Approaching a new software development project, you would oftentimes face the problem of not having the adequate talent and expertise on-site. You might also find it difficult to find a software product development partner who can take your project from the discovery phase and up to the market launch. But how do you find the right partner, who can you trust, and how do you choose among the many companies offering full-cycle software development services?
If you are considering outsourcing a software development project for the first time or you have already had an underwhelming experience of delegating your project to several partners, you might wonder what makes full-cycle software development services a better option. Partnering with a reliable company is the key to ensuring your project’s eventual success. So, is full-cycle partnership the right choice for you and how do you choose a proper full-cycle software development partner for your project? Let’s find out.
When do you need a full-cycle team?
Each project is unique in its own way, and you need a partner who would understand your specific needs and deliver solutions that benefit your business. A good full-cycle software development partner can join your project at any moment. Let’s say you just came up with an idea for the next project; an experienced team of developers will help you formalize your ideas, come up with an action plan, develop a product, test it, and launch it.
Alternatively, you might have already started working on your project and it became apparent that you just don’t have the right expertise on-site. Or you might’ve been working with a vendor who failed to meet your expectations, and now you need a rescue team to get your project back on track. That is when you will need a strong tech partner who’d carry out the necessary solutions and help you achieve your goals.
Need a new product launch?
We can help you launch a new product from the ground up. This will include all the planning and a finely-tuned development process that matches your needs precisely.
Need a unique solution?
You have a specific challenge or a business need that needs solving. We analyze your situation and offer a solution.
Need a system modernization?
If you are working on a legacy system that is getting outdated, you might need system modernization services that the N-iX team can provide.
How to choose a full-cycle software development company
There are several main factors that might influence your choice of a perfect partner for a full-cycle software development project. There are many companies out there that offer similar services and promise great results, but how do you know they are actually fit for the project you have in mind? Here’s your checklist:
Check their portfolio
First and foremost, you’ve got to know whether the vendor you choose has a proven record of problem-solving and has already delivered effective solutions to different clients. Preferably, you would want to look for projects similar to yours. If they have already proven their expertise in your industry and delivered desired results to several clients beforehand, it means they’d be able to help you too.
What you should also pay attention to is the vendor’s rating on ranking resources like Clutch. The higher the rating, the better, and you should opt for the companies that have positive reviews and recognitions from their partners.
History of partnerships
You need to know whether your potential partner has enough experience working with the clients in general and whether their previous partnerships have been lasting and successful. See the comments from their previous clients, for how long did their partnership last, have they achieved the expected results, were all the clients satisfied?
In case the vendor has largely positive comments from the clients and has a good reputation compared to the majority of available options, you might have a good chance of establishing a strong and lasting partnership bond.
Assess their tech stack
You need a vendor who can actually deliver relevant solutions that suit your unique needs and benefit your business. Large software development companies usually cover most if not all the possible programming languages and technologies you might ever need, so it makes sense to partner with companies that have a substantial talent pool and cover many technologies.
Scalable development and teams
Your needs and goals might change over time, even throughout the development process, and you will need a scalable full-cycle software development company to accommodate those changing needs. Market trends change rapidly and you need to react to those changes to keep your product relevant over time. You will need to choose a partner who can scale up your solution upon your request.
Security
Security is one of the main concerns when approaching any type of partnership that gives your vendor access to your IT infrastructure. You need a partner who works under all the relevant security provisions and follows security standards such as ISO 27001 and PCI DSS.
After-development support
Discuss the after-development maintenance and support for your product. Any kind of software needs updates and fixing over time, and you will need a team that is familiar with the product by your side. Ask your potential partner whether they will provide support and maintenance services after the market launch.
Why choose a full-cycle development company
Partnering with a single full-cycle software development company, rather than several smaller teams, is a much better option from the project management point of view. You can delegate the entire project to a single vendor, give them your requirements, figure out milestones, deadlines for the project deliverables, and start working. In that case, you won’t even have to manage the project on your own; your development partner will handle it.
In contrast, whenever you work with several vendors all at once, you will have to manage the cooperation between these teams on your own. This can get especially complicated if your remote teams are located in different parts of the world. Such cooperation might not always go smoothly because of the time gap between the teams, different work ethics, contrasting views, and the us-and-them mentality.
Working with several vendors will require heavy involvement on your side, and you will have to stay alert to all the possible conflicts between the teams. You will also have to manage all the stages of the development process to make sure everybody stays on the same page and the project goes according to plan.
