Zendesk, a pioneer in customer service solutions, simply states that these systems become indispensable as organizations develop: 

“Given enough time and growth, most organizations will need an ERP and a CRM.“

But what do these 3 letter acronyms actually mean? How do they ensure the success of your business?

There’s little disagreement regarding CRM and ERP use in the business world. Approximately three-quarters of all businesses employ an ERP system to interact with customers in real-time, while two-thirds adopt a CRM within their early years.

These numbers mean that both technologies are widely adopted and also signal recognition of the strategic value inherent in such systems.

Each addresses different aspects of operations; yet when used together, they create powerful leverage for any company’s progression in terms of efficiency, scalability, and competitive edge.

What is a CRM?

CRM, short for Customer Relationship Management, refers to the systems designed to keep track of a company’s engagements with current and future customers. CRM systems act as a central hub where all customer-related information is stored, making it easier for businesses to nurture their relationships with clients.

With CRM software in place, repetitive tasks are automated, which allows employees to focus on providing higher-quality service. This enhances the efficiency of processes from marketing campaigns right through to sales activities and after-sales support.

By keeping detailed records of customer interactions, CRMs provide valuable insights that help tailor communication and services precisely matched to client needs. The ultimate aim is to foster stronger connections with customers by being relevant and responsive – attributes known for driving loyalty and repeat business.

Effectively employed CRM tools enable organizations not just to manage contacts but also to make strategic decisions based on solid data analysis. Such informed decision-making can lead directly towards more successful outcomes both internally within operations management as well as externally regarding market presence.

The Benefits of a CRM System

Implementing a CRM offers several key advantages for business:

• Elevated Customer Support: CRM tools act as an aggregate for customer information from both outside and inside the organization. Information is consolidated into one accessible platform, which allows for a more personalized service experience. 
• Boosted Sales Performance: Analytics information provided by the CRM means sales teams can identify promising leads and trends with far greater precision. When focusing on these prospects, they greatly increase the chances of turning inquiries into profitable outcomes.
• Improved Customer Retention: Access to trends analysis performed by the CRM provides valuable insights into consumer behavior. A business may utilize this knowledge to retain its client base, and also increase brand loyalty.

What is an ERP?

Enterprise Resource Planning, better known as ERP, is a comprehensive software platform that helps businesses manage and connect the many facets of their operations. 

Think of it like the central nervous system for a company’s data and processes. It brings together finance, supply chain management, operations, reporting functions, manufacturing capabilities, and human resource tasks under one roof.

The key aim of having an ERP system is to break down silos between departments. By allowing free-flowing communication within an organization, and with its business partners, ERP ensures everyone has access to up-to-date information they need when they need it.

This kind of coordination can significantly boost decision-making abilities as you have all your actionable data in one accessible spot. 

Additionally, by streamlining workflows and automating certain administrative tasks through this centralized approach, companies often find marked improvements in efficiency and productivity.

ERP also plays an important role in helping organizations keep pace with compliance requirements set by various regulatory bodies. Tasks are made simpler when all relevant info is easily reachable within a unified system.

The Benefits of an ERP System

ERP systems unify multiple aspects of a business into a single interface, which simplifies many day-to-day operations:

• Cost Efficiency: Streamlining processes and reducing the costs of administration and operations with an ERP leads to significant savings.
• Improved Productivity: Naturally, when all tools used by the business are integrated into one single system, efficiency and productivity are greatly enhanced. 
• Better Decision Making: An ERP system provides operational data in real-time, meaning strategic planning and decision-making can be made based on accurate and consolidated information.

CRM vs ERP: The Key Differences

The major difference between CRM and ERP systems lies within their core function in the business:

• CRM focuses primarily on the “front-end” or “front-office”. It manages the interactions with customers and sales prospects across various communication channels.
• ERP, in contrast, focuses on integrating “back-end”, or internal information across the entire business.

This CRM vs ERP table illustrates the difference between ERP and CRM more clearly, and compares the typical use cases for each system:

ERP vs CRM: Exploring the Similarities 

At their core, ERP and CRM systems serve as pivotal instruments for organizational achievement due to a shared foundation in several key areas:

Centralized Data 

CRM and ERP stand out for their ability to bring data under one roof. This centralization provides data for decision-makers who need current and uniform information across all business units.

Efficiency in Operations

Streamlining internal processes with ERP and CRM systems creates an environment where time-consuming tasks are automated, teams work cohesively, and the overall machinery of your company operates without unnecessary friction.

Insightful Reporting 

In terms of analytics with ERP vs CRM, both types of systems provide powerful reporting utilities that peel back layers on operational dynamics and customer engagements. These insights are fuel for developing forward-thinking strategies that align with both market trends and resource allocation.

Productivity Enhancement 

At their essence, ERP and CRM tools increase customer engagement, but ERP platforms orchestrate resource management. Both paths lead toward elevating organizational productivity, not incrementally but significantly.

Integrating CRM and ERP

Combining your CRM and ERP systems has the potential to revolutionize your business operations by bringing together customer interaction and internal processes. 

To ensure a successful integration, it is essential to follow steps that will align activities, data, and processes throughout your company with the two separate systems.

1. Prepare for CRM and ERP Integration  

Begin by establishing a plan that clearly outlines your objectives. Set the boundaries for integration and determine beforehand the specific data to be exchanged between the two platforms. Develop an analysis detailing the effects of the transition, on existing procedures.

2. Keep Data in Sync  

All data between the two platforms needs to be synchronized. Use specifically designed tools and middleware that can automate and check this ongoing process and reduce data duplication during the ERP and CRM integration process. 

3. Align Workflows  

Creating an integration between CRM and ERP systems requires outlining procedures that cover areas in both platforms. For example, order fulfillment and customer service. 

The aim is to establish operations that eliminate the need for input, in transferring data or finishing assignments.

4. Testing and Validation 

Before the launch, make sure to examine the integrated systems. Confirm that data moves smoothly between CRM and ERP systems and that all processes are working correctly. Testing in real-life scenarios is crucial at this point in order to identify any integration issues before the integration goes to production.

5. User Training and Support  

Once the two systems are successfully integrated, synced, and functional with the business, it’s time to train your existing users and staff in the operation of the new platform.

Continuous support is crucial at this stage to help staff adapt to the integrated ERP and CRM systems.

6. Review and Iterate 

After the integration goes live, a post-implementation monitoring of the system is required. This includes soliciting user feedback on a regular and ongoing basis. 

This feedback should be used to make adjustments and tweak the environment, which will improve the integration over time. These regular adjustments will reduce in frequency over time.

ERP vs CRM: What Should You Choose?

When deciding between a CRM or ERP system, it’s important to consider your business needs. If you’re interested in building customer connections, enhancing service quality, and driving up sales numbers, a CRM is the way to go. 

It’s tailored to cater to your customers, improving interactions supporting marketing campaigns, and streamlining services—all of which can lead to increased sales.

On the other hand, if your company is looking for an all-in-one solution that integrates functional areas such as HR, logistics, or finance, then an ERP system might be more suitable. 

ERP excels at bringing together data and processes in one place. They are crucial for businesses aiming to improve efficiency while reducing expenses. 

Regardless of choice, a CRM or ERP system handles management tasks more efficiently. These systems simplify intricate operations across your organization and enhance collaboration among different departments.

Choosing a Trusted Custom CRM Development Partner

Should you wish to experience enhanced employee efficiency, improved customer satisfaction, and consistent increases in sales performance, consider integrating a CRM platform into your business strategy.

Intellectsoft stands as a comprehensive software development company enriched by years of crafting CRM solutions tailored for businesses across the spectrum. 

Whether you’re migrating to a brand new platform, or requiring a CRM built from the ground up, our experts at Intellectsoft are equipped with the knowledge, expertise, and experience to support you through the entire process.

Summing Up

When deciding between a CRM or ERP system, it’s important to consider your company’s requirements and long-term objectives. 

Whether you aim to enhance customer interactions or optimize workflows, grasping the differences between CRM and ERP is crucial for making a well-informed choice.

The post CRM vs ERP: Choosing the Right Solution for Your Business appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Companies that use customer relationship management (CRM) systems have experienced a 47% increase in customer retention rate, a 21% improvement in productivity, 16% higher customer retention, and a 17% boost in lead conversions. So if you are a business owner looking to improve customer relationships and streamline internal processes, this article is for you. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the various aspects of custom CRM implementation, from the process to its benefits.

While it takes 13 months to see an ROI from this tech investment, the $45 per dollar spent is well worth the wait.

Advantages of a Custom-Built CRM

Because every business is unique, custom solutions offer tailored features that can create the best experience for their specific customers. Unlike ready-made CRMs, which come with unnecessary features, choosing custom solutions allows you to build the exact functionalities your teams need, saving money in the process.

Big brands have already adopted custom-built CRMs in favor of pre-made ones.

For example, Apple and Uber use custom-built CRMs to drive sales and customer engagement.

Amazon’s own CRM captures customer data at the point of purchase, instantly customizing the user experience and providing a full view of the customer journey. This helps reduce returns and cart abandonment.

Similarly, Tesla started using its own CRM in 2019. Today, the company boasts the highest customer satisfaction rate in the car manufacturing industry according to Consumer Reports. Ninety-one percent of Tesla owners are more likely to rave about their vehicles than other brands, partly due to their in-house developed sales software.

Overcoming Challenges with Tech Partner

While custom-built CRMs can present challenges such as higher costs, longer development times, and maintenance complexities, these can be effectively managed with the right approach. To circumvent these challenges smoothly, partner with a software provider specializing in custom software, such as Intellectsoft. 

What is a CRM Implementation?

