Nowadays, we see some tough competition in the software development landscape. According to a recently published article, there has been slow and steady growth in offshoring and outsourcing trends at a CAGR of around 5%. Companies are spending more and more money on outsourcing various tech functions. This has further opened up opportunities for an increasing number of web application development providers from all over the world to enter the tech market.
When selecting a web development partner for your new startup or well-established business, a lot of things can go wrong.
With a bad IT and development team, your web development project could fail terribly. Your collaboration with the wrong partner could lead to your entire business suffering monetary losses as well as waste your time and energy. What makes a service provider “wrong” for you? It could be anything: incompetence in terms of skills and abilities; inability to meet deadlines; lack of professionalism; communication problems; inability to collaborate and communicate effectively; choosing unsuitable technology stack or platforms.
Here are three pieces of advice that will help you make your outsourcing experience a good one by selecting a web application development company that best suits your needs.
For more information on this subject, please visit: https://www.goodcore.co.uk/services/web-app-development/
Make a Concrete Plan
Before you start looking for a software partner, you need to know what you want.
Whether you are looking to create a simple website or a full-fledged online cloud-based web application, it is very important to list down your requirements. What kind of software do you wish to build? Is the web app going to be implemented on a broad scale, covering multiple global offices of a multinational corporation, or is it to be used by a select few members within a small office? You need to prepare a list of features that you want to see in your web app so that you can communicate it to potential software partners.
How much money would you be willing to spend on this project? It is not important to put an exact price tag on it but you should have a rough idea about your budget. Do you have any strict preferences regarding the technology stack that will be used for the development of your app? Are you willing to compromise on it? How involved do you wish to be during the software development process?
It is also important to know what kind of company you are on the lookout for. For example, do you want to hire a web development company in London because your business is also situated in the same geographical region? Would you be willing you go offshore? Are you aware of the risks in each case?
The answers to all of these questions play a crucial role in the process of finding the right software provider.
Check Previous Experience and Reviews
Nowadays, it is a common practice for every type of seller to have a website where they can showcase the products and services that they offer. One of the quickest ways to measure the competence of a web development company is through its own website. If the company has a second-rate website, to begin with, there is a chance that they will not be able to deliver a great web application development project for you either.
That, of course, is not a sure-fire way of measuring the company’s skills. Maybe they just do not upgrade their site anymore. What do you do then?
A great method of checking the quality of the services a certain web app development company provides is to look at their past experiences and how they have been rated by previous customers and clients. A lot of service providers have portfolio and testimonials sections on their website or social media. They have published case studies that outline the details of past projects, such as the way they solved their client’s problem, the technologies they used, their development process, and the client’s feedback.
There also exist review platforms, such as Clutch and GoodFirms, which personally interview past clients of software companies. These sites are reliable in that they publish legitimate, unsponsored feedback coming directly from the clients. These platforms also offer listicles specific to a certain region. For example, if you want to hire the best web development company in the UK, you can visit these review sites and filter companies based in the UK region. You can also filter companies based on other criteria, such as their rating, tech stack, and type of service. The best companies are also awarded ‘badges’ for service categories that they excel in.
Conduct a Cost Comparison
Relying solely on reviews and testimonials might not be the best way to shortlist a web application development company for your project, especially if you are on a tight budget. The personal budget that you have set for yourself also plays an important role in your selection process.
Cost and quality go hand in hand when it comes to choosing a software partner. For example, a software provider with hundreds of verified 5-star reviews might be too expensive for a startup. On the other hand, a cheap seller with minimal experience might not provide the best quality of services. There has to be a trade-off if you want the best of both worlds.
Most software companies are unable to provide fixed charges for their services because the type of service can vary from client to client. Your project is unique, with a list of requirements that would take a unique amount of effort from the development team. Therefore, costs vary depending on several factors. If your project requires the implementation of highly complex logic or design, that would incur a higher cost. If it is a large project or is to be completed on a tight deadline, the cost will increase due to more resources being dedicated to working on and spending more hours on your project. Post-launch support and maintenance requirements would also contribute to the price.
An effective way to shortlist suitable candidates for your project is to send in your project details and receive “quotes” from multiple vendors that meet your quality benchmarks. You can then compare the prices and select the company that strikes a balance between quality and cost.