You Need a Technology Partner, Not Just a Developer

Here’s a typical scenario: you are an individual or a business that has an amazing idea for a website or an app, but you are a not a trained app developer. You are really motivated about the idea so you begin to look around and talk to your friends with an IT background.

Chances are someone you know is going to recommend a software developer or a local IT company that might do the job.

But before making any decisions you should always ask yourself:

AM I WORKING WITH A TECHNOLOGY PARTNER OR JUST A DEVELOPER?

An engagement with the latter is nothing more than a frustrating and tiresome journey which you should avoid.

Keep in mind, not all IT businesses are started by software developers. For example, AirBnb.com was founded by an industrial design engineer. We regularly meet non-technical people with great ideas that have a global market potential. Often times, our clients have a basic idea regarding the functionally of their product, but they lack the technical capabilities for the actual execution.

We take pride in handling such projects, where we start with a deep analysis of business requirements, and then make knowledgeable recommendations regarding the technical scope and development methodologies. We are not just developers, We are your partners.

Running a successful IT company needs a lot more than just software development. You need to be great at project management, user interface design, user experience design, quality assurance, and, of course, planning and designing for a scalable system capable of handling millions of user/business profiles when the software is successful. Unfortunately, all of this is well above the skill set of software developers, and the project will fall flat without a technical co-founder or a partner on this journey.

It’s not just getting to Beta

A technical partner is someone who takes the idea from its seed stage into the First Beta Launch (i.e: a working software prototype without any major crashes or bugs). After spending a reasonable time testing the product with the relevant audience, your technology partner refines the product further to make it ready for a Version 1 Launch.

Version 1 of an app or a website is a Fully Functional and Market Ready piece for software that provides a real and tangible value to your user base, and the value is strong enough so as to drive more downloads and repeat engagement.

Fortunately, your partner’s job is still not complete, immediately after the successful launch of Version 1 product, the technology partner starts preparation for Version 2; which is a much-needed software update that is designed through careful observation of customer interaction with your software.

A good technology partner always implements tools that record and analyze user engagement with your software. Some of the most popular tools for Mobile Apps are Fabric (Owned by Twitter), TestFlight (by Apple) etc. A technology partner knows that Version 1 of the software is just a humble beginning, and the real challenge is to scale and improve the app with a constantly growing user base.

The difference between a developer and a technical partner

Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, technology products go through a range of iterations to find their sweet spot. While a software developer can build a specific app to spec (as you describe it), they may not be able to offer you UX/UI guidance, design a beautiful client-facing front end, or help you consider how to market your app. A technical partner gives you 360 degree coverage on all aspects of the app development itself. For example:

• A technical partner is a legit company that has a well-defined team of software engineers, graphics designers, business analysts, project managers and testers.

• They are real people with time and skills to discuss your business plan & marketing strategy.

• They are not afraid to recommend better ways of doing things, which sometimes might change your initial plans for the app (what we refer to as a pivot).

• Your partner can provide suggestions for features to be added/removed from the Beta Version of the app based on your budget and goals.

• Overall they are always excited to whiteboard the idea with you and question different steps in the application workflow.

In the current age of competition, businesses have to continuously add innovative features to their product offering so as to stay relevant in customer’s eyes. Even established businesses like Facebook, Google etc. update their apps almost every other week, and thus you need a technology partner and not just a developer.

Interested in finding a development partner? Whether you are in the public or private sector, FreshWorks has a team that can build anything you can imagine – including apps that utilize AI and blockchain.

You can view some of our case studies here to get a clear sense of how we work and some of our past projects.

We always provide a 1-hour free consultation without any expectations.

Please drop a line to sam@freshworks.io and let us be your partners.