How to Choose your Technology Partner for Offshore Custom Software Development?

Companies are always looking for a good software development partner. Why is it so?  

Because the leaders of 2021 know that the right software is the difference between a profitable business and a struggling one. A powerful software has various benefits from streamlining business processes to reviving employee productivity and designing unforgettable user experiences.  

The first option which might entice a lot of business owners is off-the-shelf services. A complete package for all their problems, but most of the time it is not the case. Off the shelf, services are designed for the masses. That is, it might not cater to a business’ specific and individual problems.  

Here is where custom software development has always dominated as the preferred choice.  

But picking custom software development over off-the-shelf services is just the first of many important decisions leaders have to make. The second inevitable one is how to pick the right custom software development partner with the latest technical expertise.  

This post is dedicated to help you select the best technology partner for your custom software development project. What are the key qualities to look for, requirements, and measures to consider while hiring an offshore software development company? We take you through a simple step-by-step process to help you make a well-informed decision.  

1. What is it that your business needs? 

The first set of questions you must ask yourself to find the right technology partner is to know what do your business needs, what your expectations are, and who can fulfil that. You can start with the following queries: 

• What are the end goals? 
• Is your company looking for a long-term technology partner or short-term on-demand support? 
• What is your long-term business strategy? 
• How do you want the project development process to proceed and conclude? 

The purpose of all these questions is to paint a clear picture of exactly how you want your business to look and how a software development company helps to make that picture a reality. It will also help to determine the following: 

• What will be the role of an offshore custom software development company in the project and business strategy? 
• Do you want the project to be developed according to a certain process and methodology? 
• Do you need an everyday connection with the offshore team or an independent working development team with periodic progress reports are more suitable? 
• Do you want to start the project development immediately and scale up the team later or you’re building the team first? 

For successful completion of the project, a clear and well-managed partnership initially is crucial to building a strong foundation with the development company.  

2. Profile of the right offshore technology partner  

There are countless numbers of software development companies out there, and they all look good too. So how do you pick the best from the herd? By digging deeper into their portfolio. Assess what is their tech stack, range of technical expertise, project experiences, and what are the kinds of projects they have worked on.  

Here are some tips: 

• Focus on companies that have expertise in the technology stack which is relevant for your business. For instance a particular programming language or a framework or marketplace app development, etc.  
• If you’re a tech company, there must be a technology fit with the software development company.  
• Make sure the offshore company has expertise in the technology you’re looking for (CRM, CMS, mobile app development, or others).  
• It is always a good idea to pick a company that has served your industry in the past. Their domain-specific knowledge will make project development much smoother.  

Following the above steps, you should shortlist 3-5 companies that seem to be the best fit for your offshore software development project. And find out more through research and communication. To help you segregate further via research follow the next steps.  

3. What is their technical expertise? 

While interviewing a company for their technical expertise, focus on their stack, infrastructure, and the ability to work on the latest frameworks and languages. One way to figure out is engaging the outsourced development company in a test project to further assess their abilities and communication with the in-house team (if your company has one).  

To dig deeper about the company and its employees, you can: 

• Check out the LinkedIn profile of their senior developers to get a close estimate of their overall experience.  
• Analyze their recruitment posts on LinkedIn to know what technologies are important to the company and what are they working on.  
• See if the company actively focuses on their developer's improvement by asking about their internal seminars and workshops.  

4. How practical and sustainable are their development processes? 

Break down their development sequence to check its quality and suitability for your business.  

• See how many stages of development they have? Do they work according to rules at every stage? 
• Will the process be easily integrated with your workflow? For instance, you need to assess the quality of code weekly, can their work process ensure it? Or will you get access to reports, servers, and tools to ensure the progress of the development process? 
• What is their process for quality check and which tools they use? 

5. How secure, stable and reliable their developed projects are? 

While finding a technology partner you can trust, especially if you are looking for a long-term relationship, you must make sure that is worth the effort.  

• Does the offshore development company follow transparent processes and policies?  
• How easy is it to find who manages the company, its employees, financial reports, and other legal and formal information? 
• Is the company financially stable? What do their last three years’ books look like? 
• Do others in the industry know them? Is there any other information available online other than their official website? 

To conclude  

A good software development project starts with the right technological partner. A group of people you can rely on for any tech issue, bug, or discrepancy with a sound financial background and excellent support.  

If you are looking for an offshore software development company, don't fret too much, check out our website today!