Beyond just setting up software, CRM implementation is a strategic move towards better understanding and managing your interactions with current and future customers. It’s a holistic process that entails meticulously configuring the software to align with your unique business needs, ensuring that every customer interaction is captured, analyzed, and leveraged to foster stronger relationships. Your CRM implementation plan shall begin with a deep dive into your business-specific requirements and goals.

Choosing your CRM development partner is next, and it’s a decision that should not be taken lightly. This is where expertise meets execution. Partnering with a company that not only understands the intricacies of CRM systems but also appreciates the unique challenges and opportunities within your industry can make a significant difference.

Before hiring a developer, make sure they are capable of tailoring the CRM to fit your unique business requirements. A one-size-fits-all approach simply does not apply to CRM systems. Your development partner must also bring the training aspect to the table. Onboarding your team to effectively utilize the CRM system according to their respective roles is a pivotal part of the implementation.

And the final step, which is not an endpoint but a commitment to continuous evolution. Regular monitoring and evaluation of the CRM system’s performance against your objectives allow for timely adjustments and optimizations.

Let’s explore the details of the implementation steps in the next section.

CRM Implementation Process: 6 Steps to Success

CRM implementation is a multifaceted undertaking that necessitates a roadmap marked with critical milestones to ensure a smooth transition and alignment with your business goals. This roadmap is not just a path but a strategic blueprint for transforming customer relationship management within your organization.

Below are the six essential steps to navigate this journey successfully:

Step 1: Identify CRM Goals

Delineate what you aim to achieve, whether it’s enhancing customer engagement, improving customer interactions, optimizing sales processes, or refining marketing strategies. Having crystal-clear goals sets a targeted direction for the implementation process.

This stage is crucial as it establishes the foundation for the entire process. Setting objectives early on guides the entire procedure so that every decision aligns with your business aspirations.

Step 2: Consider Required CRM Integrations

Assessing your current operational workflows and technology stack is imperative before introducing a new CRM system. Evaluating the current ecosystem shows potential problems and chances to streamline. It confirms the new CRM system can blend into it.

This is where you pinpoint the applications your CRM needs to synchronize with, such as email platforms, social media channels, and customer service tools. The goal is to establish seamless data flow and functionality across all operational areas. After all, a CRM is supposed to enhance efficiency and provide a unified view of customer interactions.

When you have created a cohesive ecosystem where data flows freely, you will be able to provide your team with the insights they need to make informed decisions.

Step 3: Choose Your CRM Development Partner

The right partner not only brings technical prowess but also possesses a deep understanding and extensive experience in the following:

Data Management

A good CRM software vendor delivers cutting-edge techniques like advanced data management, predictive analytics, and smart automation. They must be knowledgeable in tapping into the latest technology trends, such as Big Data, AI, Machine Learning, and Blockchain, to stay at the forefront.

Software Integration

Choose a company that can enhance your technological foundations through the development of robust microservices, dependable API structures, and seamless data integration techniques. You can propel your strategic objectives forward if they are capable of creating comprehensive enterprise applications or leveraging enterprise app integration solutions to streamline your operations and foster innovation.

Legacy Application Modernization

Outdated software not only poses significant security risks but also demands high maintenance costs. Engage leading experts to conduct comprehensive reviews of your systems and upgrade them with cutting-edge tools and technologies for enhanced performance and security.

Step 4: Customize for Tailored Solutions

Customizing a CRM system involves adjusting features, functionalities, and interfaces to align with your workflows, user needs, and overall business strategy. It requires a detailed checklist that enables you to create a configured design that delivers on its promise to enhance your business operations and customer relationships.

Instituting a governance framework will also provide guidelines on how the CRM system should be used and maintained. This typically includes standards and procedures for data management, user access, customization, and system updates that guarantee your CRM initiative’s long-term sustainability.

Step 5: Empower Teams with Training

The success of a CRM implementation heavily relies on user adoption. It’s not just about knowing which buttons to click but also understanding how to leverage the system to enhance customer interactions and drive business growth.

Providing comprehensive training sessions ensures your team is well-equipped to unleash the full potential of the system. This empowerment not only enhances efficiency but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement.

Step 6: Ongoing Assessment and Adaptation

No enterprise is static, so your CRM system shouldn’t be either. Establish an iterative process that ensures it remains agile, responsive, and aligned with your evolving business needs. For example, conduct weekly performance reviews of your CRM system to track its efficiency. Also, consider utilizing CRM analytics tools should be utilized to gauge user adoption and the system’s effectiveness in achieving business goals.

Always be open to incorporating new functionalities as the CRM vendor releases updates or your business needs shift. Regular employee feedback can also be invaluable in spotting areas of the CRM system that need tweaking for better performance.

Navigate these steps with precision and strategic foresight, and you will pave the way for a CRM implementation that not only meets but exceeds your expectations and drives your business toward enhanced customer-centricity and operational excellence.

Remember, effective CRM implementation is not just about technology but also about strategically aligning such technology with your business goals and customer needs.

Importance of CRM Implementation

In essence, CRM implementation is an investment in a strategic framework that transcends mere technological adoption by representing a strategic pivot toward a more engaged and insightful business model. It empowers your business to:

• be more responsive, agile, and customer-focused
• deepen the understanding of customer needs, preferences, and behaviors
• anticipate customer desires and tailor interactions to individual expectations
• build enduring relationships that drive loyalty and growth
• commit to operational excellence
• enable teams across sales, marketing, and customer service to work more coherently and efficiently

A well-implemented CRM system provides a unified platform that fosters collaboration and enhances the ability to act on data-driven insights. Consequently, you will achieve improved internal workflows, better customer experience, and a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Benefits of CRM Software Implementation

While implementing a CRM system is considered an operational upgrade, it’s actually a strategic investment that yields a high return over time in terms of catalyzing business growth and customer rapport improvement.

These are the changes your organization can expect post-implementation:

Precision in Sales Forecasting

CRM systems offer a granular view of sales trends and customer behaviors. This predictive prowess enables your business to craft strategies that are both responsive and anticipatory. As a result, you are staying a step ahead of market dynamics.

Enhancement of Customer Service

With a comprehensive CRM, customer interactions are no longer siloed but part of a continuum. Hence, support teams are able to deliver personalized and contextually relevant assistance. Doing so not only boosts customer satisfaction but also nurtures loyalty and retention.

Efficiency in Communication

Yet another advantage is breaking down barriers between departments, which streamlines internal communication and collaboration. Such a unified approach ensures that all team members are on the same page, marching cohesively towards common business goals.

Automation of Repetitive Tasks

Liberating your team from the mundane and routine everyday tasks allows them to focus on initiatives that drive business growth. This shift optimizes resource allocation while boosting employee morale as they engage in more meaningful and impactful work.

Highly Targeted Marketing Campaigns

Marketing efforts based on robust data analysis resonate with the intended audience, thus maximizing impact and return on investment.

As you can see, CRM software implementation touches every aspect of your business, from sales and customer service to internal workflows and marketing. This indispensable investment simultaneously propels operational excellence and promotes a customer-centric organization.

Wrapping Up

This guide has walked you through the essential steps in the planning, execution, and deployment of a CRM implementation strategy, underscoring the importance and benefits of adopting a CRM system tailored to your business needs.

Adding this software to your current tech stack guarantees to enhance customer relationships and elevate operational efficiencies. However, the system’s success greatly depends on the willingness of your team to adopt it. Statistics show that while 65% of businesses use CRM within the first five years of operations, less than 40% achieve full adoption. That’s why you should commission a vendor that is capable of training users from various departments of your company who perform different roles.

Partnering with a seasoned expert like Intellectsoft ensures not only a smooth transition but also an optimized integration of CRM into your business landscape. Our expertise in enterprise software development covers the full life cycle of application design, integration, and management.

We are experienced in deploying this technology through the construction, healthcare, dental, insurance, FinTech, logistics and automotive, travel and hospitality, and retail and e-commerce industries. Discover how our custom CRM software implementation helped a dental clinic scale new heights in this case study. For a deeper dive into how Intellectsoft can future-proof your business operations, visit our services page.

The post A Comprehensive CRM Implementation Guide in 2024 appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

If you’re looking to make your mark in this dynamic industry, you’re on the right page. Read on to better understand the idea of app design cost.

Having an app that can either entertain, help or educate your audiences is likely to keep profits skyrocketing. Data shows a steady increase in mobile app downloads, with predictions of 181 billion downloads by 2026.

With such projections, researchers predicted the total revenue of the app development market to reach around $400 billion in 2024.

Source: Statista

With a total of 26.3 million developers in the world just last year, startups are faced with the problem of how to choose a partner designer.

Adding up to that are the factors and processes that drive the total app design cost. From the conception of your ideas down to software updates, each step affects your balance sheets. It’s crucial to know how to estimate the cost of a mobile app design.

Let’s get started.

What Factors Determine the Cost to Design an App?

Whether you’re running a seasoned app company or a startup, developers have to make efforts to ensure the following: 

• A reasonable timeframe for development and launching
• Zero bugs, errors, and any other issues
• Users are willing to pay for your app, in-app purchases, and/or a subscription

Each application software has a unique purpose, set of features, and target audiences. That’s why the total mobile app design cost also varies. While there are quite a few factors that affect your expenses, there are also things that you can do to manage both these determinants and your expectations better.

Complexity

Logically, a more complicated app will lead to a higher app design cost. 

With a basic app that has limited features and functionality, developers need less time. Complex applications often contain more features, advanced algorithms, and powerful integrations. 

Actionable insight: Consider whether your app needs features like live chat, payment gateways, third-party app integrations, or customized add-ons, as these tend to ramp up overall expenses.

Platforms

Your chosen platforms – iOS, Android, or both – will considerably shape your app design cost. Designing for only one platform is considerably cheaper; however, targeting users of both platforms ensures you have a bigger customer base and larger profits. 

