Software Development Partner – 3 Services They Offer & Steps to Choose the Right One

The age of technology has been a critical driver for companies in the last few decades. Instead of handling every task manually like in the past, today’s business tends to focus more on building their own applications to automate their operations and improve customer experience. However, the training and development of an in-house software development team is quite complicated and cannot be completed overnight to meet business goals immediately. That is why outsourced software development partners have had significant growth recently.

A software development company brings many benefits when it comes to solving customer problems in internal management, including time and money. With three main types of services, the development partner covers almost all business needs in software product development. The article below is a detailed explanation of each outsourcing service and an ultimate guide on choosing a reliable software development partner. Let’s get started!

What Is Software Development Partner?

The success of a software development project depends on many factors. In particular, the human element is considered the most important when it directly affects the company’s development process. Depending on the business goals at each time of each particular project, the company will have different needs for software development partners. Some companies are looking for a development team who has technical expertise in web application development. Some want a technology partner specializing in custom software development to be able to be in charge of their entire project.

There is a large number of software developers graduating every year. However, finding experienced and suitable software engineers for the missing position of the company is not easy. Besides, the developer hiring process is much more than a task that requires a lot of time and money for the business. And there are many more reasons why organizations, especially startups, have difficulty recruiting and gathering a software development team. That is why businesses look to software development companies.

By definition, software development partners are software outsourcing companies dedicated to the development and deployment of software applications. By working with the client’s project manager, the software development partner creates all kinds of software and services that meet customer needs, from simple websites to complex enterprise-level systems. Outsourcing companies provide a wide variety of services such as programming, design, quality assurance testing, database management, etc., and are capable of developing software development products across all the latest platforms and technologies. With experience from previous projects, the software development partner ensures the work progress and output quality of the software project at a much lower cost.

Services that Software Development Partners Can Offer

Software development partners can offer a variety of services, depending on the company’s specialties and the project scope at hand. However, a typical potential software development partner will have the following services.

Dedicated Software Development Team

This is one of the types of software development partner services that receive the most attention from customers when they want to own a professional development team within a note. These teams are usually employed for long-term projects and can be an excellent option for companies outsourcing their development work.

To be more specific, a dedicated software development team is an outsourcing service that allows the customer to get a professional team of software developers with the right blend of skills and experience. This hired development team works exclusively on the client’s software projects, giving them full attention and providing better results.

Depending on the project scope, a typical dedicated team structure would usually be composed of developers, designers, business analysts, testers, and other related positions. These specialists can work on-site or remotely on a long-term basis under the full control of the client. With a large talent pool, some software development companies also provide offshore personnel to minimize costs for customers.

Dedicated teams often use agile development practices, where tasks are broken down into smaller chunks to quickly be assigned and completed by different team members in parallel. This helps reduce overall project timelines while demonstrating that the highest quality output is achieved.

Staff Augmentation Service

Many often confuse the concept between these two software development services: dedicated team and staff augmentation. Both are software development services that provide project managers with a team with extensive experience in technology, but staff augmentation software development partnership has some distinct features.

IT staff augmentation is a service model that provides additional personnel on an as-needed basis. It involves bringing additional professionals to the client’s in-house team on a contract basis, allowing them to scale up or down due to business requirements. Companies often apply this outsourcing service in case they need to fill one or more vacant positions to serve the needs of the business in the short term. The contract between the two parties will terminate when the customer’s software project is completed.

Staff augmentation brings project managers many benefits, especially in terms of cost, when businesses do not have to worry about seating outsourced software developers while they work completely remotely and can adapt to the job immediately. In addition, when using a staff augmentation service, organizations can choose the specific skills they need and hire contractors with those skills for the duration of the project. This allows them to build a flexible, specialized team without needing to commit to long-term employment contracts.

Custom Software Development Service

Suppose you are in need of developing your own software product but do not have enough specialized human resources to realize the product. In that case, the custom software development service is the solution for you.

