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No two projects are identical, and the needs of each client are different. To facilitate our customers we take on work either as a whole project (i.e. fixed fee for agreed deliverables), or as time-based development (per hour/day/week/month fees). Often, we will also combine the two. This is most typically the case with phased projects, where we first have to help the customer identify what their software development needs are. It is common for this discover phase to be charged at a per day or even per hour rate. Once the customer has a fairly good idea of the desired scope of the project, we will then often undertake the work at a fixed fee, reducing customer costs and risks.
When working with a third party company, you want to know that you are protected in terms of intellectual property, and the data of your customers. At Cookiebite.net we remove the stress at both commercial and practical levels. We not only take full responsibility for any data to which we have gain access, we also define exact workflows and processes with you, in order to achieve complete transparency of how we will help you protect your work and property. Our work with CareCloud and the medical data that we handle, has prepared us for world-class practices when it comes to keeping customer data safe. In addition, we work with textbook disaster recovery planning and processes, and we ensure that secure copies of the information we handle is replicated and backed-up in the most secure fashion available.
Agile vs. waterfall seems to be the industry's favourite debate at the time. In short, we will work with you in either methodology, or with specifically agreed combinations. It is undeniable that Agile methodology favours the software house, as it allows for extremely well defined and completely changeable deliverables, with the responsibility of work being shared between the teams. The customer can change their mind, and the commercials surrounding such changes are already worked out as the core of the way clients and software houses work. We love agile, but we also love waterfall. When a customer knows exactly what they want delivered, there is little sense in suggesting agile methodology when waterfall (with a baked-in change management process) is more secure and often cheaper.
Depending on the project, we can offer a very wide array of guarantees for our work. Typically, and for components that aren't subject to direct influences from other parts of your ecosystem, we will guarantee the quality of our work for several months after a project is done. Depending on your needs, we can also undertake monitoring of services, ongoing performance and security checks, and even full on-going support (both manned and remote).
Taking on a software project can be a difficult task. We have recently published an article on this topic, to help customers know what they should be asking, in order to intelligently compare different software developer offers on the table. In a nutshell, we would say that you should approach this as any piece of work that you have done, for any project you may have undertaken. Ask who will be doing what. Find out what their processes are, how they define deliverables, and how they monitor performance against Key Performance Indicators). But most importantly, focus on what you want. Explain what it is, and ask them what it is they need to know. Confidence is great, but find the company that will ask you the most questions. The more they ask you, the more they are showing that they know what the project pitfalls are, and they are indicating they are already working to avoid those. And remember: It is completely OK for you not to know the ins and outs of IT. It is your software provider's job to adjust to you, and explain what goes where and why.