Here, the main reason for a higher mobile app design price is the programming languages for these two operating systems. This means designing for both platforms simultaneously may require separate teams or developers with cross-platform skills, which can inflate costs further. 

The choice between native or web apps also impacts the budget. Since native apps – where mobile apps fall under – are defined as those built for certain device types, they’re more expensive to develop. 

Actionable insight: Take time to analyze your target audience. For example, if your intended users would benefit from an on-the-go app, opt for mobile-only software. You can justify cross-platform development later should you think your audience tends to use your software across all devices.

Design Elements and User Experience

The cost of app design also depends on how recognizable your brand is within the app. Your app should be consistent with your brand’s look and feel. This includes logos, colors, and fonts. 

One key factor here is the user experience (UX), which is the overall flow and ease of navigation. Part of UX can also be impactful visual aesthetics, too. These include the user interface (UI), animations, and in-app interactions, which developers may meticulously design.

Actionable insight: Your app should be well-structured, meaning users can simply navigate. Doing so provides users with a positive experience. While giving them such ease, you should also focus on staying true to your brand. Balancing this may incur costs, but satisfaction and user retention can make it worthwhile.

Team Type

Whether you hire freelancers, an in-house team, or outsource to an app development agency will affect the overall cost. Here’s a quick list of these team types’ cost levels, pros, and cons for you to weigh your choices:

• Freelancers 
  • Cost: Low
  • Pros: This tier has the most flexible rates for startups with less complex app needs. Note that there are freelancers who have diverse skill sets that can help with sudden changes in development. 
  • Cons: Due to the lack of supervision, quality can be unpredictable. Moreover, potential timezone problems may cause challenging communication and updates.
• In-house Team 
  • Cost: Mid to High
  • Pros: Since this will be your team, there’s the potential for excellent collaboration and more control over the project. 
  • Cons: The cost of hiring and maintaining an in-house team can be steep due to overhead expenses such as office space, equipment, and training.
• Outsourced Agency 
  • Cost: Mid to High
  • Pros: Here, you’ll access a company’s broad professional skills and resources. They can even offer an all-in-one solution, from idea conception to post-launch updates.
  • Cons: Can be more expensive than hiring your team. Timezone complications might also occur when working with overseas agencies.

Actionable insight: You should define your desired work quality of work and the level of control you wish to maintain over the project. Regardless of who you hire, don’t forget to check portfolios and reviews to see whether you’re speaking with the right professionals.

Team Location

As mentioned, geography can also affect the overall app design cost due to time zones. More often than not, developers in North America and Western Europe charge higher compared to those in Asia. 

These discrepancies are often due to differing costs of living and market standards. 

Actionable insight: Choose a partner developer that’s able to align with your time zone. Remember, while an agency or freelancer may be overseas, they can bring fresh perspectives to your projects. Ensure you clarify some information about your target audiences, including their potential expectations, needs, and values.

Your average mobile app design cost depends on these factors – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s still the steps of the process that set the base prices.   

App Design Cost Breakdown

While various components make up the actual mobile app design cost, understanding them can be easier as you see the price of each element. Take these – all while considering the factors mentioned above – to get at least a rough estimate of how much your total spend will be.

Pre-Design Costs: Market Research and Concept Development

Market research lets you have a view of your demographics and some information about them. These bits of info, in turn, solidify your knowledge of your target audience’s wants, needs, and behavior, which you can later use as the foundation of your app’s concepts.

As shown in the table below, there are around 800,000 market research analysts in the U.S., with the population growing at a fast rate.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, most industries make use of market research, highlighting the potential increase in demand and median pay in the following years.

This usually takes 6–7 weeks, depending on how large the sample population is. If you expect one researcher to work on your project for at least 40 hours per week, the average could start at around $1,500/researcher for one entire research process. However, keep in mind that not every software development contractor conducts this type of research, so you might want to consider services of a specialized market research vendor.

Once you know about your audience, you can now conceptualize your app. This includes drafting its primary features and user journey. This is when you want to start working with software development specialists. In most methodologies, this stage is called the Discovery Phase. It includes close interaction with business stakeholders for understanding the business logic and offering the best solution in terms of the app experience.

Overall pre-design costs: Market research starts at $1,500 per researcher, Discovery Phase – $10,000-$15,000.

Core Design Phases: Wireframing, Prototyping, UI/UX Design

This is where the concepts are brought to life. When researching the idea of app design cost, you’ll see the use of terms like wireframing, prototypes, and mockups. The core design phase starts with wireframing, similar to blueprints of architectural structures. 

In wireframing, you lay out the structure of the app and determine the functionalities for each part. This usually comes as the easiest core design phase, which doesn’t require heavy designing. All it usually takes to create a wireframe is the following: 

• Content blocks, such as placements for logos, artworks, or text descriptions
• Navigation menus
• Buttons

After finalizing these on a piece of paper or sketching app, developers then put them into prototypes, which turn the blueprints of navigation into actual app interactions. You can usually do the wireframes on your own, but they often come in a package with prototyping and mockups. 

While prototypes have the actual interactions, mockups are where the UI/UX design shines. Here, designers discuss with you the colors, fonts, and images of the app, showing its complete visuals. To make sure that your users get the best experience, you might need to start from working with a business analyst who helps you create requirements for UI/UX.

Wireframes can cost you anywhere from $2000 – this also depends on whether the freelancer or agency you hire charges per hour. For example, you might need to hire both the designer and the business analyst for 20 hours per week each. Prototypes start at $4,000, while mockup designs range from $3,000 to $15,000. 

Overall core design costs: Starts at ~$7,000

Post-Design Costs: Testing, Revisions, and Final Touches

Regardless of whether you outsource only UI/UX design or the app development and deployment altogether, you need to perform the quality assurance phase. Developers typically test apps for bugs, compatibility issues, and performance loopholes. These issues cause apps to lag, one of the top reasons people uninstall their apps. So, while visuals and the intended experience might be appealing, the most important consideration is for all your ideas to perform seamlessly before the app gets out there on the market.

You need to ensure that your app undergoes all kinds of tests, such as:

• Performance and function
• Security
• Installation
• Device compatibility
• Usability

That’s why testing costs can start at $5,000. The only test not within the scope of developers is usability, which real test users should take. However, agencies sometimes handle this part as well.

To reduce the costs of testing an app, you can ask the agency to start testing during the development’s early stages. Sometimes professionals call it “shifting left”.

Making necessary revisions and fine-tuning to ensure optimal user experience can require an additional $1,000 to $2,000. Wrapping up with final touches to perfect your app might entail a further $500 to $1,000.

Overall post-design costs: $5,000+ depending on complexity

Maintenance and Updates

Though not traditionally part of the design process, maintaining the app and rolling out timely updates keeps the app functional and relevant. This can incur a recurring cost of about 20% of the total app design cost annually.

Custom Features & Design

Additional features such as push notifications, geo-location tracking, or third-party integrations will increase the price of the app. Of course, you need those to fit well into the overall UI/UX, and if you need custom design, this will increase the cost as well. 

Pricing for these vary widely depending on the nature of the feature and the complexity involved in its integration. It could range anywhere from $1,000 to $30,000 and higher, depending on the complexity, whether or not you need business analysis, the number of features, and so on.

To give you a quick look, here’s a quick app design cost calculation if we were to base it on a really basic app: 

• $1,500 (Pre-design) + $7,000 (Core design) + $6,500 (Post-design) = $15,000
• $15,000 (Design) + $7,500 (Post-design) + 8*$3,000 (eight custom features) = $46,500

Remember, these figures are mere estimations and can fluctuate based on various factors such as project scope, timelines, and the expertise of your design and/or development team.

How Does the Design Process Affect an App Design Price?

As previously mentioned, this is the longest part of the core design process, which means it also affects the overall cost to design an app.

There are two primary cost-driving factors here: UX and UI, the cornerstones of an exceptional app design.

UX design focuses on the interactive component of the design process. This is the main reason you do your market research, hence its effect on the mobile app design price. 

With knowledge about the users and their needs in mind, developers then draft wireframes and make prototypes. The mockup is then tested by real users who provide feedback about your app. 

On the other hand, UI design gets into the detailed visual and interactive aspects of the app. This phase is where the prototypes and mockups come to life – all with the help of a style guide established by you and your partner developer. 

It’s the overall design, including the setup of buttons and icons, that makes UI quite a more expensive part of the process. Whether you hire animators for better transitions, buy stock photos, or have your creative team provide you with content, it’s going to cost you money. 

Both UX and UI design play off each other, forming a cohesive aesthetic and functional identity for your app. That’s why it’s only vital that you understand how these two affect your total mobile application design cost.

Tips on How to Save on App Design Costs

There’s no need to be intimidated by the cost to design an app. With a few simple tips, you can save a significant amount of money and avoid unnecessary costs.

• Prioritize the key features; you can build on them later.
• A well-researched project can save redesigning costs and ensure clarity as you relay information to your partner developer. 
• UX matters, so Invest in good interactive design from the beginning. It pays off by reducing troubleshooting costs later.
• Cheaper isn’t always better.
• Opt for agile development, which lets you test features, fix bugs, and make improvements more affordable over time.
• Optimize for maintenance. The better the initial design and development are, the lesser you need for pricey updates and bug fixes later. 
• Evaluate your in-house capabilities. For some, in-house design may save costs, but outsourcing can offer superior quality and speed.
• Use generic and reusable elements in design where uniqueness is not required. This can reduce the graphic design time and cost.
• Keep the design and functionality intuitive and straightforward. Complex features can drive up costs without necessarily increasing user engagement.

Each of these strategies can help reduce upfront and long-term costs. They can grant your developer more time to prioritize important tasks, including crafting better UX. 

How to Choose the Right Partner for App Designing?

Selecting the right partner developer influences three things: how much it can cost to design an app, the length of the process, and the resulting product quality.