Custom software development is the process of creating customized applications or software specifically tailored to fit a particular purpose. It is usually used to address a specific business need, such as providing additional features that are not available with existing software products or is solely responsible for the entire software development process. The development process regularly involves analyzing the requirements, designing and building the application, and testing and deploying it to the user. Depending on the project’s complexity and its requirements, custom software development services can take from a few weeks to several months to complete.

Because each software development partner has different expertise, the types of software that this service provides to customers are also not fixed according to any pattern. Here are some software development solutions you can refer to.

Mobile app development: Mobile app development is the process of creating applications specifically designed for mobile devices that usually run on a specific operating system, such as iOS or Android. In this case, hiring a software development partner will instead be responsible for the entire process of a mobile app, from laying the foundation to UI/UX designing, coding testing, application support and maintenance on behalf of the client.

Web application development: Web application development is the process of creating software that runs on web-based platforms. Service provider involves in developing and programming applications that can be accessed and used over the internet, such as web browsers or cloud computing systems, to deliver a website that seems appealing and appealing to users.

ERP solutions: These are systems designed to help businesses manage their operations. A trustworthy software development partner will help you speed up the product development process while reducing costs and improving productivity.

Artificial intelligence-driven applications: Artificial intelligence-driven applications are software programs that use advanced algorithms to mimic human behavior and decision-making. The development partner, in this case, helps the customer integrate AI into their existing products, start from the ground up with a new product, or integrate AI into your business processes.

In addition, custom software development may include content management systems (CMS), developing solutions for customer relationship management (CRM) or blockchain software development, etc.

How to Choose the Right Software Development Partner?

Because of the development of software development partners, today, countless companies are operating in the form of providing software development outsourcing services to customers in need. However, choosing a software development partner is not an easy task when it is a long process, including many stages and factors to choose the best software development company for you.

The right software development partners will be companies capable of meeting all customer requirements from the budget, expertise, project management capabilities, services, and collaboration tools. Here’s a step-by-step guide for hiring a software development partner to achieve your expected income.

Defining Your Own Business

Before entering the main steps in your search for your true software development company, it is essential that you understand your project itself first. There are two things that you need to keep a closer eye on before making any requirements for the service provider, which are all aspects of the project that you plan to outsource, and your real objectives and expectations about the upcoming project.

Regarding your entire project, the project manager needs to look at the overall project and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the software project you are about to involve in. Keep in your mind and find answers to some questions like what problem you are trying to solve, how the software development companies can help address that problem, and what is most important to your project throughout the software development process.

Additionally, it is important to consider other factors related to the software development project, such as scalability, security, performance, and cost. Scalability refers to how well the technology can grow and adapt as your business expands. Security should be a priority to protect the data you store and transmit in your digital products. Performance should be evaluated to make sure there is no delay when accessing content or running processes in the software. Finally, cost should also be taken into consideration since, over time, it could become more expensive than initially anticipated if the wrong partner is selected. Taking all of these factors into account from the start will ensure that you choose a software development partner that best suits your business.

Regarding objectives and expectations, it would be better to break down the project objective into smaller goals so that everyone involved has a shared understanding of the project’s scope and timeline. Try to imagine and clear the picture in your mind of the software product that you want to ask for the help of a software development partner to implement. By clarifying the company’s goals and communicating what needs to be achieved and how long it will take from the beginning, the software development team can clearly assess if a certain outsourcing partner is best suited for the job. This study any potential miscommunication or misaligned expectations that could arise during the development process.

By taking the time to identify all of the above, you can narrow down which partners would be best suited for the current situation of your project.

Searching for Software Development Companies

Now that you have a better understanding of your own business, you can move to the searching part. There are many sources where you can find software development partners, such as search engines, listing sites, social media, LinkedIn, and top-list blogs. In particular, the most common and easy way to use today is to take advantage of the intelligence of Google Search.

