Why do so many enterprise companies struggle with finding a good Software Development Partner and how to fix it?
Why do so many enterprise companies struggle with finding a good Software Development Partner and how to fix it?
To stay ahead of the competition and keep meeting customer needs, enterprise organizations need to invest in software solutions, digitalization schemes, and innovation. This is well known – however, the challenge here lies in finding a software development partner able to meet your expectations, while remaining trustworthy. How do recognize such a good fitting and reliable in the long-term development software partner? Let’s take a look at some of the most common challenges regarding a good software partner and how to select the one that’ll suit you best. Additionally, we’ll go through the benefits of a long-term development partner, compared to one-time short-term partnerships.
The 4 Biggest Challenges of identifying a good software development partner
- Relevant Technical Expertise: There are numerous software houses and development agencies on the market, each with its own set of expertise skills, and procedures. For your project, you’ve surely set goals you want to achieve – they require specific technical expertise. Whether you want to develop a video-based software solution or an AI or Blockchain focused solution – you need to find a development partner that can provide proper expertise. Your high-level goals should determine the partner you need – not the other way around.
- Assessing software development skills: An obvious challenge is assessing the skills and know-how of a software development company. Are they good at what they do? Do they have reputable customers and reviews? Do they have valid experience? These are important factors to learn and judge.
- Understanding the market: Finding a suitable software development partner means also having some insight into the tech trends of your industry. Knowledge of which digital solutions shape your market niche and form customer opinions is a good way to start!
- Reliability: Knowing how reliable a software development company is. This one seems obvious – It’s Just as important as knowing how reliable the environment they’re working in is. Do they have a healthy stream of qualified developers for example? Are they getting positive reviews? What’s the “word on the street” saying about them? These along with other factors determine if a software development company is a good choice. You can read more on these factors in our other post about doing software development in Poland.
How to select the right software development company for a long-term partnership?
Below is a short overview of 5 steps you can take to assess if you have found the right partner.
- Define your Scope. First, knowing what specific software you need and what functions it will perform is important. The IT services you plan to outsource will be determined by what software needs must be met.
- Do research. Seems obvious, but this is a vital step that needs to be done properly. Search through the web, find review websites like Clutch to see what other enterprise companies have said about them. The value of such websites is that they offer verified references and unbiased reviews on the software development company.
- Review Case Studies. It is always good to review case studies published by or regarding your prospective software partner. Checking their portfolio is an easy way to determine their expertise performance and what kind of customers they already work with. Especially if they can prove they have long-term partnerships with other enterprise companies.
- Look at their testimonials. This is a simple way to learn more about the reputation and reliability of your prospective software partner. Even trying to contact their customers for reviews is a genuine way of getting steadfast feedback on the quality of their work.
- Interview them! It’s time to talk directly with developers and project managers. You may have already met (via video) a sales rep or C-level manager, however, it is good to also meet a developer or a Project Manager – as they will be in charge of the software development for your project. It would be a mistake not to invest time to meet them.
So why are enterprises still struggling?
Enterprise organisations still struggle with identifying and selecting the right software partner for several reasons.
Big vs Small
Enterprise organizations have a tendency to select software development partners based on their size – are they big enough? This is a common and dire mistake – we already established the goals of a project that should define the partner. Large software development companies have more developers, but a much slower development period while smaller software developers may not have all the scope you need. However, smaller development companies are more flexible, innovative, and agile – and if that is what your project goal needs – size isn’t relevant.
Anti-technology corporate culture
Large enterprises often boast they are innovative and in many cases it’s true. However, large means there is a lot of bureaucracy to tackle when it comes to the decision-making process and it may be centralized. These at times can also be politicized and will delay decisions regarding software development.
Companies don’t have the talent
There are often three elements of talent problems for enterprise organizations:
- Inadequate internal talent for ERP, Big Data, Innovation & related projects
- Lack of extended talent pools for ERP, Big Data, Innovation & related projects
- Inability to leverage skills into effective problem-solving teams
These problems translate into poor, delayed/no decisions on software development projects.
The Benefits of long-term software development partnerships
Outsourcing of IT services can be very advantageous compared to keeping it in-house. Especially when it comes to financial costs. On-site development teams require workspace, software, hardware and are a part of the monthly payroll, all of which disappears when partnering with a software development company – all you have to do is pay them, and wait for the fruits of their labor.
You can change your software development partner depending on your business needs. By working with IT professionals from various fields, you enlarge your knowledge and get access to the latest technologies and innovations.
IT outsourcing enables you to get a variety of services at a time – from design to quality assurance. You don’t need to hire every single specialist and supervise every process in the software development life cycle (SDLC) to receive a viable mobile app or software solution.
What distinguishes the best software development partners on the market? Being sure that you can count on your collaboration with this partner to bear fruits and that you both employ a similar approach to business development and project management. The most successful collaborations are a result of cooperative efforts and shared values.
