A Publication of Miles Technologies { } How to Choose. Custom Software Vendor

Transcription

1 A Publication of Miles Technologies { } How to Choose the Right Custom Software Vendor

2 2 WHY SOFTWARE IS SO CRUCIAL Powerg your busess with software that is tailored to your busess processes and your clients can dramatically accelerate your core processes, improve decision makg, and reduce costs. Great custom software can, fact, become one of the reasons that your customers love dog busess with you. The right software can literally be a game changer and position your busess for rapid growth and success. But great custom software doesn t grow on trees. You will need the help of a software development firm, and choosg a good one is crucial to the success of your project. Below you will fd some suggestions that will save you money and reduce your project risk. But first, there is one important question to consider. IS CUSTOM SOFTWARE RIGHT FOR MY BUSINESS? If you ve already decided that you need custom software, skip this section. In case you re not sure, here are a few signs that your busess would benefit from custom software: Multiple Software Systems: Customer Service: Generic Software: Disorganized Data: Payg for it: Executg busess processes (e.g. estimatg, order entry, order fulfillment, voicg, payment processg, ventory management, purchasg, project management, etc.) requires the use of more than one software application. Integrated systems offer big advantages; custom tegrated systems offer huge advantages. Customers have to call you for route customer service quiries such as order status, transaction history and open balances. Customers love well-designed customer portals where they can help themselves. You have to adapt your busess processes to fit the available software. Usg generic software results generic busess processes, and that leads to generic results (at best). You have to look more than one place for the formation you need to run your busess. Or, it is not available at all. You re payg ongog fees for software that doesn t really fit your busess and over which you have no control. That, a nutshell, stks!

3 3 Don t take your own word for it. Talk to a variety of people with your organization and ask them what obstacles they are facg. Your admistrative employees may have more to ga than anyone by usg better software, so don t forget them! Consider every core process your busess, whether or not it is currently supported by any kd of software. Then write down your dream. What efficiencies would you wish away if you could? What functionality would amaze and delight your customers? Which of your busess processes and procedures are most disliked by your employees? Create a simple document outlg the current obstacles to your success as well as your goals. If you can fd off-the-shelf software that, without customization, will get you to your dream then you should defitely consider usg it. Keep md, however, that this is not very common. In many cases, off-the-shelf software is missg required functionality, doesn t work the way your busess works, or the total cost of ownership over time is much too high, especially if your busess is growg. When you are faced with spendg money to customize someone else s solution, usg a patchwork of multiple off-the-shelf-solutions, or changg your busess to fit a piece of software, then it s time to consider a custom software solution.

4 4 HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT CUSTOM SOFTWARE VENDOR Once you come to the conclusion that your busess would benefit from software designed specifically to address your needs, you still need to decide: who s gog to design, build, and support it? It s not a simple decision. Your software vendor must first be qualified as a stable and reliable partner for years to come. Then there are technology, methodology, tellectual property, and licensg considerations that may be outside of your day-to-day busess experience but which are nonetheless important. By takg the time to understand your company s needs, reviewg the battle tested suggestions below, and usg all that knowledge your assessment of a few custom software vendors, you ll be well-equipped to make the best decision for your busess. How to Fd Custom Software Vendors Before you can choose a custom software development firm, you first have to fd some! The two most effective ways to fd custom software vendors are: Get a referral. It s the same reason you ask around when you need a new roof on your house. Gettg a personal recommendation makes most of us feel comfortable, like we re not headg to a process bldly. Ask friends, colleagues, vendors, partners, people your networkg group, people you know on LkedIn, or anyone else you know and trust who may have had contact with a software development vendor. The next best thg to a personal recommendation is Google. Search for custom software development company or custom busess software and other variations and phrases. Have a close look at each vendor s website. You may also want to try searchg specifically for reviews on software development companies. Readg onle reviews may not give you quite the confidence that comes with a personal recommendation, but it can provide sight to a company before you decide to reach out to them.

5 5 The Software Vendor Selection Process You ve got a list of vendors to reach out to, hopefully between 2 and 5 of them enough to give you choices but not so many that just qualifyg them would be a marathon. Now it s time to figure out which vendor is the best fit for your busess. Stability One of the most important traits to look for a vendor is stability. You will need a company with proven stayg power to support your custom software system for years to come. If the vendor goes out of busess two years from now, it will be a difficult and expensive process to enlist a new vendor to support (and possibly take over/host) your system. So, when researchg custom software companies, verify that each vendor you consider has been busess for at least a few years and is fancially stable. Look for vendors who are established, profitable, debt free and willg to prove it. How does the process work? Each vendor should take the time to give you a thorough explanation of all the steps volved their process. For each stage of the process, this should clude details about who is volved, what the deliverables are and what will be needed from you and your busess. Most vendors will naturally discuss why they use the process they do but if that doesn t come up, be sure to ask. You can learn a lot from askg why questions! Havg a clear process (or methodology ) that the vendor has already used to produce many successful systems is more important than the details of the process itself.

