A good software partnership has a lot in common with a good relationship. At best, things go smoothly, personal chemistry works, and the partners understand each other without even completing the sentence. A happy relationship is often also reflected by an open atmosphere – the coexistence is liberated and transparent, and it withstands occasional pressures and pitfalls.
However, as in human relationships, in a software development partnership, things can sometimes go wrong. If the situation cannot be remedied by reasonable measures and there is no light to be seen at the end of the tunnel, it is a good idea to deal with the problem, acknowledge the present situation, and take peaceful but determined steps toward a change of partner.
What can you expect from a software development partner?
In our experience, the most common reasons for replacing a software development partner are a lack of transparency and flexibility, insufficient resources or expertise, and sometimes even outright indifference. As software development is an essential part of a modern business, almost regardless of industry, a client company has the right to demand more from its partner.
Competence and resources: A new software development partner is often sought, for example, because the current partner – or the company’s own staff – run out of resources or do not meet the current need. It is worth choosing a new partner with the resources and skills to serve your company now and in the long run – with flexibility and efficient scaling.
Flexibility: Partnership is perhaps most effectively weighed in a tight situation. A flexible partner does its best even under pressure and is able to decide on the necessary actions on its own, especially in long, confidential client relationships. A good partner can also take the various stages of a software project into account – sometimes the pace of work is relatively steady, and sometimes a bigger effort is needed.
Transparency: It is reasonable for the client to assume that the software development partner’s operating models, division of labor and billing criteria are clear and transparent. If the client must monitor the progress of their orders by guesswork, or bills are sent on unclear grounds, there is clearly room for improvement in the partnership. Transparency also means trustworthiness – if a partner fails to deliver on its promises, it will be quite difficult to move forward in a spirit of trust.
Advocacy: In a nutshell, genuine client care is reflected in whether the software development partner seems to play on the same team as the client company. The partner should still monitor its interest on its own initiative, even when the client is not expecting it. Advocacy also includes the fact that the partner challenges the client company whenever necessary. A good partner will take care of the client’s requests but will also ask and make reasonable suggestions for improvement.
How to transfer software development in a controlled manner to a new partner
The practical implementation and timing of the transfer of a software development partnership depends on the details of the partnership. Influential factors include the quality and scope of the entity to be transferred, and the number of integrations. Are the platforms, servers, and helpdesk transferred? And what about further development?
The amount and scope of existing documentation also plays an important role. In an ideal situation, there is next to no tacit knowledge: when comprehensive and updated documentation of the system being developed is available, including the entire architecture and its IDs and passwords, the transition to the next partner progresses smoother. In the best-case scenario, the previous partner also supports the transition, but in all honesty, this is not always the case. In this case, one must be ready to dig up the necessary information from several different sources.
An encouraging example of a smooth transition is Kuntien Tiera, an in-house company owned by more than 340 municipal operators, to which we carried out the transfer of the service voucher and purchasing service system on a tight schedule. The project, which included a large system and dozens of servers, was carried out in a phased and controlled manner in about four months.
In the case of Kuntien Tiera, the selection criteria for a new partner were first and foremost expertise, experience, and transparent pricing. In addition, the client company valued the flexibly scalable expert resource and the team’s extensive expertise. Over time, the cooperation that started as a software development partnership has also expanded to strengthen digital business and the reporting of development, as Kuntien Tiera switched from traditional Excel reporting to a BI tool in its service voucher and purchasing service systems.
It is central to the preparation and implementation of the transfer of the software development partnership that the dialog is open, and the process is agreed on together with the client in plain language and on a realistic basis. It is advisable to analyze the potential risks openly with the new partner, and to think in advance about the different stages of the transition in a realistic and practical manner from start to finish. For many companies, changing partners seems like a very challenging and cumbersome process, but the transition typically leads to becoming stronger and wiser.
Read more:
Pinja offers transparent software development partnership from vision to implementation
Success story: Kuntien Tiera
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