A partner with certifications, but no experience, or one with experience, but no certifications, could prove problematic. Look for a partner who has both the certifications and the experience that are applicable to the specific work you need performed.
2. What is the Role of Each Team Member?
You should select a partner with a diversified staff who can concentrate on specific tasks, but who are kept sufficiently informed to be able to step in should a teammate fumble or leave the game. Your project will require the various skills of multiple experts. If one or two team members are filling every role, the potential for problems exists. Suppose that one person is writing and documenting the code, acting as the project manager and performing all the quality control tasks. If that person leaves the company, your project may not be completed on time — and depending on whether any other team member was in the loop, the delay could be considerable.
3. What is Turnover Rate at the Potential Partner’s Company?
You need to ensure that the critical team members who will be assigned to your project have good tenure and sufficient experience. The turnover rate and the role of each team member are related in one critical aspect — if the team is not diversified, a high turnover rate could be a bad omen. The one or two people who know all about your project could leave due to internal issues. Even if the team is diversified, a high turnover rate could be a warning that your potential partner has some unresolved problems. Perhaps the company is in financial trouble, or maybe the management is inept. Whatever the reason, if a potential partner has a high turnover rate, you should consider it a warning that your project might not progress according to plan.
4. Are their Team Members Utilizing the Most Current Technology?
Your potential partner’s team members should be able to provide your project with the most current technology. Otherwise, you could wind up paying for a product that quickly becomes obsolete. Modern technology changes so rapidly that IT professionals must make an effort to stay abreast of recent advances. When you review the certifications that your potential partner holds, pay attention to the versions in which team members are certified or when the certification was earned. After all, becoming a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer in Windows NT 4.0 could be considered an accomplishment — once upon a time — but it has little relevance today. Ideally, team members will have continued to upgrade their certifications. However, depending on the skills, continuing education classes, seminars or self-study courses could also prove that team members have remained current on technological advances. The real warning sign is if no effort has been made to keep skills up to date. Team members might lack the initiative, or they might be too busy with work to worry about improving their skill sets. Either way, their methods, approaches and solutions could be outdated, leaving you with a product that is quickly obsolete or winds up costing you more than it should.
5. Who Owns the Rights to the Technology Developed?
If you are paying to have a technology partner develop a custom product for you, you want to make sure that you own all rights to it. You should not have to pay any licensing fees or royalties to your partner. You should receive complete access to any code, which means your partner must deliver any passwords that another programmer might need to make changes to the code should you decide to terminate your relationship with your partner. You should also receive any technical documentation that was written in conjunction with your project.
Choosing the right technology partner can have lasting benefits for your business. When you partner with EX2, you get a complete team of professionals who bring decades of cumulative experience and a diverse range of talents to your project. Contact us today to schedule a no-obligation discussion of your needs to learn how we can assist you with your goals.