Google provides a variety of tools to help clients find the best fit for their project, such as searching for particular keywords and filtering results based on industry-specific criteria. From their web pages, you can get all the information, services, and previous clients they have worked with. With the right approach, businesses can easily identify potential software development partners for their software development projects.

However, there’s still a chance that you won’t find what you’re looking for through such research. Now, request a portfolio directly from developers if you want to learn more about their expertise. Other relevant information about software development partners can also be found in their brochures or case studies of their previous clients. Word-of-mouth referrals from colleagues or industry contacts can also be a great way to find reliable partners.

Comparing/Shortlisting Software Development Partners

After listing a range of software development companies that seem to be a perfect fit for the project, the next step is to further refine this list by comparing potential software development partners. Aspects that need your attention include expertise, development process, previous clients, and budget. Of course, you went through these factors during your search for software development companies in the previous step. However, it’s time to take a closer look at your finding results.

Development Expertise

Usually, the right software development partner will have their own strengths in a fixed technology to support the product-building process. If you need your application to be developed on Node.js, choose a company that specializes in using Node.js for customers. However, if you’re aiming for a software development partner with multitudes of specializations to serve your diverse needs, ensure you’ve thoroughly researched their successful previous projects that apply that expertise to avoid the worst case when signing the contract. A reliable software development partner is also an organization that knows how to keep up with the latest technology trends, diversify tech stacks and constantly innovate with good ideas.

Development Process

The software development process is closely related to the project-based outsourcing model. Many of the same concepts used in software development processes can also be applied to project management and software development methodologies approaches such as Waterfall and Agile, while these are the two most common methods in an outsourcing partner. By choosing a reliable software development partner structure in place, the product development process will be more efficient and adaptive to challenges that pop up along the way.

Previous Clients

While you have never worked with that software development company before, the way for you to see if such a company is right for you is to look at the clients they have worked with in the past, specifically referring to their different clients’ portfolios. Previous clients can provide invaluable insight into how a partner works; from the technical skills they possess to how well they collaborate with teams. Choose the software development team that has worked with clients who have a lot in common with your business.

Budget

Most companies considering software development partnerships are aware of the risks of prioritizing cost. Software development can be expensive, so having an accurate budget in place and understanding what services will cost can help you make sure that you’re not overspending on your software development project. Understanding the costs associated with different software development partners upfront allows you to make informed choices about who to hire and how to best allocate your resources. However, do not forget the cheapest is not necessarily the best choice.

Holding Meeting

After choosing a software development firm that best suits your business, it’s time to schedule a meeting with the service provider to have a more in-depth talk about the service you’re about to use. This may involve sending an email, filling out a contact form on the partner’s website or scheduling a call. If you have more than one software development partner lining up, please still arrange the meeting to suit the time of both parties. There is no harm in doing this, while both parties still have no commitment at this stage.

During the meeting or interview with software development outsourcing companies, you’ll need to discuss your project requirements and goals with the potential partners. This may involve sharing information about your business, the product or feature you’re looking to develop, and any specific technical expertise requirements or constraints. By going through this engaging process, you can make sure that both parties are on the same page and increase the likelihood of a successful software development partnership.

Sign Development Contract

Once you have officially selected a software development partner that meets all your software development cycle needs as well as the price factor, your software development partnership agreement between the two parties is the last and most important step. A foolproof outsourcing agreement contains everything you and the software development company discussed and agreed upon at the meeting step, including things like negotiating terms, project requirements, communication and reporting procedures, project management processes, and expectations. This is the last stage of choosing a software development partner, so don’t forget to make sure you leave no details unrecognized for the later stages of the development to prevent misunderstanding.

As a software development company, Orient understands it is difficult to find a software development partner that fits all your requirements. However, please be wise and careful in selecting a software development company while the cheapest may not always be the best choice. Outcome quality is the thing. We hope the knowledge we provide in this article will help you better understand this type of outsourcing. Contact Orient if you are looking for a place to infuse your project with a full team of talent.