How to Choose the Best Software Company

Weighing options is very complicated in the digital space, especially when it comes to selecting a company to work with, in the long term. There are many factors to consider when choosing a software development company to work with, and here are four of the most common factors.

Go for Quality

You don’t want to buy the cheapest product or service, but the most cost-effective. 

Why?

Most often, it happens that the cheapest things appear to be the most costly ones. Yes! That is because they break too soon, and you need to replace them over and over again.

If you focus on spending less money initially, you will normally pay 2-3 times more in the future, and in the worst-case scenario – recode the software from scratch. 

It’s like buying electronic gadgets from a shop. Each time you buy the cheapest, it gets broken after a month or two. It works similarly for a software development company. 

If you choose the less expensive offer, you will ultimately pay more at the end of the project. 

The cost you’re likely to bear are technological debts, poorly written codes, lack of tests, difficulty to work on or maintain, lack of documentation, etc. 

To avoid this, take into account several factors when choosing a software company. Choose quality over quantity and know that cheap products or services in a short term, produce expensive results in the long term.

Development Methodology

It is essential to choose a company with an Agile development methodology. It is a methodology used at Webbermill.

The best software companies are flexible and adapt to a client’s growth and rapid technological changes. 

In simple terms, agile methodology is a software project management approach that enables the development team to respond to uncertainties when building software.

The agile software development model allows for making incremental adjustments, meaning that the changes are applied when needed without long discussions.

Any professional software development company works in an agile environment because of the high level of collaboration inside the agile teams. 

This factor is pivotal in getting a flawless product at the end of the process. So ensure you do an inquiry to find out what method of development the company is using.

This will help you select the best software development company.

Tech and Expertise

The software company team’s skillsets and technology they use are key to a positive experience. A good team must have a wide variety of software specialists.

To manage large projects successfully, you need a combination of individual service and a full arsenal of resources. 

This is what you want from a software development company.

You need a company with enough resources and with a client-oriented approach. Unfortunately, most African software companies lack this.

To ensure that the software company you choose has the capabilities to handle all of the aspects of your software to meet your needs, their team needs to have at least the following types of specialists:

• project managers
• back-end developers
• front-end developers
• quality assurance specialists
• software designers

Relationship is key

The client-developer relationship is crucial in any project. Good relationships are powerful and valuable. If you have big plans of developing long-term software, it’s very important to choose a software development company that is interested in long-term collaborations.

According to kissflow, 47% of all vendor collaboration initiatives hit the wall. Why? Because buyers suffered from a severe case of an underpowered vendor relationship management program.

In Africa, many companies develop software quickly in a short time, using templates, or scripts that are already made, to deliver your product.

Most of these companies are not interested in delivering a long-term product for you. Instead, they are interested in beginning projects, delivering in a few weeks, getting paid, and then forgetting about the product. 

Usually, these companies offer their services very cheaply. This can be a trap for you in case you want to develop a software that will bring you long-term benefits.

A digital product must be constantly in development, and for achieving this you need a long-term collaboration with the company that develops it. Every feature or decision of the product has to be discussed together, and this collaboration will offer value to your business, not just focusing on writing the code and delivering the product.