Most businesses today, consider outsourcing their application development requirements to a company who has expertise in the same, because it makes sound financial sense. They get rid of their overheads that they will incur if they want to develop a project in-house, and at the same time get access to some great talent that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to work with. These and many other benefits have made the business of offshore web application development a lucrative proposition for companies; this in turn has led to numerous companies offering their services in this regard. This has led to a problem of plenty, wherein businesses who want to pick the right custom application development company are having a really difficult time of it.
Many of them are end up with a company with very little experience and even lower levels of expertise, which is something that needs to be avoided at all costs. Here is a five step guide that will help you choose a reputed company that has wide ranging experience and expertise in offering custom application development services.
Step 1: Get References and Research
Before you begin searching for the right company to take your custom applications development projects to, get references. You can get these from your network, the people in your niche or even friends, family or your employees. If you ask around, you will definitely be able to get the names of at least a few companies; after this do your own bit of research regarding the development companies offering offshore services. The biggest source for the information that you need is the World Wide Web. So search for these companies online and make a list of the companies that you believe are a perfect fit for your needs and requirements.
Step 2: Shortlist companies
Say for e.g. you have a list of around fifty companies; you will now have to trim this list down to manageable levels. Identify a set of parameters that will help you narrow down your list. These parameters could be the portfolio they have up on their sites, the expertise they have mentioned, the quality of their site, etc. What you can also do is fill up their query form and ask for a quote. You can further trim down your list by taking a look at the quote they have offered and their initial response time.
Step 3: Get in Touch, Trim your List Further
Once you have a manageable list, start getting in touch with them. It’s time that you started discussing your project with them. Check whether they are actually interested in knowing more about your project and whether they are offering their own technical inputs. This will tell you whether they actually want to work on your projects and whether they are looking forward to this prospect. By judging their interest in your project and whether they are excited to handle it, will help you trim your list further.
Step 4: Detailed Discussion of Project Brief
In the earlier step, you have just given an overview of your requirements, now you will give the companies on your list a detailed project brief. This is the time when you start getting an idea about their technical expertise and their approach towards handling a custom applications development project. It’s important that you talk to the head of the project development team. Take the help of a technical expert to interview the projects head. You need to be absolutely sure about the expertise and experience of the team that’s going to work on your project, and you can get an idea about the same by talking with their project leader. You must also get a clear idea of the cost of project development and expected time of delivery. Finally you must ask for references to their past clients. You must talk to some of their past clients to get an idea about the quality of their services and whether they are a reputed company in their niche or not.
Step 5: Selection
This is the step when you are commissioning a particular company to handle your project. Make sure that you pick a company that offers you the best deal. But more than that pick a company only after being absolutely sure of its credentials. If you have doubts about a particular company, don’t hire their services, pick another one. Also ensure that the company you choose follows a well-entrenched process of communication that allows you to get in touch with it, whenever you want to. You will have to keep yourself updated about the latest project progress and for this seamless communication is a must.
End Words
So here they are - the five step process that will help you choose a reputed custom application development company for your project. It’s important to be very careful about the kind of company that you choose because there are plenty of fly-by-night operators out there who are just out to make a quick buck. These will offer you the moon, but when the time comes to deliver the project, they will delay it endless and finally will hand you a project that doesn’t come good on your expectations at all.
If you are making an investment you need high returns from it. This fact remains true in the case custom applications development, as well. You want the final product to deliver on its objectives and ensure that it is results driven. For this to happen, you have to pick the right company to work on it. This in turn is only possible, if you go about choosing this company in the right manner. Do not pick the first web development company that you come across. Take your time. Do some thorough research and ask the right questions in order to make the right choice.
At the end of the day, you must make it a point to make an informed choice. Know everything about the company that you want to put to work on your project. This will help you make an informed decision regarding your choice of company.
Author Bio:
Kinjal Adeshara is a web enthusiastic and blogger who interested in all things software, eCommerce, web design & development. She is also work with Rightway Solution which is offshore custom application development company. She loved to write articles and shares new, exciting and informative content with users. Follow me on Twitter @adeshara_kinjal
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