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If you want to find a technology partner, you’re in the right… Oh, wait a second! We won’t tell you what to do, as today we’ll tell you what not to do. But all of us know that negative connotations are not taken well by the Universe, the world, and so on. So we simply won’t be negative!
There are a lot of guides, check-lists, and all that on the Internet, but everyone takes their advices so seriously that it can be confusing to figure out what is actually worth your attention.
That’s why we’ll talk in the other way. We won’t teach you, but we’ll give you a bunch of mischievous advice you definitely should not follow.
Well, of course, this article wouldn't make any sense if we’d leave you completely without good tips and ideas on how to find a reliable technology partner. This is why, despite all that, we’ll tell you how not to manage this process. And also how to do everything right.
Alright, let’s check it out! ? ?
1. Choose without analyzing everything
There are a lot of little things you can forget about with no consequences. For example to think about how your business deals with various tasks, what are your business needs, and who are your competitors.
Take a rest. You deserved it. Just trust your guts!
The compatibility of the technology partner to your company’s specifications is that kind of a problem that will solve itself in a while.
Mischievous advice can’t lead you astray if you know what you need to accomplish and what your company’s goals are in general. To begin with, figure out what type of technical cooperation works best for you based on your business needs and capabilities. Analyze what are your requirements for a technology partner. To find the right way you need to answer the following questions:
- Do you have your own IT-team?
- Do you want to enhance your team with more specialists?
- Do you need to assemble a team?
- What software do you need?
You may think about cooperating with a technology partner who is ready to provide you with comprehensive technical and business expertise. Or you can go the other way and work with an outstaff company.
A full-fledged software development company is needed if you want to get a complex solution within one team. In such a case you can’t do without a reliable technology partner who will take on everything about the technological side of the project: from consultation to post-released maintenance. This way you’ll get a team who will be committed to your project and work at their best. Meanwhile, outstaff is what you’re looking for if you simply want more people in your already existing team.
Based on the type of software you need, you also can choose the right partner who has a lot of experience in your industry. You can read about it below, just don’t stop! ?
2. Think that you just need the code
You know how people say: want something done right, do it yourself. Sometimes it really sounds like gospel truth. Can the technology implementer correctly understand your business needs? They’re only capable of giving you advice that won’t work and taking your money for the features you don’t need. Who knows what’s on the developers’ mind when they say that you don’t need to implement a feature that will take a lot of time to create. All this is not for you, because doing business means not to trust anyone.
It isn’t true, of course. The trust for your technology partner, their transparent work, and commitment to your project is what will help you cut costs and save some time on development. This way you will achieve maximum effectiveness of implemented software, adding only the most important features and creating a scalable architecture.
With business and technical expertise from your technology partner, you will find what can help your company to reveal its full potential.
Compliance of the software with your business logic will not only help you achieve more quality results but will enhance your business’ value in general. For example, if your corporate software is a CRM system, with a reliable technology partner you’ll be able to develop it taking into account all bottlenecks and special things in your sales channel. This will affect not only the software itself but your company as well!
Hence, you’ll be able to speed up the sales cycle and optimize business processes which will make your client’s satisfied with each and every purchase.
3. Don't read (or don't consider) online feedback
All these feedback on the company’s website or Clutch/GoodFirms/Extract profile are written with just one goal: to sell you something. They all tell pretty lies aimed only to interest you in the company’s services. Can you ever trust anything that is written on the Internet? It is all just a nice promo campaign and nothing more.
Or is it?...
Be sure to read the reviews on the selected companies or look at their portfolios. You need materials that will confirm the potential IT partner’s work quality because you trust them not only the funds for software development but also the general improvement of your business efficiency.
Reviews on reliable resources such as Clutch, GoodFirms, Extract are not marketing promotional materials. These resources always verify the validity of information and the person giving feedback, so you can trust them. If there are no reviews or feedback on the company you have chosen, and along with it they don’t have the portfolio, it is a red flag.
Also, make sure that the development company is working in your industry. This is also important, as an experienced company can do the job better. You can check this on the company profiles on the resources we mentioned above and on their own site.
To make sure that your technology partner is indeed a reliable one you don’t have to trust only Clutch or Extract. One of the proven ways to figure out what your future technology partner is capable of is giving them a test assignment. Many companies, including MassMedia Group, are ready to confirm compliance with your requirements this way.
You can hold a small contest between selected development companies and use them to find your ideal candidate.
4. Underestimate values, code of conduct, ethics principles and customer service
The technology partner’s corporate values are completely out of your worries and you shouldn’t even think about it. Your business won’t be affected by the work processes organization in the software development company you’re working with.
It doesn’t matter if your technology partner is committed to their work and actually keeps up with the deadlines - it’s not something you should consider while making a choice. To simply write a code they don’t have to be the world’s best employees.
However, if this is how you do your research you will fail without a doubt. The development company’s commitment, their corporate values, transparent estimates, and quality customer service are almost 60% of your success!
- Corporate values are quite an internal concept and are rather a wide term. However, it may include such important aspects as adherence to deadlines and strict compliance with the terms of reference. This will be vital if you want to ensure your project’s qualitative performance as it can determine to what point your technology partner is ready to meet all your requirements.
- Transparent estimates are quite simple to understand. A company with a transparent pricing model evaluates the tasks and all the necessary resources. It consults with you to estimate everything they work on, maintains a report, and selects the model you need for better financial collaboration. They can also introduce you to the team and show that all people working on the project are responsible for their part of the work. Transparent estimates allow you to understand exactly which features you pay for and thus build the required functionality based on a budget.
- Customer service will determine your technical partner's attitude towards you. This indicates if your technology partner is committed to your project, their willingness to work on it, keeping it effective and high-quality. It also determines how well your technology partner will approach communication issues. A reliable company also sends reports and shows you all the works done and planned. Good customer service is a pledge of software that fits the requirements and specifications of your business, hence meets the needs of the market. This is a part of your technology partner's corporate culture that will grant that your custom software will withstand the competition.
5. Think about today (like there's no tomorrow)
If you need a quality IT solution now, you don't have to think about what will happen to it in the future. No one knows how tables turn and what will happen to your business after a while.
Right now you see the high results and effectiveness growth, then you don’t need to think about anything in the future. Scaling, post-release evolution, and maintenance, adding new features, and making your software better than those competitors… All this can wait for tomorrow, don’t think about it now.
But in reality, thinking about the future is vital if it’s about software effectiveness. This is why you have to find a technology partner who will provide you with post-release maintenance. The whole thing about custom software is the possibility to make it fit your requirements in the long run, not just today or tomorrow.
Post-release evolution is no less important since it will allow you to scale the product, add new features, or implement innovative technology such as ML, AI, and blockchain.
Conclusions
Enough mischieving for today though. If we’d like to give you correct and thoughtful advice, we’d say that finding a technology partner is also hard work and you need to put effort into it. We’d say that you need to pay attention to every little detail, think through all pros and cons, and in the end choose the most trusted companies. We’d recommend you hold a little competition, contact different developers, and read the reviews. We’d tell you that you will achieve a lot if you do it the right way. We’d tell you that with all that has been said you’ll find just the right person. But we won’t.