To choose the right partner for your app design journey, you can start by looking at the track record of whom they’ve worked with. Doing so lets you see what they’ve done for their clients so far – all transparently presented in their portfolio.

A versatile mobile app development partner can work on every step of the design process. At Intellectsoft, we use the Agile approach to software development. This means you enjoy more transparency and on-time delivery from start to finish. 

If you have other software needs, we can help with those, too. Be it hybrid TV apps, software on wearable devices, web apps, or even IT consulting, you can rely on Intellectsoft. 

We take pride in having serviced companies from a diverse set of industries, including the following: 

• Construction
• Fintech
• Mobile Health
• Travel and Hospitality
• Retail and Ecommerce
• Insurance

Remember, a successful app is not simply functional; it must delight users with its aesthetic appeal and seamless operation. Intellectsoft has been recognized for consistently achieving this delicate balance, making us a great choice for your app design partner.

The post How Much Does It Cost to Design an App? appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Such tremendous career growth is caused by the impressive development of this industry. According to the Verified Market Research data, the Application Development Software Market will grow at a CAGR of 25.54% from 2023 to 2030 and is projected to reach $1,039.89 billion by 2030.

However, when it comes to hiring a professional for your software project, you can find development and engineering experts who can be considered for performing the app development. Are these two roles similar?

To understand the difference between software developers and software engineers yet be able to define which one will surely fit your software development project, it’s essential to start with a detailed overview of the main responsibilities and tasks performed within each position.

In this article, we provide a detailed overview of a software developer vs. software engineer in terms of salaries, responsibilities, and requirements. We will also explain how to select the professional who will work best for your business needs and purposes.

Understanding Roles of Software Developer vs. Software Engineer

Simply put, a software engineer is a professional who applies the principles of software engineering to designing, developing, maintaining, testing, and evaluating computer software.

As a rule, this position implies strong teamwork with other project members, as a software engineering expert works with the separate components of the hardware system, works on creating the tools and solutions to develop the specific software, and also searches for potential opportunities to improve the software. Unlike software developers who work on a limited scale, software engineers resolve the issues on a much larger scale.

Having analyzed the global search trends for “software engineer,” we can see that the interest in this position among Google’s searchers shows 93 out of 100 points, which means this trend is still in the peak period of its popularity as of October 2023.

On the contrary, a software developer is the professional responsible for building software for different types of devices. Developers commonly utilize premade tools and frameworks to build software solutions. However, they have a more limited scale of issue resolution compared to engineers.

Google’s search trends for the term “software developer” are relatively low: as of October 2023, it shows only 36 points out of 100. According to Glassdoor, the average base salaries of developers are a bit lower than engineers’ salaries: $97,304 vs. $113,002 per year, respectively.

Let’s dive deeper into this topic by making a detailed comparison of these two roles!

What is the Difference Between a Software Engineer and a Software Developer?

Though both specializations refer to one scope of software development, software developer and software engineer occupations are not similar. To find out the difference between software developers and software engineers, let’s analyze the major aspects of each occupation separately.

Software Developers

The typical entry-level education for this occupation is a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology or Computer programming, where the Software Development specializations are studied.

Software development is primarily a solitary activity that requires developing the overall application itself. The expert in this area will use premade tools for delivering software solutions for web, mobile, and desktop platforms.

Software developers perform the issue-resolving processes, similar to software engineers, but on a more limited scale. For this reason, they tend to be more creative in generating solutions that can be embedded into a software project.

Software Engineers

The typical entry-level education for this occupation is a Bachelor’s degree in Software Development, but the degrees in Software Engineering are rather the add-on benefits than the essential requirements.

Software engineering is primarily a team activity, which implies high engagement in collaboration during the whole process of software development.

The working style of software engineers implies resolving large-scale issues, and they are less involved in considering creative solutions. Instead, they’re more systematic and analytical in their work.

With this said, the comparison of software developer vs. software engineer reveals obvious differences. Now, you can clearly understand the major aspects, tasks, and responsibilities of each professional and start considering which one will better fit your business needs.

How to Define What Specialist You Need for Your Project?

Having compared these two jobs, now it’s time to find the answer to the main question – software engineer vs. software developer: which is better for your business? Here are some essential aspects you should ask yourself before making the final decision.

1. Will This Professional Join Your Team of Developers or Perform the Project Alone?

If you need a software development expert who will cooperate with other team members, you can hire both a software engineer and a software developer. However, if the project is expected to be delivered by one expert only, it’s better to hire a software developer – this professional can perform the design and program implementation processes by adding creativity.

2. Will Your Project Utilize the Existing Tools, or Do You Have to Create the New Ones?

If your project implies creating completely new tech approaches and development tools, then it’s more reasonable to hire a software engineer – a person who applies engineering principles to the process of software development. However, in case it’s possible to use the premade development tools for your project – a software developer is your best option to choose!

3. Will This Person Be Engaged in the Specific Development Stages or the Entire Process of Software Building?

If you want a professional who will participate in the entire process of the application development, it’s also more beneficial to select a developer instead of an engineer, as this expert can effectively participate in each stage of software building yet features better creativity, which is surely great for any project.

Instead, if you want the person to resolve some larger issues and the one who won’t be required to contribute in every stage – choose a software engineering specialist!

4. Will This Expert Operate on a Bigger Scale or Perform the Functions on a Small Scale Only?

If the upcoming project requires a person who handles large-scale tasks, it’s better to consider hiring a software engineer, and ultimately, when you want the professional to carry out the engineering functions on a smaller scale – it’s more reasonable to choose a software developer!

You’ll probably want to hire a software engineering expert if your software project requires a person who:

• Features the ability to work in teams;
• Has the advanced problem-solving skills;
• Possesses strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Has expertise in computer programming and coding;
• Is focused on object-oriented design.

It’s better to consider hiring a software development specialist if you’re looking for the person who:

• Possesses advanced knowledge in cloud computing, data structure, and data algorithms;
• Has the ability to learn and develop his or her skills;
• Features Git and GitHub hard skills;
• Knows the source code editors, can perform debugging, code refactoring, and syntax highlighting;
• Will complete the project alone (no teamwork needed).

As you can see, having compared software developer vs. software engineer, you can now understand which one will be the right option for your software development project.

Wrapping Up

Even though software developer and software engineer are often considered synonyms, these occupations require a diverse set of hard and soft skills. This fact causes a lot of misunderstanding when you want to start a project and dive into this topic. We hope the detailed comparison given above has answered all the questions regarding hiring the right expert for your project.

If you’re looking for expert software engineers and/or software developers, we welcome you to consider the ones we have at Intellectsoft. Here are only a few of the many reasons why our specialists are perfect for you and your project:

• We have an extensive talent pool that includes dozens of experts with advanced software engineering skills and solid software development skills;
• Expertise in multiple industries – fintech, insurance, healthcare, construction, eCommerce, transportation and logistics, hospitality, and many others;
• 15+ years of active experience in the market;
• 600+ successfully finished and delivered projects of different types and complexity;
• Engineering workforce in 21 countries on both sides of the Atlantic;
• Almost 30 percent of our teammates are females;
• We have already delivered hundreds of digital solutions to clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises;
• Top-grade dedicated development team;
• We provide both consulting and software development services that fit your budget.

So, if you want to know more about hiring a particular expert or a team from Intellectsoft, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, and our solution advisor will make sure your project will get the specialists with the most relevant technical expertise and skills.

The post Software Developer vs. Software Engineer: What’s the Difference? appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

To mitigate this mismatch between supply and demand in the IT service market, more businesses turn to offshore software development. This method offers many benefits, most notably saving time, costs, and effort. For this reason, offshoring is very advantageous for startups and small businesses. However, it also appeals to enterprises that prefer hiring a dedicated software development team from a distant country rather than managing an in-house software development department.  

This article will define offshore outsourcing of software development projects, show you its potential benefits for your business, and explain how to avoid mistakes while selecting the right company and cooperating with them.

What is Offshore Software Development?

When a customer, for example, a startup, an SMB, or an enterprise, hires a software development company from another part of the world, that company will perform offshore software development. In other words, this means outsourcing a task or a project that involves providing software development services to a team located in a different time zone. 

The distance between the customer and the hired team is the defining factor that distinguishes offshore, onshore, and nearshore software development. When the time zone difference is large, and the parties are located at opposite sides of the globe, these circumstances imply offshore relations. This is the case, for example, when a business in the USA hires a team from India or Ukraine. Businesses choose an offshore software development model because it offers a lot of benefits, most notably much lower costs, but also involves certain challenges.

If the distance is significant but the time zones are approximately the same, this case is called the nearshore relationship. An example of this case is when a customer from Western Europe outsources a job to a company from Eastern Europe. Nearshore software development generally offers lesser cost reduction but also has fewer drawbacks.

In the case of onshore software development, the customer and the development team are located approximately in the same area and share the same time zone. For example, this is usually the case when a client and an offshore software development outsourcing company are in neighboring states. Due to the short distance and minimal time difference, there are almost no obstacles to cooperation between these two business parties. However, the costs of services are not as advantageous as those offered by offshore outsourcing software development companies. In general, the larger the distance between a customer and an IT service vendor, the larger price reduction can be achieved by a customer without impacting the quality of provided services and the final product.

What Types of Services Can Be Outsourced?

Successful offshore software development outsourcing is possible when an IT services vendor can ensure the high quality of its work and effective regular communication with its customers. The main factor of success during outsourcing is the ability of remotely located companies to collaborate and communicate with each other. This means that if the development team has enough experience, basically all software-related services can be outsourced. Let’s take a look at the most popular outsourced services.

Web Development Services

Though web development is a complex and challenging process, it can be effectively outsourced to offshore developers. A skilled team will be able to deliver a top-quality web application at a reasonable price despite possible inconveniences and challenges resulting from long distances.

