Finding the right technology development partner can be challenging for any business. As the tide of digitalisation continues to flow across industries, so too does the need for technical expertise. Development partners can offer businesses relief from the stress of software development by building flexible, lasting digital experiences that customers love.
With so many technology development partners available globally, the choice can be overwhelming - but critical to get right. Research suggests that over 70% of software projects are deemed unsuccessful in the long run.
Over the years, at Pattrn, we’ve worked with dozens of offshore and nearshore development teams globally. We’ve seen our fair share of good, bad and costly partnerships. We understand how difficult it is to find the right partner in technology development.
We’ve summarised our learnings into some actionable steps that we believe can help you find the right development partner.
It’s useful to cast a wide net using various sources to create the list. We have used referrals, recommendations, review websites, online marketplaces and development awards websites in the past. Another option is researching what vendor your competitors use and trying to understand the characteristics of that supplier in order to find similar ones in the market (you may not want to work with your competitor’s vendor).
Once you have a longlist of potential partners, it’s time to gather information on each and evaluate them based on certain criteria. This is helpful in narrowing down the list to become a shortlist.
In our recent search for a development partner here at Pattrn, one of our key considerations was the location. In our longlist, we opened up the pool to potential partners in the US and Asia. But when creating our shortlist we narrowed it down to only include developers within a 4-hour time zone of ours.
We have summarised the criteria we use to consider whether a potential partner makes the shortlist.
“It’s easy to go with the cheapest or the biggest, but that’s not always the best decision for your business in the long run”
We find this process is akin to interviewing candidates for a job in our team. It’s equally important to get right.
Ahead of the first conversation, ensure you have the “things to have to hand” info ready to share. This shows you’ve done your part to ensure it’s a fruitful introductory call.
Below are some topics to cover in the interviews with some example questions. We don’t recommend you read these out word-for-word - we use it as a general guide.
It’s not crucial to discuss everything in the first meeting. Sometimes the first call can be solely focused on the brief. If they have potential, we recommend setting up further calls which can take a deeper dive into their approach.
It can be too easy to go with a partner that meets certain criteria. But there can still be red flags hidden from view. Taking the time to evaluate lets your gut form a decision that you trust.
To help, we have used our past experiences to list signs that, in retrospect, were either positives or red flags.
Trials can consist of a single project or a set period of time, such as 3 or 6 months. During this time you can assess how well they fit into your business. We highly recommend this if there is any uncertainty at the end of your search process.
“If you are not ready to commit to a development partnership, you can always arrange a trial period to evaluate compatibility and assess the quality of work.”
When considering a development partner, it's easy to go with the cheapest or the biggest, but that's not always the best decision for your business in the long run. Proper due diligence slims the chance of making a bad call.
To summarise, this is our tried and tested approach:
