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Software development consulting: benefits, pros, and cons

Aug 02, 2022

6 minutes

According to Forrester Research, 96% of organizations worldwide consider application performance to be business-critical. 72% of technology leaders cite productivity degradation as their number one problem. And the advantages of a high-performance system for a business customer are transparency in the formation of budgets for the maintenance and development of IT infrastructure, lower asset maintenance costs and reduced operating costs, and, of course, many happy users. For IT, this is the stability of the systems, reducing the expenses caused by failures, and meeting SLAs. Companies invite software development consulting to improve the software efficiency and business in general.

What is software development consulting?

The main goal of consulting is to improve the quality of management, increase the efficiency of the company as a whole and increase the individual productivity of each employee. In other words, consulting is any assistance in solving a particular problem provided by external consultants.

In the modern IT industry, standards and technologies have been developed that allow maximum use of developer resources when designing software and web systems. Employees of software consulting services own the most relevant of them.

By applying modern techniques, it is easy to achieve high efficiency of both processes and results, to build them correctly. Progress does not stand still, and professionals are constantly trained to ensure that their knowledge and experience align with the latest trends and discoveries in the IT field.

Software development consulting will be of interest to you:

  • If your employees need an educational program on modern methods of developing and implementing software products;
  • If you need refresh courses for your programmers;
  • If you want to increase the efficiency and productivity of your team through modern working methods.

What is a software consultant?

A software consultant is an expert who is paid to share his knowledge and experience regarding software systems. Software consultants have a broad understanding of programming language and software development. These professionals usually have a background in information technology, sometimes moving into consulting after working as a software developer or engineer.

Software development consulting services: benefits for business

Strategic planning

After a detailed analysis of the tasks set, the consultant develops an individual strategy for each enterprise that can solve all existing problems associated with information technology. We select software developers depending on the goals set. Consultant develops economically sound corporate and network solutions, considering the most modern technologies, standards, and requirements.

Choice of technologies

Consulting specialists can develop a reliable and well-protected network structure for any enterprise. If the company has an IT department, together with the staff, they will select a network design that suits the company’s work specifics and can ensure uninterrupted corporate communication.

Software development consulting will develop a network solutions project that provides a stable, fast, and high-quality connection to the internet. With the help of the newest developments in information technology, the consultant will select the best option to support all work processes in the enterprise. The consultant will help determine the necessary equipment and install and test the operation of all systems. The consultant will also analyze the network’s effectiveness, fix problems and failures, optimize the process of all systems, and support the project for as long as it takes.

Project implementation

Software development consulting ensures that all the projects are carried out within the strictly allotted time frame and do not exceed the budget agreed upon earlier. They try to minimize the customer’s costs and understand the work’s importance. They try to adjust the process so that it does not interfere with the existing routine and pace of the organization. The consultants prepare equipment, upgrade existing networks, and train your company’s staff to work with new technologies. The experts assess your organization’s possible risks and prospects, make forecasts for the future and help protect the interests of their customers. They minimize the vulnerability of networks and improve the security of their work.

Employee training

It can be challenging for company personnel to respond to the rapid information technology change quickly. The consultants are ready to provide education and training for your employees. Upgrading employees’ skills will make your company work more smoothly and productively. The experts not just talk about the latest in the IT industry, but also strive to interest the staff by testing the acquired knowledge with subsequent certification.

Hiring software development consultant: pros and cons

Having examined the opportunities provided by information technology outsourcing, company management begins to see many more disadvantages of self-supporting IT infrastructure. We list the main ones:

  • the impressive cost of information system maintenance;
  • insufficient transparency of IT costs;
  • slow and difficult adoption of new technologies;
  • inflexible, budget-driven IT model;
  • problems of self-employment of specialists and difficulties in managing them.

Consider the main advantages of inviting consultants:

  • the financial and legal responsibility of the consultant for compliance with the terms of the contract in maintaining the required service quality;
  • reducing the cost of IT support;
  • getting faster access to the introduction of new technologies;
  • constant control over the information system operation;
  • obtaining full transparency of expenses on IT;
  • flexible, problem-solving IT model;
  • qualified staff and improved service.

Disadvantages of inviting external consultants:

  • The risk that commercial information will be disclosed.
  • Dependence of many processes on external performers.
  • Work in different locations and time zones.

The workflow of software development and consulting

Each software development life cycle (SDLC) stage has specific characteristics.

Requirements analysis

The first stage of software development for discussing the final product requirements. The purpose of this step is to describe the system requirements in detail. It would help if you also ensure that all participants correctly understand what you expect of them and how to implement each requirement.

Software testing consulting services are provided at all development life cycle stages. They are necessary to create a genuinely worthwhile IT product.

In many cases, testers are also involved in the discussion, so they can evaluate the product and manage the process themselves when necessary.

Design

During the design phase (also called the architectural design phase), programmers and system architects develop the highest-level design to meet specified requirements.

Various technical problems at this stage are discussed with all interested parties, including the customer. Through discussion, they determine the technologies used during project development, the team’s workload, constraints, deadlines, and budget. After agreeing on the requirements, participants finalize the decisions on the project.

Quality assurance services must help businesses deliver the highest quality IT applications on time and within budget.

Development

Once the product requirements and design are approved, the organization moves on to the next stage of the development life cycle, development itself. At the same time, programmers begin to write code according to previously established requirements.

System administrators prepare the software environment; front-end programmers develop the user interface and the logic of its interaction with the server.

Programmers also write unit tests to check the functionality of each component of the source code, check the written code, and install the software on the finished programming environment. This cycle repeats until the product meets all requirements.

How to find software development consulting services

Large IT companies are developing consulting projects to help the customer and its IT services optimize internal business and IT processes. There are no universal signs. In the most typical situations, development costs exceed the budget, release dates can be missed, the finished system does not meet business objectives, users are dissatisfied, or problems with system performance become alarming indicators and a reason to think.

At the same time, non-obvious things bring losses to the company, but the manager may ignore them in time. For example, the customer is an insurance company whose sales system does not work responsively and efficiently enough, and potential customers leave. Why? They “fall off” when filling out an application on the website.

VITech offers clients consulting services in the field of information technology: recommendations on the choice of technologies, architecture, tools, and products.

Need software development for the healthcare industry? Leave a request!

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