According to a customer’s requirement, most offshore software development companies can perform either the whole development process or provide selected web development services. Usually, this is required when a customer has already hired a team but needs additional specialists.  

Mobile Development Services

Mobile app development is another highly demanded type of services in offshore software development. Similar to the web development process, mobile software development also requires a lot of skills and experience and well-coordinated teamwork. 

The immense popularity of mobile applications and their vital role in enhancing all kinds of businesses is an established modern trend. That is the reason why so many offshore software development outsourcing companies are focused solely on providing mobile development services. Again, like with web development, such companies can offer a full software development process or just particular services to create native or hybrid mobile applications.

UI/UX Design Services

One of the most useful advantageous features of offshore software development outsourcing is that customers can choose beforehand whether they want to delegate the whole development process to an offshore company or just some of its steps. This way, a customer can hire a team to provide only one particular service or even hire a single specialist for that purpose. 

Talented UI/UX designers are hard to find, especially in the IT industry. Their role is especially important when an application must be adapted to various devices with different screen resolutions and aspect ratios. That’s why UI/UX services are in constant high demand among businesses that need software solutions with both functional and visually appealing user interfaces.

QA and Testing Services

Quality assurance is an essential part of any software development process. The creator of a software product must ensure that every part, module, and component works as intended in various scenarios. Comprehensive testing is a very exhaustive and time-consuming process, so it is often outsourced to a skilled team of specialists focused entirely on this task. This way, the main team of developers is able to concentrate on other tasks and finish the project earlier.

Alternatively, you may have two testing teams working simultaneously to cover more platforms and use scenarios of a future software product. This method requires more coordination and is commonly used, for example, to speed up cross-platform or hybrid mobile development. One team may ensure the quality and performance on Android devices, and the other team may perform the same tasks on iOS devices. 

Customer Support Services

Customer support services are universally famous for being outsourced to offshore companies, even by the largest enterprises. The high demand causes some countries to focus their IT industries on such services and create numerous call centers and other required infrastructure. As a result, enterprises benefit from immense cost savings while customer support service providers from other countries enjoy profits.

It should be noted that many other software-related services, like IT consulting and product post-release maintenance, can also be outsourced. Offshore software outsourcing benefits both customers and IT service vendors and even drives economies in many countries.

Offshore Software Development Process

Truth be told, an offshore process is identical to its nearshore or onshore counterpart in the IT industry. It has the same stages and includes the same routines, such as requirement gathering and analysis, architecture design, coding and implementation, security and quality assurance, deployment, post-release maintenance, and others.

Just like in-house teams, offshore developers also work full-time, prepare project documentation, and communicate with clients on a regular basis. The main feature that distinguishes an offshore process is the remote cooperation and unique challenges resulting from it. 

Considering this, there are several steps you should take to mitigate these challenges before you find a suitable offshore software development company.

Understand your needs. Since the main offshore-related challenge is communication, make sure you have a clear picture of your business needs and can formulate them clearly. Identify your business problems and how software can solve them. This way, your offshore developers will quickly understand your goals and requirements.

Define your goals and timelines. Analyze the market to find your target audience and the optimal time to release your software product. This information will be vital during your future communication with a potential development team, especially when discussing deadlines.

Stay informed. Try to keep yourself updated on what’s going on in the IT field, the most popular technologies, new advances, etc. The knowledge of terminology and trends will facilitate your future communication with the development team.

Browse offered services and investigate candidates in advance. Before settling with the team, you need to research the information about them. For instance, their expertise in your industry and technology, their portfolio (Case Studies), feedback from clients, company size, etc. Due to the remote nature of your cooperation, you will have to be 100% sure of your candidate.

Prepare documentation. Ideas are elusive, so you should write down your vision in as many details as you can. Then, add everything you have defined regarding your future software. This way, you will have a chance to revisit and alter your concept before you discuss it with an offshore company. After the development process starts, it will be more difficult and potentially expensive to change requirements.

Challenges in Offshore Software Development

The benefits of software development delegated to offshore companies come at the cost of certain drawbacks and risks. Here are some of them.

• Time difference. An offshore company will operate according to its time zone, so its working hours may be widely different from yours. You need to define some compromise regarding calls and online meetups.
• Cultural and language differences. Usually, IT specialists are required to be fluent in English in order to easily interact with colleagues and clients and write accurate documentation. Still, in some countries, this requirement is sometimes overlooked, and language barriers may slow down the development process or impair the product quality due to miscommunication. Luckily, such cases are not as common in business as they used to be. Cultural differences, such as different approaches to work or national and religious holidays, may also add certain unwanted complications to cooperation.
• Lack of supervision and transparency. Though offshore development teams are self-managed, this can be both a benefit and a drawback. If you like to personally supervise the work of your hired staff, it will be difficult for you to cooperate with offshore companies. In the case of long-term projects, you may need to visit the location of the offshore company or arrange a visit of its project manager to your company’s headquarters. This involves additional costs for travel and accommodation.
• Potential data leaks. Usually, software developers in in-house or offshore teams sign NDAs to ensure the protection of your business secrets or other sensitive information. However, some countries do not have strict legislation regarding data protection or fail to enforce it. This also means that the source code of your software may eventually leak, and its vulnerabilities may be exposed due to the negligence or the lack of work ethics in an offshore team. 
• Need for additional coordination. Even if you delegate the entire software development process to a remote team, you still need to assign one or several managers to stay in touch with it. This way, your managers will be able to handle minor issues immediately and inform you about matters that require your personal involvement. Your company has to double-check and guide the development process to ensure it is performed according to your requirements. This means working together with the managers of the offshore team without getting into each other’s way.

Offshore Software Development Cost

The cost of offshore software development differs depending on the geographical location of the service vendor. The total price also depends on the complexity of your project, as it determines the number, type, and skill level of required specialists and the extent of provided services. The following services contribute to the overall cost: staff training, project management, design and planning, coding, quality assurance, post-release support, etc. This list is not exhaustive, so your project may require some other services and auxiliary costs.

Here are the top 8 countries for offshore software/IT project outsourcing:

• Philippines
• Ukraine
• Poland
• Romania
• Argentina
• Bulgaria
• China
• India

Software Development Billing Rates in Different Countries

These price ranges are based on information obtained from such online platforms as Clutch, GoodFirms, PayScale, Upwork, Indeed, and others. They are rather illustrative but may not be entirely accurate, so you always need to discuss offshore software development outsourcing costs directly with every IT company.

Benefits of Offshore Software Development

Choosing an offshore software development company for creating from scratch or upgrading software for your business has many benefits to offer that include but are not limited to the following points.

Cost-Effective Solutions

By choosing an offshore vendor of software development services, you can save up to 30% of your total expenses, including costs on recruitment processes, salaries, etc. Compared to hiring and training in-house specialists, you also won’t have to spend resources on licensed software and hardware because these expenses will also be handled by offshore developers.

Needless to say, you won’t have to deal financially with staff training, paid vacations, sick leaves, and things like that when collaborating with one of the offshore software development companies.

Attention to Core Activities

This may be the biggest benefit when hiring an offshore development team that includes a project manager. A company’s management can focus on things like planning, implementing a solid business strategy, finding additional investments, and so on because the technical side of the product creation will be fully handled by the development team.

In case you hire a team with a project manager, they will regularly update you on the progress, challenges, and other crucial things you need to know. 

Task-Specific Experts

One of the best parts of working with an offshore development vendor is that you can hire a scalable team for your project. Thus, you can hire a large team to create your business product from scratch, and you don’t have to keep the entire team long-term. After the product design, development, and testing processes are finished, you can scale down the project team and leave only the tech specialists you need for product maintenance and support.

At the same time, when you need to upgrade or somehow change your product in the future, you can hire the required specialists back. Companies that specialize in offshore software development often propose different collaboration models like dedicated teams, fixed prices, time and material, etc.

Access to a Larger Talent Pool with Bigger Expertise

Seeking tech specialists on your own takes more time and resources when compared to working with an offshore software development company. This is because they know exactly how to distinguish an expert or promising specialist from a mediocre one and where to find them. Choosing a company that provides offshore software development services will grant you access to a massive talent pool with tech experts who work with both the latest and trusted technologies.

Having specialists with broad and solid expertise in your team is exactly what will make your product stand out on the market and leave your business competitors behind.

Faster Time-to-Market

In addition to being cost-efficient, offshore firms have everything required to create and launch your software product faster so that you can start gathering feedback from your first clients or show a fully-functioning MVP or complete product to investors.

Time is money. The more time you spend on creating and testing your product, the higher the chance that someone else will launch a similar product and “skim the cream” from the customers that could have been yours.

They Try Harder

Even though there is a common belief that in-house specialists are more motivated to provide top-quality results, offshore software development teams are equally motivated to give their clients the best possible result and collaboration experience because of the competition in the IT market. 

Every software development company understands that even one unsatisfied client may affect their reputation and scare away dozens of leads.

Advantages of Offshore Software Development from Intellectsoft

Choosing Intellectsoft as your offshore software development company will bring you and your business multiple benefits. Being a company with 15+ years of experience in the IT market and the one that has delivered over 600 projects to businesses across the world, here’s what we offer our clients:

• Engineering workforce in 21 countries across the Atlantic;
• Expertise in multiple industries like fintech, healthcare, construction, logistics, and a lot more;
• Tech specialists have advanced English;
• Great communication skills;
• No difficulties with time-zone difference;
• Solutions that fit your budget;
• Extensive technology expertise and talent pool;
• Positive feedback from our clients (we have a 4.9 rating on Clutch and a 5 rating on Business of Apps);
• Last but not least, 27% of our teammates are females.

