Bespoke Development Selection Criteria

This is a modest attempt to provide a guideline for bespoke application development selection criteria.
How often do you feel that you could have easily closed the last sales deed with a prospect ? Do you think you could have followed a different approach with the prospect…do you think that could have sealed the deal for you  ?
Let us see what is it that prospects have in mind when they approach an outsourcing service provider situated thousands of miles away from them —
What types of clients approach an offshore team ?

There are different types of inquires that our sales team gets –

a.    The prospects current development team is taking a long time to complete the development and that is driving the prospect nuts – either they do not have the technical expertise or they are simply dilly dallying the project.
b.    The prospect is looking for developing a bespoke web application and has the specifications written very precisely.
c.    The prospect knows what he wants from the application stand point but has no idea about writing specifications and preparing an RFP.

Selection Criteria

Prospects that fall in Category A are generally a nervous bunch. They have already burnt their fingers once and are terrified about having lost a lot of time and money on the project. These prospects are the most difficult to convince as they will think 100 times before taking a step.
Category B prospects are very focused about what they need and want – and unless they are convinced that they have found the right team – they will never move ahead.
Category C are the most vulnerable and are usually quite unaware of the web technologies and rarely make suggestions. But our experience shows that this bunch has done a lot of research on the cost of their application – and will be a reluctant bunch to convince about change requests and User Interface issues and technical problems.

How does the offshore team gain the confidence of the prospect ?
For any of the above Categories mentioned above – the person at the other end of the call speaking to a prospect needs to have technical knowledge. It is very unnerving for a prospect to talk to an entity whom the prospect thinks has lesser knowledge than he / she has.

It could be as unnerving as a patient being asked questions by his / her dentist about software development tools – imagine the situation  with you being the dentist and the prospect as the patient ! Wouldn’t it be better to be asked questions about your general health by the dentist rather than software development – and when he / she knows that the patient  cannot talk to him with his mouth wide open

Once the prospect is assured that he / she is dealing with a person who will understand their problems they are more comfortable.

Providing valid and strong references plays a very vital role in further gaining confidence. If the Prospect falls in Category B then he / she is probably technically adept and will ask a few  juggling questions regarding the project to gauge the maturity of the organization.

Technical fluency and presentation plays an important role and nothing can be compared to that.
We cannot expect all the prospects to understand technology – if they did – there would be no place for Service Providers like us.

It is very helpful to converse regularly with the prospect and understand what approach they follow during the bidding process. A polite email is preferred but if that goes unanswered for more than 2 days then a phone call can be attempted.
Normally you are just one of the many shortlisted candidates / companies.
How should you differentiate yourself or your company?
Monetory factors could be one of the driving but not the most important factor affecting the decision for a prospect.

We have prepared a list based on the order of priority for selection –
a.    Initial conversation with the Sales Team – If a prospect is comfortable with the Sales Team and generates a good rapport with him / her they are willing to proceed ahead.
b.    Timeline to deliver
c.    Cost Factor
d.    Time to respond to prospects queries
e.    Technical knowledge of the development team

Recession

Recession should be more commonly termed a corporate season - for which we all need to prepare earlier. Animals prepare themselves for the long brazen winter in harsh conditions. They build up their immune system, stock food , stock other material requirements and prepare themselves mentally for the winter.
In the places of cold regions people tend to prepare themselves for winter by leaving home early to work and return early , look forward to the most enjoyable time to be spent with their families during Christmas!

• Why can’t we prepare for Recession ?
  
• Why can’t we accept the fact that what goes up has to come down
  
• Why can’t we accept the fact that this is a global market trend – whenever the supply outgrows the demand – the demand for the supply reduces? 
  

We continue harping the fact that we are in recession? Why can we not create different demands , reduce our intakes , reduce our ever increasing appetites for material quests , think more calmly and start spending less. Start spending more time with family, start spending more time with nature , start spending more time for Yoga and meditation …well all this means we start preparing for recession.

Soon if everyone learns to start preparing for Recessions …there will not be a recession, let the bears and the bulls of the different stock markets in the world continue screaming – remember that is their job and they are doing so ,since they enjoy it. Lets curb our instincts to use the Credit Card if there is not enough to pay off the credit card bill for the next month. Let’s go back to the barter system and start paying on cash, it is the same guys who pushed us to using the credit card who are lying low, saying they are bankrupt.

Well ,let’s finally accept the fact that nature does not allow you to spend more than what you are entitled to –you have to pay for what you took with someone else’s belongings [read money in this case] . So be calm and learn the lesson of recession from nature , and let’s learn to accept the fact that Recession is a season. It will eventually go – but we need to be prepared for the next one before we all get engulfed into a different planet like in “WallE”

…..but the functionality is there

I have been hearing these– in fact I will not deny saying these same words to our clients earlier. But with time there is an important lesson I have learnt and would like to share it with all my developer friends.

It is mandatory to ensure that the first visit of a user to a web page is pleasant. Most of my developer fraternity does not believe in show casing their hard work in a trim and proper user interface. The general comment is “As long as it functions correctly….” but sadly my friends that is not true !!!

The first impression is the last impression-

Tips to manage your offshore project

There will be a situation when as a Project Manager / Technical Architect / Developer you will be asked to manage an offshore team.

How do you ensure that your project is taken care of with an offshore team ?