6 6 Demos get an side look. From each vendor, request a demo of 2-3 systems that are similar size and complexity to the one you are considerg. Make sure each vendor has designed and built them their entirety and that you see both the admistration and public portals (the back end and front end portions) addition to the ma areas most utilized by typical users. These demos will give you a feel for the vendor s style and allow you to see how user-friendly their systems are. You may not understand every function of these systems but it should be fairly easy to grasp the overall concepts and follow along without gettg lost. If you DO fd yourself gettg lost, you may want to consider whether it s because the system is difficult to use or whether the person providg the demo is not communicatg clearly. Don t be afraid to ask questions or ask to see certa sections a second time. Review sample documents. Ask for and review sample design documents for systems of similar size and complexity. At mimum, be sure to get a Requirements/Functional Specification and a Solution Architecture (or Detailed Software Design ) document. The Requirements Specification should identify and expla all of the major functionality the system needs to accomplish. As you evaluate this document, image you are hirg an architect to build a house. If the architect s details are only surface level 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,300 square feet, porch, kitchen, livg room you can t be sure if his plan is aligned with your vision. However, when the architect goes deeper and specifies items like the dimensions and layout of each room, closet space for the bedrooms, and how the rooms will flow from one to the next, you ll start to see your dream home come to life.

7 7 The Solution Architecture (or Detailed Software Design) document should be even more detailed, with precise descriptions of how the system will accomplish meetg the necessities laid out the Requirements document. This document should act as the blueprt for buildg a custom software system. Look for items such as: Wireframe sketches or graphical mockups of each screen. Database design explicit details on how, when and where data will be generated by, imported to or exported from the new system. Integrations step by step field mappg of tegrations with other software systems (such as fancial software like QuickBooks). Talk technologies. Some vendors specialize one or a few specific software technology platforms. Others have the ability to use practically any language or platform, dependg on the customer s needs and requests. Discuss each vendor s approach and ensure they will be usg mastream busess application technologies for your system, ones that have substantial dustry support. Examples clude ASP.NET, Wdows Server and Microsoft SQL Server, but there are others. Important thgs to look for are that the platform is: Established (not brand new and untested). Well-supported by a reputable organization. Used by a plethora of developers who are experts that technology. Avoid creatg a patchwork of open source solutions. There are a few widely used and well supported open source solutions; the Lux operatg system is a good example. Much more common, however, are the many open source plug-s and modules. Without a commercial organization standg behd them, these open source solutions come with several risks. New releases of each open source component will be released on the author s schedule (not yours, unfortunately). These releases may mean required updates as they typically clude fixes for security issues. Unless you are feelg very lucky, each release of each component will require testg to ensure that all components still work together correctly (tegration testg). Matenance releases may come unexpectedly, makg it difficult to plan your own system updates. One of the appeals of an open source solution is that you have the source code and can customize it. Keep md, though, that your customizations to an open source component will not be cluded updates and new releases of that software. Your customizations will need to be re-implemented every new updates and release. This often unanticipated and significant effort and expense sometimes leads to companies optg not to perform the updates. Gog without new updates can lead to security vulnerabilities that may compromise your critical data, so it can easily become a cycle that doesn t bode well for your busess.

8 8 Integration How will the new custom software system tegrate with any other systems you need to contue usg? The vendors you speak with should be fully aware of all systems you are currently usg. All design plans should clude specific details about how the new system will tegrate with those systems or how the new system will eradicate the need for some of your current software. Integrations can be one of the most technically challengg components of a new software system. Check that your vendor has significant experience and past successes tegratg similar types of systems. References It s important to be specific when speakg with references. Ask questions like: Get references from each vendor and actually call them. Make sure you speak with senior executives or decision makers at each company. How long have you been a client of ABC Company? How did you come to know ABC Company? What policies or processes of ABC Company were pleasant and easy? What policies or processes of ABC Company were frustratg? How did the solution ABC Company created for you specifically address your company s needs? How responsive/ knowledgeable is the support or customer service team? Did you enjoy workg with ABC Company? If so, why?