Conclusion

In times of technological advancements, choosing offshore software development brings companies of all sizes multiple perks. While in-house teams, onshoring, and nearshoring software development have their own benefits and drawbacks, the advantages of offshore software development are undeniable and can save your company time, money, and other crucial resources.

Intellectsoft is a company that has been providing offshore software development services for over a decade. We don’t limit our expertise to one company size or a single industry. Instead, we offer top services to businesses ranging from startups and scaleups to Fortune 500 enterprises. The range of industries we cover is also enormous; however, our domain expertise lies within such industries as fintech, insurance, healthcare, dental, construction, logistics, eCommerce, and others. To learn more about our work, please read our most prominent Case Studies.

If you want to explore our expertise more and learn what custom solutions we can offer your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and state your requirements. Let us help you achieve your business goals with our offshore development knowledge and expertise.

The post Guide to Offshore Software Development in 2023 appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Building from scratch or upgrading your existing product requires a solid development team, but what should you do when you lack one or several tech experts? You may set a task for your recruitment department to seek and hire them, or you can rely on a software development services vendor and choose a staff augmentation model to collaborate with them. According to Statista, the number of software developers worldwide continues to grow and is projected to reach 28.7 million specialists by 2024. Even though this number is enormous, companies still struggle to find perfect candidates.

Even though it is tempting for us as a software development company to focus only on the benefits of IT staff augmentation, we want to give you an unbiased full picture of both options so that you can pick the one that suits you best and get the most talented and motivated experts for your project.

Cases When You Need In-House Recruitment

Hiring workers for your in-house software development team is a long-term investment to improve your company’s skillset and mastery. Because you want a worker to be a valuable asset, selecting the right candidate is usually meticulous. Therefore, recruiters need weeks or months to find, interview, and choose a suitable specialist to fill a vacant position. 

Moreover, the lack of particular specialists weakens a company, so it takes longer to complete tasks and projects. Staff shortage also limits the scope of projects a company can take and the goals it can achieve.

So, recruiting specialists to an in-house department usually takes place when a company:

• needs to improve its skillset on a long-term basis;
• has a staff of recruiters;
• can afford to spend time on search;
• can interest candidates in employment by offering competitive salaries and corporate benefits.

Let’s have a look at the potential benefits and drawbacks of in-house hiring. 

Pros of In-House Recruitment

• Excellent communication. Since employees traditionally work from the office, internal and external communication is straightforward. Office environment also enables live communication, which is usually more productive than via software messengers.
• Benefits of team building and corporate spirit. Companies invest in promoting corporate values to bring workers closer together. The company’s managers and HR department take many measures to boost team morale and increase workers’ loyalty and productivity. 
• Easier management. Team management becomes significantly easier since in-team employees are usually available at the office. As an additional benefit, in most cases, all workers share the same timezone and speak the same language, which further benefits management. 
• Higher security. Usually, the hiring process involves additional security measures, such as checking candidates’ backgrounds. This way, your company can ensure that candidates have the required skills and they won’t disrupt the work process or cause other problems. 
• Skill improvement. Often companies implement various training programs or encouragement means to enhance the skills of their employees.

Cons of In-House Recruitment

• Search and hiring takes time. There is a skill shortage of IT specialists in various areas of software development. That’s why finding a suitable candidate that matches the company’s requirements and expectations may take significant time.
• An employee may suddenly leave. Your employees may get “hunted” and recruited by your competitor. This is especially devastating if a worker has rare or unique skills and expertise. Such experts are very hard to replace, and their sudden absence may impact the flow of processes in your company.
• Increased needs. An employee requires a productive working environment: a spacious office, sturdy equipment, and recreation facilities. Your company should provide all of that to maximize the productivity of employees. Good working conditions are also an important factor that may prevent workers from leaving even if they are unsatisfied with other factors, such as salaries or appreciation.
• Fixed fee. In most cases, in-house employees have set salaries that are not influenced by the amount of work done during the payment period. This means if, for whatever reason, there is no work currently for a particular employee, they must be paid at the end of the month even though they have been “benched” the whole time.

In Which Case Should You Choose a Staff Augmentation Model? 

Staff augmentation is a much quicker but temporary solution if you need a worker with particular skills and expertise. Usually, staff augmentation involves reaching the providers of tech skills instead of using recruiters to find workers. That means you simply contact a company with a pool of specialists as its employees and negotiate “renting” one or several of them under a contract. The process is fast and straightforward, so it will be perfect in cases when your company:

• is a startup with a limited budget looking forward to its breakthrough;
• needs to find a specialist quickly;
• cannot provide an adequate working environment for a large team at your office;
• does not have the resources to handle mandatory payments, benefits, taxes, and other perks for a lot of workers.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of a staff augmentation model:

Pros of Staff Augmentation Model

• Lower cost compared to in-house workers. The amount of payment depends on the amount of work. You pay only for productive activities.
• Easier hiring process. You contact a company, tell them what kind of specialist you need, specify the requirements, and get the result. It requires minimum effort from your HR and recruiting specialists. 
• Shorter search. Companies that provide staff augmentation services keep track of their pool of specialists, so they can instantly tell you if they have a suitable candidate that meets your requirements. Instead of contacting each candidate individually, you reach a manager who represents a group of workers available for hire.
• Excellent flexibility and scalability. If your project unexpectedly grows to the point when you need to add more specialists, staff augmentation can quickly fix this. 
• Workers take care of their working environment. Since hired staff works remotely, your company does not need to provide them with office space, equipment, and facilities. This fact means significant savings, which are especially beneficial for small businesses and startups.

Cons of Staff Augmentation Model

• More challenging management. Remote workers may be difficult to manage, especially when time zones are different. Though there are many software solutions to promote team coordination and communication, team managers need to make extra efforts to ensure a smooth workflow.
• Potential communication issues. Sometimes insufficient language skills and cultural differences may present additional problems for team coordination. 
• Hired workers lack team spirit and corporate values. Temporary hired employees do not care about the future of your company. They are paid to get the job done, and that’s the only thing they are interested in.

Main Differences Between In-House Recruiting and Staff Augmentation Services 

For the sake of brevity, the main differences between the two employment models are given in the comparison table below.

Common Features in In-House Recruitment and Staff Augmentation Models

Both hiring models offer a range of shared features that benefit your company:

• you can add the necessary amount of specialists with the required skills to your team;
• your team can complete projects
• In both models, hired workers are responsible for the quality of their work;
• newly obtained specialists cooperate effectively with the rest of the team and other departments;
• hired staff log their activities and prepare documentation for the projects they work on.

Keep in mind that despite both models having these common characteristics, the choice of a particular model depends on their differences.

In-House Developers: Where to Look?

There are several methods and places to find a good software developer for your in-house team.

• Specialized online platforms for posting tasks and hiring workers. (Upwork, Freelancer)
• Job vacancies websites. (Indeed, Glassdoor)
• Online catalogs of service providers. (Clutch, GoodFirms)
• Referrals from your current employees, colleagues, etc.

Regardless of the method, take a responsible approach and spend enough time researching and separating real specialists from frauds.

Why Intellectsoft is the Right Staff Augmentation Company for You?

So, you’re looking for an outsource software development company that offers staff augmentation, among other collaboration models. Since Intellectsoft happens to be one, let us tell you the benefits of choosing our staffing services and specialists for your project.

Multi-Industry Expertise

Intellectsoft was founded back in 2007, which means we have 15+ years of active experience. Over the years, we have worked on and delivered over 600 projects for our clients engaged in Fintech, Healthcare, construction, transportation and logistics, eCommerce and retail, insurance, and many other industries.

Trusted by Several Fortune 500 Companies

We are proud to say that we have provided software development and consulting services for globally renowned brands such as Harley Davidson, Audi, Guinness, Nestle, Eurostar, Cirrus Insight, Melco, and many others. These companies would have never chosen us if we weren’t among the best in custom software development.

Reliable Technologies

We use a set of technologies that are advanced, prove their use and efficiency, and help us create solid, cutting-edge web and mobile solutions for our clients.

Tech Specialists with Excellent Knowledge of English

We know that companies that want to hire a remote specialist often face a language barrier when it comes to communicating with technical experts like developers, quality assurance specialists, UI/UX designers, and others. Intellectsoft has specialists from different countries in Europe and North America, so communication is never a problem for our clients.

Extensive Talent Pool

We have many specialists on our team who cover the following:

– iOS and Android app development (native and hybrid);

– Custom web solutions;

– Cloud solutions,

– Software architecture;

– Quality assurance and testing,

– DevOps services;

– UI/UX design;

– Blockchain;

– Product engineering, etc.

Top-Quality Result

When it comes to the quality of our services and solutions, we let our clients speak. You may find feedback from our clients on Clutch,Business of Apps, and Goodfirms. The number of awards we have received over the years also can tell a lot about the quality we provide.

Fast Time-to-Market

If you need to build and launch your product fast, we are experts in building minimum viable products (MVP) and creating proof of concept (PoC) for reaching the market and collecting early feedback from first users or getting required investments for your business project.

To Sum Up

As you see, hiring an in-house employee and collaborating with a software development company using the staff augmentation model are great options to consider when your project needs a new professional.

If you have a long-term, complex, and highly confidential project and need to have the development team gathered in one office so that you can reach them any time you need within working hours – hiring in-house specialists may be your perfect choice. However, if you need a reliable professional immediately and your project cannot wait for weeks or even months – IT staff augmentation from an outsourcing vendor is a perfect choice. Even if your remote staff augmentation specialist lives across the globe in a different timezone, you can specify their working hours in the contract. Depending on the duration of your project, you can discuss how long a remote specialist may be available for your company.

The best part of working with outsourcing providers is that if a specialist decides to leave that company and your project, they will find a replacement with an equal set of knowledge and skills faster than your recruitment department.

