Gary Neilson
"Overseas programmers could be a big problem if not properly managed..."

Choosing Software Development provider is a challenged task for almost all businesses. Pay special attention to your selection criteria and provider selection methods.

Choosing Software Development Provider

In the context of high-tech era, information technology is an integral part of any business, independently of its core activity. Everyone, responsible for business decision making, meets the need of IT integration sooner or later. When it comes to software development, most business owners and executive managers think of Software Development.

Software Development proved to be very profitable. However, outsourcing an IT project to offshore company is a challenge because it is connected with much more risks than domestic development. Choosing reliable offshore software development provider is a half-way to successful implementation of Custom Software Project.

The first step of choosing Software Development provider shall determine an outsourcing destination. Nowadays many countries around the world offer Software Development. There are not only India and China which are worth attention. The industry is well-developed in many other countries offering the high-quality service for lower price. For the convenience many Customers choose nearshore destinations for outsourcing their Software Projects. With small time-zone difference and geographical distance, communication with an offshore programming team is much easier. There are attractive offshoring destinations in Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Once the destination is defined, the proper provider should be chosen. Preference of companies focusing on programming languages and technologies, which are going to be used in your Custom Software Project, hangs together. Company's portfolio will show whether its Software Team has an experience of developing similar Software Product or not.

Well-organized software development process and project management is very important in Software Projects. Certifications in this field are the advantage. There is no doubt that Teams holding ISO, CMMI, PMP or other international certificates, are more reliable than the others.

Quality assurance is the key success factor as well. According to most globally recognized software development methodologies, Software Testing must take 30% of total efforts in Custom Software Project. It is a part of quality assurance activity, and must be conducted during the project, beginning from very early phases of development. Thus, it is important to ask a candidate about their quality assurance process (which must include documentation review as well as test procedures and reporting).

Most Software Development providers offer their own Software Testing teams but Customers sometimes prefer to outsource quality assurance and testing to third-party providers in order to assure impartial estimation.

When Software Development provider is chosen, contracting could be done with personal visit, however, it is not a necessity. The outsourcers, whose final decision is the result of reasonable selection process and based on company's experience, skills, well-organized process, and references, have 50% of success with their Software Projects.

Published on 7/21/2007