups, QA is the whole and sole of the delivery model. Consider if the software development vendor follows the ISO quality management system and GDPR regulations.
As we saw earlier, the software development vendor must implement approaches like agile development and DevOps that emphasize iterative development rather than developing in a bubble. Such concepts introduce a continuous feedback loop and help maintain the quality of the desired outcome, i.e., the best product for user demands.
Prototyping, user testing, and daily scrums should all be included in an enterprise project’s continuing testing and validation stages to gradually improve and scale solutions and keep the business moving forward.
Consider recognitions
Businesses should verify the promises and performance of the software development companies before finalizing a software development vendor as their partner for their needs. Being recognized by agencies like Clutch, Inc. and Goodfirms is a mark of a reputed software development company.
Next, businesses should request certifications from reputed partners like Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, Google, Adobe, and other companies that uphold high quality. In addition to ratings on search engines and reviews on social media handles, accreditations from independent third parties like Forrester or Gartner helps businesses get unbiased perspectives on the vendor’s reputation.
Security is critical
You’ll want to understand what security mechanisms a software development vendor puts in place to ensure that neither your concept, offering, solutions, nor any confidential materials, are subject to any threats.
Security is the mark of the best software development agencies. It needs to transcend the information exchange and the solution being developed. Here are two important questions you must consider in this connection:
- Has the software development team made use of the necessary security procedures?
- What level of security do you want for your project?
Raise relevant questions because not all development agencies will approach security issues similarly.
Check reviews
You might have encountered a question, how to choose a software vendor. So, to select the best one visit well-known review sites like Clutch or GoodFirms to glean actual insights on client feedback. Also, it is equally essential for you to read through the reviews on the social media handles of the software development vendor. Understanding what customers are saying about a firm is just as important as looking at the ratings.
Note that you must check reviews based on three criteria: quality, scheduling, cost, and desire to refer. This will allow you to discover what the software development clients say about its services. Also, you can check the list of winners by reputing agencies like Clutch and Top Developers that rank technology companies.
Consider time zone advantages.
Seek information about the locations of development operations. Choose software development companies in a time zone where you feel comfortable doing business. To improve your chances of success in vendor, learn about their regional business culture. This will enable you to assess if you will fit in or not.
Visit their websites to learn more about their guiding principles and see whether they align with yours. Time zone advantages must be critically evaluated before forging a partnership. If you are a US business, outsourcing to companies operating from a different time zone (countries like India) can give you a remarkable advantage.
What is the vendor’s team size
When choosing software vendors, the team size of the prospective partner and the scope of its projects are critical considerations. The size of your software development partner significantly impacts your ability to scale the development team up or down. Some vendors have had a larger internal talent pool and a wider external candidate pool. To accommodate the growing workload, they can simply expand the development team, and if necessary, they may switch out personnel for another project.
For instance, Finoit has a talent pool of more than 200 software development experts who bring expertise in technology, domain understanding, and project management. We quickly scale up or down as the project requires at a given time.
You must pay attention to engagement models.
You should clearly understand the project’s scope and its ultimate purpose to prevent your spending from soaring through the roof. The engagement model you chose will affect the project’s budget, so it should unquestionably be one of the factors for selecting a software vendor.
You must evaluate different business engagement models to see if an hourly or monthly rate model suits you. Businesses that comprehensively understand the product benefit from the Fixed Price method. In contrast, a dedicated development team model is the best option for lengthy projects with shifting requirements. You get a group of experts who are committed to working on your project.
How are the knowledge transfer plans
Ensure the best practices are transferred to you and that project knowledge is effectively recorded. This helps in transitioning seamlessly to product usage during the application handover.
Knowledge transfer is essential but depends on several factors, including people, processes, and a product. With knowledge transfer, it is easier to meet your expectations with a thorough understanding of what the product does, how it works, and who is in charge of what duties. Therefore, this is one of the best vendor selection best practices.
Does the vendor understand your business goals?
For software development companies building a web presence is a small deal these days. However, their experience and expertise set many apart in the market.
