The right software or web application can efficiently run your business and allow you more time to focus on in your business. Custom software is designed around your business and you don’t need to waste time with all the hassles with purchasing an out of the box software that falls short of expectations. Selecting the right development company is the first step in the critical path to develop custom software for your business.

There are several key areas to focus on when interviewing a custom software development company. Consider the following points below before making the decision that will affect your company for years to come.

Experience

It’s not just years of experience in the industry but does a company have experience within that type of software that you are trying to develop. They do not need to be experts in your business field, but need to have a proven track record to developing software with similar features and functions. A company must be competent in understanding customer needs and requirements, and then providing insight to translate them into an workable solution for your business.

Portfolio of Work

All portfolios are not equal. A company’s portfolio will show a lot about their skill in design, development and how complex of projects they have worked on in the past. Companies that you want to work with will have a wide variety of sample work spread among many industries and will allow you to get an understanding of what you will receive if selecting a particular company. Anyone can say they can do it, but the question is have they done it before?

Project Methods

Checking on a company’s project workflow as well as the work methodology followed will allow you to understand what you will be dealing with on the project and will save you from the unnecessary worries and troubles. Those companies following unorganized and complicated workflows will demand your time, delaying design and development projects unnecessarily. Talk to them about their working methods and go with a systematic and simplified one. This will save your time and money, ensuring timely completion of assigned projects.

Reputation

Gauging the reputation of a development company is probably one of the trickiest tasks. Just doing a quick online search will not get you the needed information to make the correct decision. Go through the company website, check their clientele and accomplishments and don’t miss out on their client’s feedback or reviews. Unlike the State Farm commercial, not everything you read on the internet is true. Most satisfied and repeat customers don’t waste their time posting amazing reviews about a company all over the internet. They spend their time making money.

No company can nor will make every client happy, so take with a grain of salt any poor reviews before understanding the context of the complaint and if it is accurate. There are also many companies posting fake reviews about their competitors online. Ask the company explain any complaints before making any rash decision. If not, you may wind up with an undesirable French model that posted fake “positive” reviews about themselves.

The easiest way is to ask for at least 3 customer references who have worked with the company on similar projects. Also, ask for demos of recent work so you know a company is not just stealing someone else’s portfolio. Then you will be able to successfully gauge a company’s credibility.

Cost effectiveness

This is another important factor that goes into selecting the best web or software development company. It is vital to measure the cost effectiveness of the company’s services to what they will provide. Check whether your investment is worthy or not and for that you can even ask for free quotes. Since custom software is done by man hours, don’t expect all quotes to be in the same ballpark. You will find a large gap between the highest and lowest bid for the same project. Project pricing is based on the company’s years of experience, skill sets, project relativity and complexity. The most qualified companies will fall within the middle to middle high range of the proposals submitted.

The above mentioned points will surely help you in finding and deciding on the right company for your project. Good luck in your search.