Important Questions You Should Ask a Software Development Company

It is always a challenge to find and hire a software development partner since the company will be responsible for the finished product. Based on these experiences, we’ve detailed the top questions to ask a software development company to create a perfect partnership.

Why Do You Need to Ask Questions Before Cooperating with Software Companieіs

Up to 70% of software development projects fail across the globe. Thus, it’s crucial to find a reliable software development partner. First answer a few simple questions to narrow a list of potential candidates, as searches can take place around the world.

• Are you planning business trips (so the country has to have a good infrastructure of airports, railways, etc)
• Is communication delay acceptable due to time difference or do you prefer real-time meetings?
• How high is the priority of your project and do you accept any delays? (sometimes even natural disasters like hurricanes may pause business processes)

Before even making questions to a software development company and discussing all the details, there are a few factors to consider, that will help you to make a decision quickly.

Legal aspects

The legislative field is one of the drivers of the tech industry. It ensures all legal aspects of doing business. Before choosing a software development partner, make sure its local government supports the market and there will be no legal obstacles to your partnership. Check how the country or specific company ensures cybersecurity, data protection, confidentiality, and Legal standards (e.g. GDPR, ISO, PSI, etc.)

Talent Pool

Here go the technical questions to ask a software development company. By 2024 the number of software engineers is expected to reach 28,7 million. Some countries are becoming favorite outsourcing destinations by growing talent pools in software services delivery. Discover what are these countries, and access to education there ( up to 75% of 47,744 software engineers worldwide have at least a bachelor’s degree) and experts in which technologies are most there.

Learn how to launch a software startup in the US

What Questions Should You Ask Software Development Companies Before Starting a Partnership?

Although the partnership with a software company brings benefits to the business, this process is full of challenges. Here are some tips on what questions to ask about cooperation with a software company. Don’t hesitate to ask any of them during the decision-making process

General questions

Before signing any agreements you have a chance to ask as many partnership questions to a software development company questions as you want during the engagement process. General questions may include their principles on delivery, services they provide, how the cooperation will look like, documents they need from you, etc.

Reviews & company’s experience

A successful company is always recognized by feedback from its previous partners. Thus, questions to a software development company include reviews and portfolios. Clients usually leave Independently verified evaluations about working with the company whether they liked it or not to work with a company. There are few trustworthy recourses that can help you with reviews. We recommend you check Clutch and Pangea.

Experience with similar projects

It is worth choosing a company that has experience working with clients in the same industry as yours. So another question to ask a software development company is about their projects portfolio. When you reach out to a software company with your project and tell them your requirements, it is important to inquire about their past experience with projects that have similar requirements to yours. A software provider may claim to have extensive experience and convince you about their track record but words are not enough. It is crucial to ask the company to provide case studies and portfolios of previous projects so you can have a better idea of the work they have done in the past.

Timelines estimation

Among other questions to ask about cooperation with software developers is the way they calculate software development time. It has to be completely transparent and discussed from the start. Also, ask how the company estimates the cost in relation to the timeline.

Cooperation Model

A key to your successful partnership with an offshore software development team is the choice of the right cooperation model.

Rent-a-Team means that the customer pays for time and materials spent on the product development and has an opportunity to change or add requirements during the implementation phase.

Project Team – If all the requirements and acceptance criteria are composed and can be described to the team, that’s the right model to choose. Payment is made for a certain fixed price which is defined by the team before the start of the project.

Dedicated Team suit those who have long-term projects and want to hire a team of engineers who will work on the whole project from start to finish. The client is contracted to pay a monthly salary for the workload of the whole dedicated software development team.

Project management style

All custom software development companies have their own project management styles. Thus it’s in a list of important questions to ask software developers. Whether it’s agile or waterfall, it’s important this matches your company’s working style.

The software company’s answer to this question will tell you the SDLC model they follow to go through the stages of software development. Most developers follow a mix of agile and waterfall methodologies. Agile is an iterative process that breaks down the development process into smaller ‘sprints’ and allows changes and feedback to be incorporated at every iteration. On the other hand, Waterfall is a traditional approach that structures the development process into defined stages that need to be completed in a linear sequential order. This will also help you determine the level of involvement the developers would require from you. For instance, agile practices require more involvement and feedback from the clients at every iteration whereas the waterfall model typically only requires clients’ involvement at the initial stages of software development.

Intellectual rights

It’s a common practice for custom software development providers to maintain a license to use the software they produce. Ask questions about the software development company’s intellectual property (IP): who owns it and whether ownership is exclusive.

Consider Inoxoft Your Trusted Partner

Inoxoft conducts full-cycle product development and offers a range of services software development services for startup projects and established companies. We focus on five industries:

• Healthcare
• Education
• Fintech
• Logistics
• Real Estate

By the time the initial conversation is done, both the client and the vendor will gain a better understanding of each other’s expectations and potential. Whether it ends in a realization that the client and the vendor aren’t a perfect combination or as a springboard for successful future cooperation, it’s better to discover it sooner than later. If you have an excellent idea you want to implement, don’t hesitate to contact us to get insights from our team!