As a business, you must remember that today’s corporate environment is significantly more dynamic than it was ten years ago. Knowledge of the product alone is no longer sufficient.
To help a vendor reach new heights, software development companies should comprehend the organization’s objectives and how it plans to develop and evolve.
What should you avoid while choosing a software vendor?
Having looked at the factors you must consider while choosing a software vendor, let’s understand the most common mistakes you must avoid when shortlisting the best software development agencies.
Searching for a more significant partner than your vendor
When deciding between choices, the size of the vendor is only sometimes the most critical factor. However, you should still consider it. A smaller software development vendor may be better than larger, more established businesses if it has a dependable, experienced tech team and a sizable customer base.
Preferring pricing over other parameters
If you prefer price over quality, you are committing the biggest mistake when choosing a software vendor. The lowest rate does not necessarily equate to the lowest overall cost. The lowest hourly rate could be alluring, but it excludes the duration of a job. And the least expensive developers likely lack experience and expertise.
Ending up finding a jack of all trades
When you hand over your projects to trusted hands, you are handing over your project to software developers who are industry experts in a specific technical skill that your project requires. While having developers with a wide array of programming skills is always desirable, it is equally important that they bring an advanced and equal level of expertise in applications and languages.
Trusting a non-performer
Trusting a vendor with a poor web presence, no low-quality testimonials, and no significant portfolios can be the biggest mistake when choosing and managing software vendors. The performance of the vendor is proven by its visibility and transparency. Businesses must thus first identify each software development vendor and gather data from them when choosing a software vendor.
Location-based model
This model focuses on how far the team is geographically from you. A location-based model is suitable when hiring a software development team from a particular geography.
Relationship-based model
This outsourcing model focuses on how the customer and the software development vendor handle ownership and responsibility during the collaboration.
Project-based model
Here, you entrust a software development vendor with completing the entire project. The project management team from the outsourcing vendor will need to be briefed on the project’s complete requirements before they can build the software development team and oversee the project’s completion.
Sources to use for choosing the best software vendor
Listed here are some authentic platforms that will help you find good and trusted software development companies.
- Clutch
Clutch. co is one good platform to search and find reputed software development companies. There are verified, sponsored, as well as reviewed records. Clutch itself researches to ascertain the standing of a software development vendor in the market.
- Goodfirms
GoodFirms.co is a research-based B2B vendor that recognizes the best software development companies. It lists software development firms based on various criteria, such as hourly pricing, ratings, and reviews.
- TopDevelopers.co
You may get a well-researched list of the best Web and custom software development companies at TopDevelopers.com. Their reviews help you choose an ideal software development partner for your application.
- Extract. co
You can shortlist the best software development companies using Extract.co. It provides you the examined software developers based on metrics and quality standards.
- Wadline.com
It assists businesses in discovering the best companies in web, mobile, and software development for various countries across North America and Europe. You can find software development companies based on technologies, platforms, and services.
- Digitalogy.co
It is a marketplace that helps you to hire and build the best custom software development team. As a technology sourcing and matchmaking platform, Digitalogy connects businesses with the best talent worldwide.
- Google Search
Yes, a Google search is always the easiest and the best way to search for a software development vendor with the experience and expertise you desire. Also, you should miss searching on other search engines like Bing and Yahoo.
You can find a reputed software development vendor through your network on LinkedIn. Devote some time to connect with experts from various software companies and go through the official LinkedIn pages of the vendor to make a choice.
- UpFirms.co
Service seekers can choose the ideal software development vendor using UpFirms, a comprehensive research, rating, and review platform.
Meticulously making the choice – the only way
Selecting a software development vendor for your business based on your needs is a time-consuming and cumbersome process. You must screen each software development vendor using the process carefully.
Outsourcing software development will enable your business to grow and run efficiently while saving money. You may quickly improve your vendor’s operational efficiency as time goes on to stay ahead of the market’s fierce competition.
However, remember, you cannot afford to make errors while choosing a software vendor. And so, using a proven selection framework is imperative to realize the aim you envisioned with the software product.
