It’s highly likely you already have an impression of what it means to outsource software development, typically this is done on a ‘Project’ basis and depending on the agency you used this was either a good or bad experience.
The aim of this post is to build upon your understanding ‘outsourcing’ and help you understand if you could benefit from support from a software development partner, and what support is best for you!
With outsourcing your software development you typically find there are 3 ways you can do this.
As the name suggests this is based on a project for example development of quoting tool on your website, typically this project will include an involved ‘scoping’ element to ensure that everyone involved in the project is clear on what the finished product is and how it works, and this agreed early and everyone works to the agreed upon goal.
There a variation on how a business will present this partnership, these are often referred to as ‘tactical’ pieces of work.
This is an on-going relationship to maintain an agreed upon software solution, typically this will be to ensure that the solution is working correctly and any interruptions of services are fixed within a pre-agreed timeline.
Dependent on your software partner of choice development of the software solution can be included as this support this will likely be on a retained basis with your partner of choice working to a set number of hours on a monthly basis.
With this partnership, you have a dedicated headcount that works for you and your business on site, typically working as an agile sprint team, this can be to support on a specific project or to support your business during a rapid growth period or in any way that your business requires.
The best fit solution will very much depend on your business's needs, and it may be the case that sitting a with a development agency that is capable of providing support in all of these ways is the best next step. A good agency will take the time to understand what you are trying to achieve and provide you with a couple of options and give you and the business the tools to understand which is the best fit.