S3Corp. Tech Blog

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According to the Computer Economics study software Outsourcing service statistics 2014/2015, 62 percent of large organizations are outsourcing at least a portion of their application development work.

As IT budgets decline and time-to-market needs increase, the trend of farming out development work is both increasing and broadening to include new services.

In response, service providers have expanded their offerings to include product, technical and process services. Specifically, this runs the gamut from product management, information architecture and quality automation, analytics, and more. There is no one-size-fits all approach; it’s about finding the right partner that will be the perfect fit for your team.

Here are five key questions you must ask in order to select the correct partner for your organization’s specific outsourcing needs, so you can achieve success and avoid some of the costliest pitfalls.

1. How do you structure the partnership roles to be efficient and successful?

When delivering business-critical systems and applications, to say that time is of the essence would be a gross understatement. It’s critical to discuss preferred software development processes and assign roles strategically, both to ensure that your needs are met throughout the cycle and also to avoid a “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario that can cause delays.

• Effectively working with a partner includes:
• Involving them in the planning process
• Working closely and transparently with them throughout the duration of a project
• Receiving updates on incremental value and demos
• Ensuring visibility into the status of your projects
• Reacting to changes along the way

2. How skilled and researched is your development team with UX design?

If you’ve chosen to outsource product delivery, then an added benefit is the experience of a dedicated team of developers. Have they done extensive UX research? Will they provide suggestions for improvement? You don’t want to end up with a product that isn’t going to be easily used by your customers.

3. What are the features, services and skills that set your company apart from your competitors or independent consultants?

Does this team offer real-time analytics? How do they prevent and manage cyber attacks? Whether you are looking for a specialized set of skills or a partner with expansive offerings, technical capabilities such as typical availability, performance characteristics and security requirements are critical to match to your needs before engaging with a partner.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/