9 9 If you prefer to ask for references an dustry similar to yours, that s perfectly acceptable, but try not to raise the red flag just because the vendor cannot provide an exact match. It s often more important that the vendor designed and created a solution that matched the customer s needs and is helpg them become a better company. That means the vendor understands busess processes, is able to accurately assess customer needs and build custom software to address those needs. That said, you should look for vendors who have built successful systems on the same scale as the solution that you require. If you need a $100,000 system, look for vendors whose portfolios clude a few systems of that size or larger. Meet face to face. If you can, before rulg any vendor or out (especially on the basis of price), go visit the company. Some red flags are easier to spot a face to face meetg (with no phone to hide behd). Plus, when you re gettg ready to make an vestment of this size and importance, it just makes sense to ensure you are comfortable with the vendor and the specific teams you will be workg with person. Tour their facility, if they have one. Meet the team who will be workg on your project. Are they all permanent, full-time employees of the vendor? Will any work be outsourced?

10 10 Scale & team structure. The first step is to make sure that there is a team structure with the vendor company. You do not want your busess to be completely dependent upon just one dividual for ongog support and further development of your custom software solution. Look for a vendor who is large enough to be organized to several teams of at least 3 to 5 developers each. This dramatically lowers the risk of fdg yourself without access to support resources who are familiar with your system. One very important aspect of team structure has to do with the Quality Assurance process. Verify that the QA (Quality Assurance) team is not the same group of people who will be buildg the system. The team dog the actual development should be checkg their work on the dividual components as they are built, but it s important that a separate group of people perform the formal QA process. This is crucial not only for a fresh perspective from a group that has not spent weeks or months enveloped the code, but also because the QA team needs to work with you to build use cases for the system. These use cases will serve as the basis for testg scenarios once the system is ready. In short, the QA team is testg the software as a total system and not just as dividual pieces. They ensure that the system is easy to use, that all the pieces fit together and that it successfully does everythg it was supposed to do accordg to the itial documentation. Pricg Insist upon fixed price project stages based upon agreed functionality. That way, there won t be any surprises the voices you receive durg and after the project. Time and material billg is wonderful, but only for the vendor. So that you truly understand the total cost you are undertakg, make sure the vendor is clear upfront about any additional fees for items like user trag, documentation, ongog support and matenance. For costs that will be ongog after the software is launched (primarily support and matenance), ask for details on thgs like annual price creases, mimum contract length and termation fees.

11 11 Plan for the future. One of the largest benefits of usg custom software is that it gives you almost complete control over when updates happen and what they clude. You will undoubtedly want to add to and update your custom system as your busess grows and evolves. When it comes to supportg your system, the ideal scenario is to work with a vendor who uses a proactive problem prevention approach. Yes, it s important that your software support vendor react quickly to break/fix issues. However, the mark of a fantastic software support company is anticipatg and planng for issues that may arise so that they never occur the first place. For example, if your custom system tegrates with other software packages, such as QuickBooks or other accountg software, your vendor should be the know about upcomg QuickBooks releases and how they will affect your system. That way, any needed updates can be planned for and handled advance (and even batched with other updates you ve requested). This is a much more efficient support method, and can save time, money and headaches! When reviewg a proposed software support plan, there are three ma thgs to look for: 1. A detailed and customized plan that clearly fits your system and your needs. 2. A very broad menu of support items that could be provided as part of the support plan if you needed or wanted to add them. 3. Scheduled periodic reviews of the plan to ensure you are only payg for the support items you need and use. (As systems evolve they may need less updatg, so the cost of supportg your software can actually decrease over time!).

12 12 Transparency The vendor you choose should have a method for providg you with regular updates on their progress. Will you be provided with a manual weekly report from a Project Manager? Will you be able to log to your account and see the vendor s progress and notes? Knowg how each vendor presents this formation will help you make sure you have reasonable and clear expectations on both sides from the very begng of the project. Fally (and maybe most importantly) Do you like the vendor? On a personal level, are you lookg forward to workg with them? Your choice of software vendor will evitably be based part on your gut feelgs about each vendor. If there is one company that has provided everythg you asked for a timely manner, answered all your questions, been available and responsive to you, AND that you really look forward to workg with over the next several years you may have just found your new custom software vendor! CONCLUSION Not Easy But Worth It! The busess software you use to run your busess can have such a large impact on your success that it s more than worth your time and effort to fd the company that s right for your needs. The right company will feel more like a partner than a vendor and if you choose wisely your busess will be excellent hands and will ga a team of trusted consultants who can help your busess for years to come. RESOURCES

13 13 ABOUT US Lookg for custom software? Get a free consultation and fd out how Miles Technologies stands above all the other custom software vendors on your list. Contact Us Now A Publication of Miles Technologies