How to Choose a Software Development Company

Besides, you don't want to spend a lot of money and end up with nothing, right? Let's talk about what you can do to choose the right software development company.

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Advance Preparation

The first thing you need to decide is what you want from your own project. Serious developers like Lampa will ask you a lot of questions, so you should prepare ahead of time. Analyze the task that your product will solve, decide what kind of tasks the developers will face, and what technology, skills, and budget will be required. Here are a few things to pay attention to:

1. What type of software you need (e.g., a mobile app or a website);
2. Whether you will create a project from scratch and hire a team to do it, or whether you just want to add specialists to expand your existing team;
3. Which technology stacks do you need (your weakness) and which ones do you own (your strength);
4. How long do you need the company for (a coat long term or a long term project);
5. The size of your budget.

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Choosing the Right Company for Software Development

Here are 5 simple tips that are sure to help you.

1. Check the Company's Experience

When you choose between several companies, be sure to pay attention to their experience in developing projects that are similar to yours. Often the applications referenced in the companies' portfolios can be found in the public domain. Don't be lazy and test them out. That way you can see if this is what you are looking for.

We also advise you to be sure to read the reviews of other customers. They can be found on the websites of the companies themselves, but that is not the end of the matter. Look at how their apps are rated by users on Google Play, and read what people write on Linkedin or Clutch.

2. Note the Technology Stack

In the case of application development, the saying "The more, the better" does not work. If you don't want to trust your project to amateurs, you definitely need experts. It often takes years and sometimes decades to learn and gain hands-on experience, which means you can't learn too much in a short period of time. Having the above in mind, it's pretty unlikely that a company with 50 developers will be an expert in dozens of technologies at the same time.

Of course, in the case of large companies, this may not be the case. For example, if a small company website says they have a lot of experience in RoR, PHP, Node.js, or .Net, don't believe this claim, but if you see it on the site of a large enterprise, it's quite possible.

3. Explore the Work Process

If a company does not have a clear process of work, then you can not count on getting good results. You should find a partner that puts pressure on constantly improving the development process and values retrospective meetings. From the very beginning, integrating your external development team can be made faster and more cost-effective when there is clear communication about expectations, both from their side and yours. This collaborative approach ensures a smooth working relationship and sets the foundation for successful project outcomes.

Check if the company agrees to have regular online meetings with you. This is also very important because professionals aren't afraid to talk about the work they've done every step of the way. When it comes to tools, make sure the potential partner uses them in their work:

1. Slack and Mattermost. They allow you to quickly send messages to each other and not wait until the person you're talking to reads the email.
2. Google Meet, Zoom, or Skype. Optimal for online meetings where a lot of work needs to be discussed.
3. Asana, Trello and Jira.These tools are designed for project management, and they are what make it easy to keep track of progress, set priorities, and check for any mistakes.
4. Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion. Allow you to share documents that are essential to work.

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4. Learn about Security Measures

When you order software development, you want to be 100% sure that your competitors won't get confidential information. You need to know every detail and every action that a potential partner is going to take to secure that information. Remember that not all agencies provide clear answers, which means you need to work with them with caution. But we advise you to choose a company in which the security of the information received from the client is in the first place.

5. Ask about Testing and Software Maintenance

Testing is one of the most important stages in software development because then it is possible to find and fix bugs. You must necessarily understand how and when a potential partner conducts testing.

You should also find out what about support and maintenance. If they are not included in the potential contract, then you will have to pay a tidy sum for development first, and then for maintenance. Of course, you don't want that, so it's better to think ahead and find out ahead of time.

Wrapping Up

Each software company is unique, so it is quite difficult to make a choice. We advise you to consider all the points we mentioned earlier and to plan everything in advance. So you can save time (and sometimes money), and get the best result possible.

Micah Soto

Update 21 June 2023