Your business requires digital transformation or some innovations to the already-existing product. You do your research and pick a few possible outsourcing companies to help you with your project. How can trust that a chosen software outsourcing vendor will do a high-quality job? It’s possible to verify the tech skills of a software development company before outsourcing even if you’re not a technical person. 

Dun & Bradstreet’s Barometer of Global Outsourcing reports that “20 to 25% of all outsourcing relationships fail within two years.” There are a lot of reasons for this but from my years of experience as a CTO of a software development company, non-technical customers often struggle to find a right technological fit for their project and then end up disappointed when the final product doesn’t meet their expectations. Hence why I’m here to help. 

Let’s say you’ve done your homework and explored option online or through recommendations. You’ve picked a few candidates but you’re not sure how to pick the one. I’d recommend splitting the process into two phases:

  1. Thorough research before meeting the software company’s representatives
  2. A prepared list of question to ask during the meeting

Verifying the tech skills of software outsourcing companies for non-tech business owners illustration 1

 Research before the meeting

  1. Portfolio

Check out the past projects on the software development company website and look for their proof of experience – what technologies they specialize in and what industries they have worked with. Maybe they already have had customers from your country too. Keep an open mind though. Sometimes building a CRM for the fashion industry from France means that they will be able to build a CRM for a ticket management system from the US. 

  1. Clutch.co and customer references

If you don’t know Clutch.co website, you need to go there straight away. It’s the biggest database for B2B projects. Any proficient company has an extensive profile with loads of verified customer reviews and project descriptions. All data is delivered from the customers and verified by the Clutch staff, so you can totally believe in their accuracy.

Similarly, companies often show off clients’ testimonials on their websites. If you’re really interested in a given project, why not contact that company and ask them about their experience. After all, they’ve already worked with that software company and can offer you some insider’s insight.

  1. IT community and publications

You might not understand the technical black magic but others do. The public presentation of the software company can give you a lot of information. If they organize meetups, webinars or other activities for the IT community and people actually come and discuss with their developers – then they probably know what they talk about.

If their company blog has a lot of regular entries written by developers, testers, managers, etc., then they are not afraid to share knowledge. Which is always a good sign in the IT industry.

The pinnacle is probably things like open-source tools delivered and distributed for free, publications like reports, e-books or white papers being commented by the IT professionals. If they trust their skills, why wouldn’t you?

  1. Information on YOUR project

“Stalking” the software development company is fun but you also need to turn your attention to your own project. Projects tend to fail because businesses don’t have a clear vision of what success means for them. And there is a lot to consider: business objectives, potential problems, customers’ needs, modern trends, future plans, initial ideas. You need to know what you want, the company will know how technology will help them to get you there.

 Questions during the meeting

 Verifying the tech skills of software outsourcing companies for non-tech business owners illustration 2

  1. Business logic

At the very beginning, ask about your information bundle and what does the company think about your ideas and goals. Now it’s time to think what, and if at all, is being said.

If they didn’t even bother to look at it, you don’t bother with them.

If they read it carefully, adjusted their answer to the specific of your software project, have already pre-planned the production, or maybe added some suggestions and ideas – that’s great for your future cooperation. It’s even better if they ask you questions about more details to understand your project at the fullest. That’s professionalism right there.

  1. Communication

Do the company seems genuinely interested in your project and they can’t wait to start work? Do they share your values? Do they have a similar sense of humour? How do they communicate on the regular basis? What communication tools do they use? Are they willing to adjust their communication plan to your needs? Those are only a few things you need to solve.

The best thing is to be straightforward and ask about the schedules of meetings, ways of reporting, and most importantly – what happens in case of problems. I’ve never seen a software development project without even the tiniest of issues. Problems will occur. The important thing is how the software company deals with them and inform you about any troubles.

  1. Security

Security procedures are super important. Especially if you work with fragile customer data. A proficient software development company should have security processes in line. If they don’t – thank you, next.

  1. Developers and other specialists

If you go to the company’s office, you’ll be able to feel the general atmosphere of the place and see how the employees are treated. You can also invite the company to come over to your office and see who’s dedicated enough to do that.

Of course with Covid-19 restrictions is not so easy to travel, but even if the first meeting is conducted online, you still have a lot of room to check out the team.

Insist on meeting your development team and ask what happens if certain people are unavailable. It’s worth inquiring about their work experience, past projects and completed training, how long they work in that company, who is going to be a senior developer on the project. If you work in different time zones, it’s advisable to check how the software company adjusts to that.

  1.  Maintenance and quality

The software project is more than just code and developers. It’s about delivering a high-quality solution. This can be only achieved if the software company has a dedicated Quality Assurance team and include QA experts from the very start of the project to ensure your software if bug-free and usable.

The UX and UI aspect of software development is a task for the product design team. Overseeing and reporting should be conducted by a project manager.

What’s more, the project is not finished when the work is done. After the app goes live you need to take user feedback into account. Then it’s the adjustment to browsers and devices. Hosting and updates. Generally speaking – app maintenance is a lot of work that has to be counted in and done by someone. If you’re offered proper support procedures, you’ll probably sleep better knowing that your software is being taken care of by the professionals. 

Bottom line: Sure, all the programming languages, frameworks and tools might seem scary, if you’re used to a different kind of business. However, if you take my advice, you are able to find a tech partner for years. Don’t be afraid of opinionated software development companies – their experience might yet save your software project. Good luck!

About the author: Marek Gajda - a CTO at The Software House, building bridges between technology and business. Former full-stack developer and experienced Scrum Master with over 30 finished projects in PHP, Java, Ruby and .NET. Now, coding just for fun.