In the dynamic landscape of banking, finance, and e-commerce, staying ahead of the curve is paramount. At the heart of this is the ability to deploy cutting-edge solutions, tailored to meet the needs of your organization. However, selecting the right provider of bespoke software development means a serious responsibility, particularly for decision-makers under pressure to deliver. This article delves into the key criteria to consider, ensuring you make an informed choice for your organization's needs.
Unlike turn-key solutions, bespoke software development means unique, flexible, and scalable solutions. It makes it possible to include features and functions that will match with demands of your customers. It’s also possible to integrate the solution seamlessly with your existing systems.
Moreover, it is easier to address specific legal requirements, which play a crucial role especially in the fintech and payments industry. As this type of software has many potential benefits, not every company will be able to deliver them.
How to choose the vendor for bespoke software development
The following criteria are, in my opinion, a good starting point for your mission to find a reliable company that will deliver desired results.
1. Experience
If you work with a senior-level team, your company will only benefit from it. As the employees have the experience, they will be able to see the bigger picture during your bespoke software development. They probably faced a variety of obstacles and can prepare an effective strategy to overcome them.
Moreover, their skills and competencies enable them to develop solutions with innovative or more technically-demanding features. So, don’t hesitate to ask about your potential vendor’s experience if you can’t find it on their website.
2. Security
Outsourcing software development may pose a security risk as the development team will have access to sensitive information. Therefore, it’s important to ask the potential vendor how they will ensure that your software and data won’t become a target of cyber attacks.
You also need to ensure the team will be able to add the necessary security to the software it develops. Depending on your niche, this could range from providing basic authentication and authorization to ensuring compliance with PSD2 and PCI DSS standards.
Look for certifications on their website, such as ISO/IEC 27001:2017, which is a standard for information security management.
3. Expertise
Selecting a bespoke software development company with expertise in your niche ensures that the team has a deeper understanding of your specific needs and demands. On top of that, developers know the legal requirements your software needs to meet in that particular industry.
If it specializes, let’s say, in payment and banking solutions, it can provide comprehensive analysis, recommend features you never thought of, and build your software more quickly than a business with medical and other five industries in its portfolio. Speaking of portfolio, that is another thing to focus on.
4. Portfolio
Examine the company’s past projects, for example by looking at its case studies. It will help you determine if the team has developed software similar to yours, if it has the necessary expertise, or what is the scale of the project it can handle. If you can’t find this information, it might be best to cross this company off your list of potential vendors and find the ones with published successful projects.
5. Client’s feedback
Testimonials help you to find out if the company is reliable and provides high-quality solutions. First, look at its website. Does it provide a list of clients it worked for? Can you find any testimonials?
Of course, some clients require a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), so the list of the organizations they worked for might not be complete. But if a company lacks any feedback from clients, look for another provider.
You can also google the company to see what online reviews say. Or you can ask someone you know who needed bespoke software development for their company. You can find out more about who they hired and if they were satisfied with the cooperation process.
I hope this article helped you to understand the criteria you should consider while choosing the right business partner for bespoke software development. If you need custom programming work done or would like to learn more about the process – feel free to reach out to me. At Axelgate, we love working with innovative companies.