Hiring a software development company
The article is a part of Code Inspiration’s software development outsourcing Knowledge Base.
You are a start-up willing to bring your idea to the reality, individual with a software project, B2B company searching for a vendor or CEO of the company who is in need of urgent change of your current development team? And for sure it is great when you can ask your friends for a recommendation and start working with a company which has delivered well the software to someone you know. But what to do if this is not an option?
A great number of people in search of software development services start browsing on the internet. In this article, we will discuss how to get relevant information about the company, what to pay attention to, how to get rid of continuous marketing content and shortlist companies you are willing to talk to.
TIP 1. Google search
Getting results only in google search would be very hard.
As the request is quite popular most websites, which you will find on first pages of google would be the most SEO optimized, or Google Ads. In most cases software development companies which spend a lot on their marketing campaigns will include the price of their advertising directly to your bill. So most likely you will find the most expensive company, but not the most qualified.
And if google in its search result is mostly oriented on the domain authority of the website and number of keywords per your request, Google Maps can serve you much better. Especially if you have already selected few countries which suit you for some reasons (time zone, language spoken, general level of tech education). In Google Maps you will see reviews of real people who are working in this company or customers describing their previous experience. Real reviews will show you insights of the company.
TIP 2. Reviews aggregators
Most likely if you will insert such search requests as “hire best it outsourcing company”, “software development agency”, “top mobile development company”, “top custom software development company” you will get on the first page of google results such websites as Clutch, GoodFirms, The Manifest and others.
These websites are aggregators of reviews. They contain company profiles, reviews and many different TOP listings in different areas of development and digital marketing. They definitely will give you a lot of insights about the company, however, pay attention to sponsored content.
When you will go to any listing on clutch you will see first the list of sponsored and so-called “verified” profiles. By the way – “verified” means that you have bought a package to get that badge. If you want to filter results by real reviews – check, there is an option to filter accordingly, however, by default you will get the list of companies which paid for their place.
The Manifest is a sister website done on the basis of information which is collected in clutch.co. If clutch collects reviews and provides vendor dashboard to the companies to manage their profiles, The Manifest is managed only by their own managers. However, what is interesting, listings are a bit different and The Manifest doesn’t just copy clutch, for some reason, the positions in same top listings are different.
GoodFirms is mostly oriented on an easy way to add reviews. All your client has to do is to fill a quick form and mention his linked profile. What might be useful for you on this website is interview with head of business development or CEO. Detailed interviews which are published on company’s pages reflect philosophy of the team and provide with insights about the company.
TIP 3. Filtration
After you have made a list of companies, try to filter them according to the company size you feel comfortable working with, language spoken in their country, pricing, reviews. Check their Linkedin and see if the company is live and if the team participants are located in the same country. As there are many US companies with Indian or Pakistani employees only.
Further, try to contact shortlisted companies with an email which will contain not only very general idea, but with some details. And check how attentive the company representatives would be to the details, how fast they will react. As if at the early stage they are already slow for you, most likely further they would be even slower.
The article is a part of Code Inspiration’s software development outsourcing Knowledge Base.
