The IT partner will be influential in determining the success of your project. They are here not only to oversee the project but also to make sure everything is running smoothly. They are also responsible for solving any problem that may occur unexpectedly. Your project basically lies in their hands. Therefore, hiring the wrong IT contractor can damage your project completely and put the success of your company in danger.
An IT contractor plays a huge role in your success, which is why you need to set high standards before hiring one.
There are a few qualities that, unfortunately, are not characteristic for all IT consulting agencies. You should have them in mind while choosing an ideal business partner for you. Only then can you be sure that your project is in good hands.
1. Knowledge and expertise
Your potential IT partner should be knowledgeable with a firm understanding of the industry. They should be self-dependent professionals who are on top of the project and don’t need to be guided or supervised all the time.
While choosing an ideal contractor, look for people with experience, education, and preferably - references. Check their past work - best if they have projects in production that you can try for yourself.
2. Ability to contribute and advise
One of the qualities of a good IT partner is the ability to advise you by being involved in the decisionmaking process and to be able to contribute to the project’s success. An ideal business partner should not only listen to you and do everything as you say but rather they should guide you and help you find the best solution based on their professional knowledge and experience.
The ideal IT service provider should guide you in your decisions, and provide advice on what is feasible and what is overhead. They should be good at identifying and communicating risks and areas of opportunity.
For instance, it may not be financially viable for a startup to build a full-feature SaaS product before they launch it. This involves a lot of work, effort, time, and budget which might put the project and the company at risk as they are not generating income while the bills keep coming. A good IT contractor would identify the unnecessary features and limit the scope of the project so your startup can get to the market as quickly as possible. That way your marketing and sales teams can start selling while your development team keeps iterating and improving the product.
3. Commitment
Hiring a committed business partner is a step forward to your business’ success. Your potential partner needs to commit to the deadlines (if they are reasonable - remember that 9 women can’t deliver a baby in 1 month) and be able to find a compromise even in a situation when you disagree on something.
Constructive conversations and discussions on topics of disagreement can lead to great results as often we are unable to appreciate all sides to a matter. Understanding it from all possible perspectives will help you reach the best outcome. This, without doubt, is tied to the previous point and it can’t be achieved without a committed partner who is interested in your success.
Commitment is a quality that you shouldn’t ignore when looking for your potential IT partner. A committed business partner will benefit you with professionalism and trust.
4. Interest to see your work succeed and not only their deliverables
Your ideal IT partner is someone who doesn’t only focus on their own achievements and success but someone who is truly interested in reaching your company’s success too. They should think about the whole project and work as a team player instead of being self-seeking and aiming their attention only on their deliverables.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of agencies and individuals out there who are more interested in completing a job and moving on to the next, rather than creating a relationship and achieving mutual success.
So be careful during your selection process as picking the wrong IT service provider might result in being costly in all aspects of your business and not only financially.
5. Relationship building and looking beyond your current needs
The right IT partner knows that business relationships can be highly beneficial to the success achieved in a career. They should have good team spirit and be able to connect with others and form positive relationships. An ideal business partner should fit in with your company’s spirit and align with your goals and interests.
A long-term relationship with an external IT partner can be beneficial for both sides. Skilled contractors will know that such a relationship with one client is more profitable than jumping from one project to another.
A software project is rarely done after delivery. There are many areas that require attention after that, such as training, feedback, improvements, bug-fixing, support, integrations and, many more. Who better to provide these follow-up services than the person who originally developed the solution.
6. Proactiveness
Being proactive is an important quality of a business partner. Proactiveness allows them to be more capable to identify risks before a problem occurs; and should it occur, they would have prepared a mitigation plan to solve it quickly and effectively with the least possible impact to your business.
Proactive IT service providers distinguish themselves by constantly going above and beyond expectations. They would come to you with ideas, proposals, solid data and research to support your decision-making process and the success of your project.
These 6 qualities are connected with each other and they form a single unit and a source of trust for your business. Picking the right IT partner will take you one step closer to your business’ success.
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We believe you can find a trusted IT partner who will share your ideas and visions with you and help you turn them into successful products and/or services. Do your research and follow the steps in this guide and our other articles to develop your IT service provider hiring methodology and you will be on your way to getting the best results.
If you are hesitant about where to start, feel free to contact us.
We would love to share your success with you.
