By providing software development services, third-party contractors take on the tasks of creating digital products and applications delegated by other companies.

Such services take different forms — from hiring freelancers for separate small tasks to augmenting existing IT departments and subcontracting dedicated development teams engaged only in your project. The projects range from relatively straightforward like a website redesign to long-term and complex like building a mobile app from scratch to post-release maintenance.

Custom development is creating personalized software from scratch to meet the specific needs of a single customer's business. By delegating software programming, a company hires a tech vendor to deliver a digital product or provide specific IT services.

In other words, custom development is a type of business and technological relations that provides the client with a unique product created for the objectives and needs of a particular business instead of using ready-made solutions available in the market for everyone else (including your competitors). It ensures maximum efficiency and a high return on investments.

In custom development, the client decides which features will be implemented in the solution and how the product can be scaled. Individual technology also ensures a high level of security and business autonomy, as all rights and access belong exclusively to the customer.

To answer the question in one sentence, they help other businesses emerge, grow, increase revenues, and optimize internal processes.

Custom software development companies can focus on different service types like web or mobile development and choose their central approach — from outsourcing only required specialists to a full-cycle development process.

As a result, every provider has a slightly different experience. Some tech contractors assist large businesses in process streamlining by developing custom ERP or CRM software. Others build their expertise on guiding young startups throughout their journey from finding product-market fit to (in some cases) the IPO stage. Such providers specialize in the customer development (CustDev) approach and become long-term partners for their clients.

Experienced software development providers have already an established system allowing them to adjust to the client's needs to a maximum, whether limited budgets, tight deadlines, or specific features.

Every business is unique. And experts build their services around this idea. Even if the agency created a dozen similar marketplaces in the past, another client might require a non-standard solution due to a peculiar product line, local laws, or any other restrictive reason.

Custom software development allows businesses not only to craft personalized digital products but also to impact the process. With the right approach, clients get access to documentation and the team. It ensures the necessary level of transparency and establishes trust between the service provider and the client.

Essentially, you look for a reliable tech partner to fill in the gaps in your expert knowledge and skills. To do it right, you need to consider several factors like fields of expertise and a portfolio of successful cases.

The contractor must meet the goals and needs of your business. Before starting your search for a development firm, it's vital to understand what exactly you'll be looking for. Here are six questions that help business owners outline their search criteria.

1. Do I fully understand my idea?
2. Do I fully understand the competition and the market situation?
3. Do I have enough knowledge of the technologies needed for my project?
4. What is the main functionality of the future solution? Which features should it have?
5. Do I have the time and budget for successful project completion?
6. How will my project grow and develop in the future?

Once you answer these questions, you start looking for potential candidates on Google or through friends, family, colleagues, and other connections. In the case of Google search, it's better to narrow down the query by using "CRM software development company" or "streaming media platform development".

Another efficient method is to check the most reputable listings like Clutch, DesignRush, and GoodFirms. There, besides the experience and fields of expertise, you can also find reviews from previous clients and company ratings.

Typically, there are three most vital criteria you should consider while choosing a software development service provider.

#1 Experience

Making cheap and poor-quality products is pointless and risky. To create and launch a high-quality, in-demand solution, you need an experienced tech partner with accumulated practices and employee knowledge gained from thousands of hours of working on previous projects. Ideally, your vendor should have specialists of middle level and higher.

#2 Market expertise

It's expertise in your market or niche. It's essential in the case of narrow or difficult industries like trading, mobile games, data analytics, or AI. It may not be that critical for more common B2C products for renting or deliveries. Yet, you should understand the functionality of the final product.

#3 Technical expertise

It's hands-on experience with particular tech stacks and development instruments. Naturally, if the vendor doesn't have a set-up testing process and QA engineering department, you'll have to delegate this part to another third-party provider. Or, for example, if you need to implement AR/VR technologies, and the candidate doesn't have real cases of these technologies, it makes sense to keep looking.

Always carefully check the candidates' portfolios along with the "About Us" page. It's a priceless source of useful information about the company itself and what they are proud of.

Some developers try to sell selected tech stacks as "popular” or "trendy.” However, as it's believed in serious IT, a software development company should offer a tech stack that solves the tasks and reaches the project's goal cost-effectively.

While there are indeed popular and widespread technologies, the instruments should first be effective. That's why different tools and languages serve different project types and solve separate tasks. They typically belong to a particular type of software development, although many languages, for example, are universal.

• Frontend stack: JavaScript; Vue.js, Angular, React.js, Redux
• Backend stack: Python, Java, PHP; Django, Node.js, Nest.js, Koa
• Mobile development: Java, Swift, Objective-C, Kotlin; React Native, Firebase

First and foremost, consider this type of collaboration a long-term investment and a crucial step in your business strategy. And every smart investment brings a return.

It's almost impossible to calculate the final cost of a software project (and you shouldn't believe those who tell you the opposite) due to many factors. However, three main aspects make up the cost:

1. Product size. Simple products have a basic feature set, relatively fast and easy to implement. More complex software requires more resources and more substantial budgets. Similarly, complex projects involving active customer interaction and external system integrations cost a lot.
2. Software type. The product type defines the course of its development. It includes the feature set, design complexity, and, as a result, tech stack.
3. Team. Similarly to choosing tech stacks, the product type and size also define the team. The final cost depends on an hourly rate, the number of specialists, their expertise, and their experience.

Experienced developers tend to use agile project estimation practices to minimize risks and establish good relationships with the client. This approach goes beyond a raw calculation of abstract working hours but is based on previous experience with similar projects and estimation of the final product's value.

A discovery phase is one of the best ways to do the calculations efficiently. Typically, it covers the requirements, business objectives, and tech stack. Once these aspects are covered, it's possible to provide a client with an estimate.