A full-cycle software development team will be able to handle all the stages of the project development on its own. You can be as involved in the process as you want: you can be either a hands-on project manager or just leave it to your tech partner and simply check on the progress from time to time. Other than that, there is a number of additional benefits to full-cycle software development services:
Simplicity and convenience
Instead of managing multiple vendors, you have just one partner who excels in outsourcing software developers to give you a full team of experts to drive your project forward. A reliable full-cycle development company will help you figure out your vision for the project, create a roadmap for the development process, and manage the development process all the way up to the market launch.
Better communication
Imagine having to arrange a meeting between multiple teams located in different parts of the world to discuss important topics concerning your project. More often than not, you will have to plan those meetings weeks ahead so that all the involved experts could be present.
With a full-cycle development partner, the team works in one location, and you can easily gather all the developers around for a meeting. The project manager and the developers can even meet face-to-face, discuss the current status of the project, make their points clear, and get back to work in a matter of hours.
On top of that, a team is a team; these people know and understand each other and the project goals.
One-stop software development shop
A trusted partner can handle everything from analysis of initial requirements and feasibility study, to ongoing post-production support of the solution or software. Reliable software development partners typically have experience working with continuous integration & delivery, so you will get regular updates about the project status.
Reliable partnership
Working with a single partner creates a strong bond between your companies. Your full-cycle software development partner will know your project through and through, the team will know all of its specifications, they will understand your goals, and they will deliver the exact results you want to see. This might prove useful whenever you would need to update your product or upgrade it to meet the changing market demands.
Our approach to full-cycle development
Over two decades, N-iX has become a reliable full-cycle software development services partner for tech giants, enterprises, and Fortune 500 companies. We provide end-to-end software development services from ideation and up to market launch – you are covered at each step of the way.
The full-cycle development process usually consists of several main stages. Of course, each stage can be adapted to meet the needs of a particular client and a unique project.
Ideation and discovery
You start with an idea and a good full-cycle software development company should have the means to make that idea come to life. At this stage, your partner will conduct an in-depth analysis of your business needs, help you define your goals, and discover the ways to make things work the way you need.
Sometimes you face a problem that needs solving, and that is when you will need a partner who has a comprehensive set of ideas to address your particular situation. Putting expertise and deep industry knowledge to good use, we come up with the most effective and efficient solutions to solve your problems.
Once you have a clear vision of what the final goals of the project are, your partner will create a roadmap for the development process. This would include creating a set of goals that can be achieved within a specific timeline and planning the resources that will be used throughout the development process.
Development
After planning is set and done and all the technical requirements for the future product are clear, the developers can start doing their job. They will apply the programming languages and frameworks that suit your project requirements to develop a product that brings tangible business value.
The benefit of working with a company that offers full-cycle software development services is that you don’t have to worry about all the developers staying on the same page. The communication within the team is smooth, which means that any potential problems will be resolved fast.
The development stage might also include several code reviews and iterations. Sometimes, your goals might change throughout the development process, and with a single agile team, you can change your course of action and adjust the development efforts to meet those changing needs.
QA and testing
Testing and quality assurance are essential for making your product market viable. You want your project to be 100% ready for launch, all the small details polished, and all the potential issues fixed before your audience gets to use it. A full-cycle development company will help you with testing the product before the launch.
Deployment
Once the product is tested and polished, it is deployed across all the intended platforms. The deployment stage is accompanied by additional testing and fine-tuning to make sure everything runs smoothly. This test-driven approach helps the developers to adjust the product to your needs and make necessary alterations to really hit the mark.
Maintenance and upgradation
Nothing lasts forever, and even the most perfect product will get dated with time. Some cracks might start popping here and there, and you will most certainly need to update and upgrade your product. That is the final stage of a complete software development life cycle and the one that might last indefinitely.
That is where you will need a loyal and reliable full-cycle software development company to make sure your product stays up-to-date over the years. N-iX maintains strong bonds with its clients helping them receive continuous value from the products we’ve developed.
Final Thoughts
Going through a complete software development life cycle is a complex process that requires a deep understanding of your business needs, project’s goals, and tech specifications of the final product. What you would also need is a reliable partner capable of delivering tangible results each step of the way.
N-iX is a full-cycle software development company and our team is ready to design and develop custom software solutions for you. You can have your ideas realized and problems solved by a single reliable team of experts thanks to this one-stop-shop approach. This will make the development life cycle simpler, faster, more efficient, and more convenient.