Being a company with an extensive talent pool and expertise, Intellectsoft can empower your in-house or distributed project team with front-end, back-end, mobile, QA, DevOps, and many other professional and trustworthy specialists. Just reach out to us, describe your problem and requirements, and we’ll solve your lack of software development specialists right away.

The post Staff Augmentation Model vs. In-House Recruitment in IT appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

What Is a Dedicated Development Team?

When a business needs to build and maintain a software application, it generally chooses one of two ways. The first one is creating and running a specialized software development department. The second way is hiring a dedicated development team. Both choices are viable under certain circumstances, which will be described in detail a little later in this article. But first, let’s define what a dedicated development team is.

The term “dedicated development team” is rather self-explanatory. It means a group of software engineers, including developers, testers, designers, and other types of specialists. This team works under a contract and dedicates its resources to perform the specified tasks within the set time period. However, the team does not become a part of your company’s staff, which offers several potential benefits that will be discussed below.

Technical specialists that make up the team are employed by a software development company. This company temporarily “leases” them to your business but remains in control of all administrative affairs. The number and types of developers in a team are chosen according to the complexity of your task, deadline, and other factors. Usually, they are set strictly, but sometimes the contract may permit their change over time. This way, the team ensures that your software meets the quality and security criteria and is delivered on time.

Why Do You Need a Dedicated Development Team?

If you want to get a high-quality software product within a reasonable time and budget, consider hiring a dedicated development team. It is a more rational and efficient alternative to managing your software development department. Here are some of the most important advantages of a dedicated development team in terms of business values.

• More cost-effective work;
• Less time to get the result;
• Reduced need for management.

More Cost-effective Work

Hiring a dedicated team saves you money for several reasons. First of all, you get the exact number of specialists needed to complete the job within the deadline. If you had your own department of programmers, you would have to pay all of them, whether they currently have a task or not. You also do not have to deal with paid vacations, bonuses, and other incentives for the team members.

Additionally, you do not have to buy expensive equipment for software development if you hire a team. A dedicated team has the required set of devices for building and testing software. Moreover, this equipment has been properly set up and combined together into a working infrastructure. Its operability and performance are controlled by system administrators from the contracted company. This way, you do not have to hire additional staff to check and maintain the work computers.

Note that a dedicated development team cost can be high, but you get much more in return for your initial investments.

Less Time to Get the Result

As a rule, the dedicated team is highly skilled and has experience of working as a single unit. This means that the internal processes and communication within the team are well-established and tuned to maximize efficiency. Moreover, because of the contract, the team itself is interested in delivering the product as fast as it could without compromising the quality.

Additionally, you save time by getting a premade team of specialists ready to work whenever you sign the deal. You personally or your recruiters do not have to assemble the team by contacting each developer separately and holding interviews.

As an extra benefit, your contract may allow you to alter the time needed to complete your project. If you want to get your software product sooner and you are willing to spend extra money, you may ask to allocate additional specialists to the team. Then the managers will look into the possibility of fulfilling your request if it is physically possible to speed up the working process. And vice versa, if your budget is limited, but you have some extra time to spare, you may negotiate to reduce the number of developers to a minimum. This way, you can ensure that your software product is released at the most favorable time for business.

Reduced Need for Management

The dedicated team comes with their management, who oversees the work progress and reports to you. It is up to you how closely you want to monitor the teamwork. Usually, the optimal variant is letting the professionals work without your interference.

A good team understands that you, as a customer, want results, not excuses. So, when they know what you want, they will deliver the result as set in the contract.

An experienced team is self-governed, meaning it has the means and people to handle the working process. Its supervisors prevent any unexpected situations or deal with them, should they occur. Usually, the team manager provides you with regular updates on the progress and shows preliminary results after each stage of the development process. This way, you still remain in control and check that your requirements are fulfilled.

To sum up, the main benefits of contracting a dedicated team come down to three points: less money, less time, and less fuss. You describe to managers precisely what you want, and they make sure the team delivers it on time.

Advice on Hiring a Dedicated Development Team

A dedicated development team is responsible for delivering you the product built according to your demands. However, it is your responsibility to carefully choose a capable and trustworthy team. Here are a few factors that will help you to decide whether you should hire a dedicated team from a particular software development company.

1. Experience and reputation
2. Range of available specialists and provided services
3. Communication ability

First and foremost, check how long the development company has been around. Do some research, visit its website, and read about its previous cases. Check the mentions, comments, and other references about your potential contractors. Become acquainted with the company even before you contact it.

A good company maintains a bustling online activity. It adds new cases to show on its website, makes posts on its social network accounts, and publishes articles in its blog. You should get the feeling that the company is a live community with real people working in it. Generally, it is a positive sign that the development company can offer a dedicated team of motivated specialists who love their work and are worth your money.

Last but not least, contact the representatives of a development company. Ask all the questions you have regarding the available specialists, their experience, the task you are offering, etc. Note if it is easy for you to communicate with them because it would have a major impact in the future.

Though there are many nuances in hiring a dedicated development team, using a thoughtful approach and common sense will help you immensely. The three factors described above are merely the essentials, and it’s up to you whether to add other choice criteria.

Overall, choosing an active company that has been around for several years and has a good portfolio is a good start. Contact the managers to ensure they have an available dedicated team with the necessary specialists and skills. Then, make sure that you have no misunderstandings by making a detailed list of requirements for your desired software.

Reasons to Choose Intellectsoft

As you can see, selecting a dedicated development team is vital for your business. The future of your software product depends on the team skills and, incidentally, on your careful choice. Keeping that in mind, consider Intellectsoft when you decide to hire a dedicated development team. Here are some reasons in our favor:

• We have been constantly proving our skills in the IT field for over 16 years.
• World-leading brands from various industries trust our expertise and are satisfied with the results.
• We assemble scalable dedicated teams to fit the scope of your task.
• Our specialists are highly skilled and motivated to deliver the best performance.
• You will always keep in touch with the dedicated team thanks to daily, weekly, and monthly reports.
• Our company offers teams for a wide range of projects, from startup software development to a full-scale digital transformation of an enterprise.
• We have experts in most of the modern technologies for software development: languages, frameworks, etc.

Both our dedication to digital technologies and our passion for software development help us to deliver amazing products to our customers. We continue working hard even after we have built our reputation and expertise in the market of software development services. Our dedicated teams fully understand their responsibility to deliver top-quality solutions and maintain the company’s good name. Contact us and see for yourself.

The post 3 Reasons Why a Dedicated Development Team is a Good Investment appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Why IT Consulting Is Important

Even highly successful enterprises can end up losing their dominance in the market or going bankrupt because they have failed to make proper use of digital technologies. One of the most illustrative examples of such a fall is the story of Blockbuster. In addition to bad financial decisions and unsuccessful business models, the company was too late to realize the potential of online services and make them appealing to customers.

On the other hand, Netflix turned essentially the same DVD rental business into an online empire that both distributes and produces digital content. Its success was shaped by the agile business strategy combined with the work of IT experts who advised, planned, built, and enhanced the required infrastructure. Now, thanks to timely IT consults, among other things, the annual revenue of Netflix is about 31.6 billion US dollars, and its users have convenient access to the impressive video library from their mobile devices, smart TVs, etc.

The lack of IT consulting caused many promising startups to crash and burn, burying great ideas and losing investment money. Still taking the video streaming industry as an example, Quiby and LeSports are two well-known failed startups that had the biggest funding. Each of them lost about 1.7 billion dollars of their respective investors’ money.

Any startup or enterprise should take into account the recommendations from both types of experts and treat them as equally important for future success.

Just like business advisors evaluate the financial perspectives of an enterprise, IT consultants focus on the practical implementation of digital technologies. Any startup or enterprise should take into account the recommendations from both types of experts and treat them as equally important for future success. So for the sake of business, it is simply not wise to follow financial advice and disregard the opinion of IT specialists, or vice versa.

What Are IT Consulting Services?

As the name suggests, IT consulting services are when a client turns to software development experts for advice. These specialists usually have significant experience and skills to deal with the hardest questions in their field. They analyze the needs of a client’s business and suggest the most efficient way to solve the existing problems, ensure productive operation, and chart the course for future development. This is a complex process that includes several stages with specific consulting on each of them.

A good IT consulting company always researches the needs and capabilities of each particular client before suggesting a course of action. For startups, for example, a simple mobile or web app might be enough to showcase their features, provide basic functionality, and draw first customers without going overboard with the budget.

For large-scale enterprises, it depends on how “digitized” they want to become. For whatever reasons, some of them intend to remain as “traditional” as possible and stick to “analog” methods with minimum essential digital technologies. Most likely, such businesses will need the same basic services as many startups, unless the consultants persuade them to make more drastic changes in order to fit better in the modern world.

However, many modern companies are not afraid to undergo a complete digital transformation and integrate IT solutions into all stages of operation. This task involves building a complex infrastructure that allows remote monitoring and management. It also binds all activities and departments into one robust network. Correspondingly, the scope and complexity of IT consulting services required for such customers increase greatly.

Stages of IT consulting

As a rule, the process of IT consulting has a certain flow, meaning different sets of services take place in a predetermined order. Generally, experts recognize four main stages of IT consulting:

1. Requirements analysis and feasibility investigation. At this stage, IT specialists take a close look at their client’s idea and define what it is going to take to turn the idea into reality. The experts determine whether it is physically possible to realize the client’s wish and how to do it effectively given the current state of technology. They also estimate the rough budget of the future endeavor to correlate it with the investment fund and intended profits.
2. Solution specification and structure development. After it has been determined that the client’s idea can be realized within the given budget, it’s time to elaborate on its implementation. The IT consultants plan and specify the architecture and structure of the proposed solution, whether it is a single application, several apps integrated into a common platform, or a complex work environment comprising several systems. The experts also determine the optimal tech stack for a solution or for all its parts, if needed. According to the determined set of technologies and the scale of the projects, the IT consultants can also estimate the number of team members required to deliver the solution.
3. Scalability and integration research. Depending on the scope of a project, the consulting specialists should suggest implementing the scalability feature. This way, the delivered solution can be extended and upgraded as the business grows. IT specialists can also foresee and provide the requirements for the future integration of a solution into a system that unifies several modules or applications into a single work infrastructure.
4. Modeling and simulation. When the structure and scale of the solution are outlined, tech specialists can evaluate its behavior under various conditions. These IT consulting services involve careful modeling of the proposed solution taking into account the scale of the business, the stack of technologies, and other factors. Then, this model is tested by simulating possible stress situations to find the vulnerabilities. Ultimately, the IT consultants come up with measures to make the solution more secure and robust against malicious attacks, heavy loads, or other threats.

It should be noted that a customer may order any particular stage separately if they are sure that the rest of the consulting services are not needed. However, it is more beneficial when the whole process is performed without omissions.

Benefits of IT Consulting Services

Now, when we have defined IT consulting services, let’s see how they can benefit your business.

1. You will get a sensible evaluation of your business concept. If you come up with a new business idea, you may be biased and overconfident in your insights. That’s why it is always better to get an outside perspective from a group of experts. This can prevent a financial disaster at the earliest stage before it leads to heavy losses.
2. You will get comprehensive technical advice on the optimal ways to realize your business concept. Simply put, the IT consultants will tell you exactly what types of software and tech you need to get an effective solution. Whether you need a mobile app, a web app, an enterprise management system, or any other software product, the experts will tell you what technologies are optimal for building it and how many developers should be involved.
3. You will get estimated budget calculations. Based on the tech stack and the size of the development team, IT consultants will draft an approximate budget. Depending on your needs, it may include development, deployment, and post-release support.
4. You won’t have to worry about the quality and security of your software solution. IT consultants will recommend putting it to extensive tests to detect weaknesses and find ways to fix them. Usually, the consulting specialists work alongside the skilled developers who will perform this task at your request. Sometimes, IT consultants themselves have the required skills and experience to provide both consulting and development services. If so, they can suggest testing, perform tests, and fix the found flaws in the software. This way, your digital infrastructure will be fool-proof, robust under load or during accidents, and protected against unauthorized access. As a result, your enterprise will have a safe and smooth flow of operations and tightly secured documentation and other sensitive data.
5. You won’t fall behind your competitors due to outdated technologies. The consultants will suggest the ways and the tech to modernize your existing environment with minimum downtime and a reasonable budget.
6. You will increase the productivity of your business. Switching to modern technologies under IT consultants’ guidance will boost the performance of your existing business and processes. New tech requires investments but gives much more in return: higher efficiency, lower costs, less maintenance, and as a result – more potential revenue.

Why Choose Intellectsoft for IT Consulting

Considering the risks and the impact of decisions, IT consulting should be performed by highly experienced specialists who take full responsibility for their advice. Over the last 15+ years, Intellectsoft has gathered a skilled team of professionals to provide a wide range of consulting services, including:

1. Enterprise architecture consulting;
2. Digital strategy consulting;
3. Software requirements consulting;
4. Data security consulting;
5. Emergency recovery consulting, etc.

So, if you need comprehensive research, reasonable opinions, and expert advice, contact us. Our specialists will help you to get a head start with the new business, perform a digital transformation of your existing company, or develop a custom IT solution from scratch for any given task.

The post All You Need to Know about IT Consulting Services in 2023 appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

In this article, we are going to show how to choose a software development company that matches your needs. Here, you will find all the main steps that will help you start a fruitful collaboration and get the required software. Let’s get started.

Reasons You Should Partner With an Outsourcing Software Development Company 

Before we are going to explore the main steps to choosing the software development partner that matches your requirements, let’s find out how you can find candidates. As you probably know, hiring an in-house team is very costly and time-consuming. Nowadays, more and more companies are opting for outsourcing companies to entrust them with custom software development. The benefits of partnering with outsourcing companies are immense.

First of all, it’s a proven way to reduce costs. In fact, it’s worth noting that 70% of companies decide to outsource with the main goal of minimizing their expenses and, at the same time, receiving top-notch services from a vendor.

There are plenty of destinations to outsource, however, the most popular countries that deliver software development services of the highest quality are Eastern European countries like Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. They offer the most reasonable prices for projects of different complexity.

Another advantage of outsourcing is the unique access to a wide talent pool of specialists. Unlike choosing from a limited number of local developers, you can access specialists with different expertise from all over the world. You can choose a team that matches your budget and tech requirements to start working on your project.

Moreover, if you outsource your software development, most likely all you have to do is to track the team’s progress. Usually, outsourcing vendors are responsible for the full development lifecycle and your only job is to make sure everything goes smoothly and according to your plan. Therefore, outsourcing is the best solution for many businesses to get all things done effectively.

Enquire about the most suitable and cost-effective outsourcing model for your project here.

11 Steps to Understanding You Start the Collaboration With the Right Partner

What are tips for choosing a software development company? Now, let’s dive into the effective strategies that will help you select a trusted and reliable partner and ensure your collaboration will be successful.

1. Define your business needs

Before you start looking for a partner, it’s crucial to clearly define your business goals and vision for the future. This is the first step to building a successful collaboration. Once you do this, you will understand what things matter for your company and what you need to pay attention to while contacting potential software vendors.

If you require some extra help in defining your business goals and vision feel free to reach out to Intellectsoft’s managers and they will assist with all your questions as well as how to find a great software development company.  

2. Establish selection criteria

Now, having your business objectives in mind and having an understanding of what software or application you need, you can establish software vendor selection criteria that critical for you while searching. It’s important to know what exactly you are looking for. Think of the details that will be decisive for your final choice like budget, location, number of employees, market expertise, industry focus, track record with similar companies, etc.

3. Create a list of matching partners

With the partner criteria established, you can do some research online and create a long list of companies that meet your basic to advanced requirements. The longer list you will make, the more options you will have to consider when you trim down to the essential candidates to pick the best one.

4. Make sure they specialize in what you need

Be extra careful when reviewing the websites and services of the potential vendors from your list. Sometimes while choosing the right software development company it can be a perfect match but a company doesn’t have the relevant experience in your specific industry or never worked with the technologies you want to implement. Usually, all the core info is posted on a website so make sure they have all the expertise needed.

5. Shortlist the companies

Once you are through all the previous steps, it’s high time to narrow down your potential partners and shortlist companies you have. Pick around 5 outsourcing software development companies and contact them to discuss your project. Afterward, it will be possible to compare their offer and decide what’s the best option.

6. Analyze portfolio and case studies

In order to see the tech scope, and project complexity a company has worked with it’s paramount to take a close look at its portfolio. Therefore, you will be able to evaluate what projects the company completed, how they dealt with the challenges presented, as well as what solutions they delivered.

View all client success stories at Intellectsoft here and see how our specialists solved business challenges through effective software implementation.  

7. Read reviews and testimonials

Everything you see on a website like a portfolio is great but you should also pay extra attention to the honest feedback directly from their clients. Usually, they share their transparent opinion regarding the overall partnership and end results. You don’t have to limit yourself to one resource as there are a lot of platforms where you can find reviews about a certain outsourcing company.

We encourage you to get familiar with reviews that our clients left on Clutch. 

8. Check their awards

Another pretty important aspect you should pay attention to is  awards. A qualified and trusted company usually has not just a track record of clients and projects but also rewards. Some of the main platforms that assess software development providers are Inc.500, The Manifest, Good Firms, Clutch, IT firms, and others.

9. Request their security practices

While collaborating with an outsourcing company, you will share a lot of sensitive information. And your main priority is to see what safety and security measures a potential partner puts in place to protect your ideas and product.

In addition, don’t forget to sign a non-disclosure agreement even before you start all the processes. It will enable you to ensure all the information you share will be safe and protected.

10. Assess their cultural fit

The cultural fit of a team also matters. If you decide to outsource your project it means you will have to collaborate with people from a different culture which means dealing with a different mentality, potential language barrier, cultural differences, etc. Take into consideration the way a company you consider communicates and research their values. If this information is not available on the website, you can think of the set of questions you want to ask and conduct a small interview before hiring them.

11. Make a final choice

You are one step away from starting your partnership with the right company. Take into account all the details on how to choose the right software development company and don’t rush with the choice. It’s better to take your time and thoroughly analyze all the data and make a well-informed decision that will define the future of your business.

Why Intellectsoft? 

If you want to outsource your next project and build quality software that will help your business grow then Intellectsoft can be a matching partner you should certainly consider.

Our team has operated in the software development market for over 15 years already and has an impeccable reputation among our clients. Intellectsoft has delivered dozens of successful projects to international businesses and renowned Fortune 500 companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Eurostar, E&Y, Guinness, Harley Davidson, AF Gruppen, and so many more.

We have experience in building custom software development projects of different complexity levels. Intellectsoft offers a wide range of professional services in the field of software development, consulting, and outstaffing. The level of expertise of our team is outstanding and you can entrust us with your ideas so we can help your company grow exponentially and fully benefit from digitalization.

To learn more about the projects we delivered — check out the list of client success stories. Find out what business challenges Intellectsoft solved through high-end software development.

Don’t hesitate to contact us and our managers will reach out to discuss your project in detail and offer you an effective implementation plan as well as budget estimates.

Conclusion

Choosing the best software development company ain’t easy at all. However, in order to build long-lasting relationships and develop a software project that will enable your business to grow, it is crucial to pay extra attention to searching for one. We have presented the most effective tips for choosing a software development company to select the most suitable outsourcing vendors as well as to choose the one you will start a collaboration with. Now, you are one step closer to starting your successful and promising digitization journey.

The post 11 Steps to Collaborate with the Right Software Development Partner  appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.