- February 2, 2023
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Well, more often than not, consulting with an expert or another professional is the best way to kick off your project so that you can make the most of it later on.
Software design consultancy covers a range of services:
The goal is to prepare everything that you need to start your software development or system modernisation. For example, at Future Processing we can offer you very specific services such as Discovery Workshops, Software Product Design, Design Sprints, or Software Audits. Depending on your needs and the services that you decide to leverage, you will be able to clarify and confirm the validity of your ideas, receive a guide map to help you proceed with the next steps, and get a detailed business analysis of your present and future systems, including a reliable cost estimation, good software architecture design, useful visualisations or reports, and a working prototype, etc.
Unlike many consultation services in other industries, software design consultancy is not limited to recommendations alone. There are many specialists involved in the process, such as business analysts, UX/UI designers and technical experts (in different technologies), and the results that you get are very often tangible and actionable, ready to use in the next stages of the software development process.
The main goal of a software development consultancy team is to recommend a technical solution that will help your business solve ongoing problems, achieve objectives, and even answer future customer needs, which can often be predicted (to some extent). In order to do all that, you may expect that the design consultancy team will consist of specialists whose expertise reflect your project requirements.
They will want to gather as much information about your business as possible, so that they can properly assist you. Don’t be surprised if they ask questions that not only pertain to the software that you want to build, but also about your current situation, your products and the services that you offer, your workflows, resources, processes and business environment, etc.
Getting to know your company inside out is key here, as this allows them to design a proper solution based on the gathered data, and not just based on a whim.
The design team may also team up with software developers – especially while choosing technologies to implement, defining technical possibilities and limitations, and during prototyping and testing. And by developers, I mean either experts who are already working with the software design consultancies or those hired by your company. It depends on the kind of expertise that they need and who will ultimately be developing the designed solution.
Let’s say you’ve realised that getting some external help for the design phase of your project is inevitable. What now? There are already so many software companies for startups as well as more mature organisations out there on the market, that it can make your head spin…
The first thing you need to do is make a shortlist of software design companies that could potentially be a good partner for you. Then you will want to send out Requests for Proposals (RFPs), collect responses, compare offers and select the best match for your company.
Of course, before the final evaluation, you should make a list of the criteria that you are going to use in the selection process. So, what factors should you consider?
Choosing a design firm may not be the easiest task, but putting in the effort to choose wisely will pay off later on.
Outsourcing your design work can really accelerate your processes and help your company get ahead. There are a lot of reasons behind this: