What Does a Software Development Company Do?
A software development company’s mission is to develop software for its clients according to their specific requirements.
In order to do this, the company uses a team of skilled professionals who design, develop, test, and maintain the software.
Depending on the company’s skills and abilities, a software developer may be involved in one or more phases of the software development process.
Why Should You Hire a Software Development Company?
Nowadays, more and more businesses and companies are betting on digital solutions, whether commercial websites or digital platforms, or mobile applications.
However, plenty of businesses and companies do not have the staff, equipment, and knowledge to create a digital solution on their own, so they look for a software development company to work with.
A software development company can offer you the necessary tools to keep up with the competition in the digital world.
In addition, these companies have the experience and the knowledge to develop software that meets your specific needs.
Read here: 4 benefits of outsourcing software development.
Many companies in the States hire a Software Development company nearshore, meaning the company is in a different country. Still, they are sharing a time zone or at least are close enough to make communication fluent.
Hiring a Nearshore company allows you to find excellent quality partners for better prices, thanks to the exchange rate and the lower cost of the life of, for instance, south American companies.
An additional advantage of hiring nearshore is that you share the same or similar time zone with your partner. For instance, we only have 2 hours difference with our Partners in Los Angeles and one with the partners in New York.
Another option for hiring a software development service is to do it offshore; that means you hire a company in another country, usually on another continent.
According to AggileTech, “Ukraine, India, China, and Southeast Asia like Vietnam and Thailand are some of the most popular countries to find qualified developers for your project.”
If you are thinking about outsourcing offshore, keep in mind that, like everything, this has, its pros and cons.
Pros: You can get an excellent workforce at a fantastic price. You can hire a design team or freelancer in Ukraine and a developer company in India. Thanks to the connection, I found it beautiful that the digital world has no frontiers.
Cons: It can be hard to work with an offshore company due to the extreme time zone differences. For instance, if a company in LA works from 9:00 to 17:00 in India, it would be 21:30 to 5:30, so meeting during regular working hours will be challenging.
How to choose a software development company
In this section, we want to give you some tips that we think may be very useful when choosing a software development company.
If you don't know where to start to find a development company, you can find a clue here. Keep reading to find it out.
1. Be clear about what kind of solution you are looking for
The first step in finding the right software development company is to be clear about what type of solution you want or need for your business.
On this way, you will be able to find a company that directly adapts to the needs of your project.
If you arrive at the development company with clear ideas, the process will be shorter and more manageable for both parties.
It is vital that if you don't have a clear idea of the kind of digital solution your business requires, at least you should have an idea of the goal you want to achieve so that the software development company can create a solution tailored to your needs.
Think if you need web development, app development, e-commerce, or a digital platform.
2. Consider their online presence.
Although when deciding to work with a software development company, you can't rely solely on their online presence, this is still an important point.
A good platform or website that allows you to see who they are, what they have done, which are their specialties, and which is their work methodology; is always a plus.
If the company you're considering working with has a weak online presence, it's time to consider that sign and keep on with your search.
3. Ask about past projects / verifiable prior experience.
We've said this many times before, but when looking for a software solution, you need to check that the software development company you plan to work with is capable of handling your own project.
That's why asking about past projects they've been involved in is so important. This will show you that other businesses/companies have already trusted them, and you’ll be able to contrast their experience with your requirements and corroborate that they are indeed capable of helping you.
Not all companies share their experience on their web page, but during a first meeting, you should ask them for the experience and expertise of the tech leaders.
4. Consider how they carry out software development projects.
We know that understanding how software development projects are conducted can be confusing for regular businesses/companies unfamiliar with this subject.
However, it is still vitally important to know which software development methodologies they will implement on your project and if it fits what you need.
Of course, this is something that the software development company should explain to you in an understandable way, and if you still don't feel satisfied with the answer, or feel that they couldn't provide you with an answer at all, then it's a good idea to keep looking.
There are 4 top Software Development Methodologies:
Agile Development Methodology: As mentioned in Cprime, “Agile software development refers to software development methodologies centered around the idea of iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams.”
DevOps deployment Methodology: According to Tech Target “DevOps is a methodology meant to improve work throughout the software development lifecycle. You can visualize a DevOps process as an infinite loop, comprising these steps: plan, code, build, test, release, deploy, operate, monitor, and -- through feedback -- plan, which resets the loop.”
Waterfall development Methodology: As mentioned in the adobe blog “The waterfall methodology is a project management approach that emphasizes a linear progression from beginning to end of a project. This methodology, often used by engineers, is front-loaded to rely on careful planning, detailed documentation, and consecutive execution.”
