When purchasing a luxury item, the quality, longevity and customer experience are all factors of consideration when choosing exactly what to purchase. As most of us have not been lucky enough to inherit a windfall, we want to ensure that we are receiving the best possible value. This premise is seen everywhere, from cars to coats. Everybody ensures they are making the correct decision by weighing the money, against the length of use, versus the quality of the product. So why are these deciding factors neglected when purchasing software? Many purchasers focus on one thing; the money.
What is the danger of only focusing on the money though? It seems logical. Many software purchases are not for personal use, and are purchased to fix a problem within an organization. Organizations usually want to minimize the amount that they are spending. There is also a prevalent attitude that software is software, and that as long as it does the job, there are no repercussions. To tackle this school of thinking, I would like to offer the following analogy; purchasing vegetables versus farming a garden plot. Purchasing vegetables right off of the bat fulfills your immediate need. However if you want more vegetables in the future, or want a continual supply of vegetables, you will be constantly purchasing more vegetables. If you were to start farming a garden plot for vegetables, this reward may come slowly at first, however after the initial start-up cost of purchasing the plot, it is easy to gain whatever vegetables you want. The garden plot is the equivalent to higher quality software. Higher quality software will allow for continued growth, and change as your organization grows. It will not only solve your issue, but allow enough flexibility to be able to change to fit your company’s need as time goes on. After the initial purchase, constant spending is also not required, unlike just purchase vegetables separately. A lower quality software solution will require many more purchases to continually fit your needs, which is much more expensive over time.
So how can you tell whether you are about to purchase a vegetable or a garden plot? The following three items earmark a quality software development studio:
- Scalability – Ensuring the software can grow with your organization is huge. Scalability is a concept overlooked when lower quality software companies are attempting to solve an issue. They solely focus on the needs of the customer in the minute. Higher quality software solutions want to ensure that the product they are creating is relevant to the client now, and in the future. Scalability is the ability for the software to have more users, more functionalities, and handle a higher volume of traffic. All software developed by Evenset is programmed to be scalable. We want to build a long-term partnership with our clients that ensures we are able to help solve their needs now and in the future.
- Latest technologies – Keeping up to date not only with programming skills, but also the awareness of the technologies on the market is a sure sign of a high quality software development studio. Developments in the field of programming are constantly occurring, and software is gaining the ability to run faster, and carry an increased communications load without slowing down. Fast, reliable software solutions are needed to truly solve a problem, and by using the latest technologies, the user experience will be equivalent to that of using Google, Reddit or even Amazon!
- Agile software development – Lower quality software solutions can hack together a solution for you quickly, and then leave you to then figure out how it all works with what you currently have in place. A higher quality solution will want to work with you. Agile software development means the solution arises out of collaboration. We want your input, your ideas and in addition to your requirements. We want to work with you, and create a fruitful partnership. We are your partner.
So, whenever you are next purchasing software for your organization, don’t let the money do the talking. Be conscious of the factors you would be when purchasing any other luxury good; quality, longevity and consumer experience. It will ensure that not only are you getting the best product for your organization, but also the greatest value for your money.