Rapid application development: According to Kissflow “Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a development model that prioritizes rapid prototyping and quick feedback over long drawn-out development and testing cycles. With rapid application development, developers can make multiple iterations and updates to software quickly without starting from scratch each time.”
It’s essential to understand which methodology uses the company you are interested in and check if it fits your requirements.
5. Take into account the price/quality ratio concerning the architecture.
Knowing the different prices involved in software development is not easy and can vary depending on the solution you are looking for and the architecture implemented.
For example, a static web solution may have a different price than an e-commerce solution, which involves a much more profound development at a technical level since it must also handle online payments, external APIs, etc.
Keep in mind that the more complicated the solution, the more expensive it will be. As already mentioned, you cannot compare the work involved in a web portal, which must connect several sections to the same page, to the development work behind a dynamic web application.
6. Ask about the type of technologies they handle
Last but not least, knowing the software development company's experience in handling different technologies will help you see if they can carry out your project.
Remember that the previous experience and technologies they have handled are two different points. Even if you decide to work with a small company with little prior experience but that are experts in the right technologies, there is no need to worry.
7. Research on reviews sites
An awesome place to look for good software development companies is a reviews site.
We highly recommend you to visit these sites because they offer very detailed surveys that are answered by customers of software development companies.
This way you and your organization can almost feel what previous customers witnessed when working with a company of your choice.
In these reviews, you will find answers to very interesting questions, we bring you an example of the questions Clutch asks the partners.
For what projects/services did your company hire (the name of the company), and what were your goals?
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
As you can see the answers to these questions can enlighten you to make a decision to hire one or another software development company.
With these questions, you can know firsthand the strengths, weaknesses, and working methods of a company of your interest and even before having a first approach to clarify the most critical aspects of the projects.
This table contains the most important web pages for reviews and the organic monthly traffic; this can help you to choose the better source for your research.
How Much Will the Development Cost?
It is difficult to say how much your project will cost; every project has different needs. But we can tell you those different ways of charging software development companies exist.
1. Companies that charge by scope:
In this methodology, the cost is fixed, which means that the software development company estimates the price before you make a deal with them; this could be great because you will be sure of your development budget. However, it is an inflexible methodology because if in the development path any change arises, it will be complex to include it in the initial requirements.
The software development projects present significant percentages of uncertainty; this makes that in a project hired by scope, two uncomfortable situations may occur:
- That there are frictions or misunderstandings between the development company and the client since those large percentages of uncertainty make the project can suffer changes in the process.
- The technical quality of the development can also be compromised since the eagerness to deliver on time can fall to inaccurate processes.
2. Companies that offer dedicated Development Teams
These types of companies do not charge for scope. These companies listen to your needs, and according to this, they suggest a number of developers to carry out the project.
Within the recommendations, they estimate the time and, therefore, the tentative price, but this is never a straitjacket, and there is complete freedom to make changes along the way and make high-quality deliverables.
Keep in mind that the clearer you have the development needs, the easier it will be for the team to work on your project; therefore, the delivery will be smooth and on time.
It is often interesting to do all the UX and UI work with an agency or contracted designers and arrive at the software development company with an obvious idea of what is needed.
Where to find a software development company?
The world's major capitals are undoubtedly important centers of technology. In this way, cities like London, Berlin, Amsterdam, New York, and Los Angeles are places where companies that use the latest technology are located.
However, when we talk about hiring a software development company, there are options of high quality and better prices.
Latin America has become a place with a lot of talent and knowledge in programming; countries like Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico have millions of young people studying and training to be software developers.
In addition to the high quality of Latin American developers, good service is one of the qualities to highlight of these companies.
Another important aspect is the cost-benefit ratio because the cost of living in Latin America is much cheaper compared to the United States or Europe.
Thanks to this, you can find companies with excellent development, service, and cost.
Take a look at Code Branch, a software Development Boutique in Colombia.
Conclusion
Finding and choosing your software development partner is a task that shouldn’t be done lightly. The decision will bring a lot of flavor to your company’s daily operation mix.
Things like time differences between your company and your partner’s, the difference between work methodologies, and communication styles, among others, are crucial in day-to-day interactions.
Additionally, both companies should be aligned in their companies’ visions. If your company is looking for a software development partner that allows the exponential growth of the team, a factory may be a good kind of partner.
Software factories have higher developer traffic compared to small software shops or boutiques.
However, software boutiques and small software shops can offer custom services, which is really worth it.
Last but not least, the chosen partner will work as a tech advisor in different situations, so the feeling between parts must be considered. In the end, there is nothing like working with friends!