Software today runs the world. It runs businesses. Organizations are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities and the chance to enhance existing ones. In such an environment, reliable technology partners become a pillar supporting organizational growth.
Can we imagine today’s world without a plethora of software development companies? However, along with opportunity, these companies have to constantly battle to create visible differentiation in their offerings in this era of abundant choice – be it in the product, distribution, relationships, image, or price.
In that vein, here is a look at some of the things that differentiate Benchmark IT Solutions from others.
Technologists Form the Core of Our Business
In many software companies we see a sharp differentiation between people who interface with the clients and people who build the product. While the latter are technologists, the former usually are not. The absence of technological dexterity can impact a project in several ways – incorrect expectation mapping, overcommitted timelines, inefficient requirement gathering etc. are just a few of the examples. Technical dexterity is essential as it not only helps in designing the right solution by knowing the right questions to ask but also assists in designing the right project plan and the product roadmap, making interactions with the client more meaningful and ensuring the robustness of all programming decisions.
Our team is made of strong technologists who are proficient across an array of technologies Be it enterprise or mobile applications, CRM implementation, or any software product development. Our team of technologists not only stays on top of the technology landscape but also keeps up with the evolution in the development methodology landscape. Be it Agile or DevOps, or any of the other development methodologies, our teams know which technology and which methodology to apply to get the best possible outcomes for the client.
Robust Client Relationships
In an outsourced software development environment, client relationships have to be managed with kid gloves. However, as attrition hits the industry, clients often have to deal with a change of hands, almost constantly! The cycle of explaining the product journey, how work has progressed so far, and the path of evolution that a product has undertaken and building a relationship with the client becomes a recurring one…one that leads to a lot of frustration.
Given the democratic work environment, we take pride in the fact that attrition in this segment hasn’t impacted us as it has impacted others. Our core team members have continued to work with us, and most of our team members continue to grow with the company. While this has been an obvious advantage for us, it has been even more advantageous for our clients.
The ease of working with a familiar person, one who has been working with you from the inception of a product idea, one who has understood your vision and has been a part of orchestrating it to reality, one who knows how your product should evolve, and one who has been on the journey and is aware of not only all the success but also the points of failures and challenges, can hardly be ignored. This familiarity, along with technical prowess, has helped us build strong relationships with our clients and has enabled us to deliver the best to them consistently.
Strong Process-focus
What differentiates a good outsourced software development company from a great one? Along with the capability to develop great software, it is the capability to develop great software ‘on time’. Inefficient processes, centralized, and hence, time-consuming decision-making and turnaround times, ineffective and inefficient communication owing to the time difference etc. are few of the things that create this differentiation. We managed to win many clients on this front as they came to us frustrated from their previous delivery experiences. The poor delivery pattern not only impacted their go-to-market timelines and consequently the bottom line as well.
The focus of Benchmark since its inception back in 2005 has been consistent – to have strong delivery capabilities. Unless you can deliver the promised work, as expected and on time, then the chances of having a loyal client base is a myth. And to have strong delivery capabilities, any organization needs to be process-driven.
Given that, we ensure that we go through an annual ISO 9001-2015 audit for our processes in Software Development, Project Management, System Administration, and QA for all our processes every year. This ensures that all the processes in all our projects are enhanced, resource utilization is optimal, time and effort estimation happens with precision, and we remove any roadblock that impedes service delivery.
Being process-driven is not limited to defining how project work should flow and extends to decision-making as well. We have implemented a decentralized decision-making process to create an enabling environment for our team members. Decentralized decision-making ensures quick responses and faster turn-around time, which positively impacts the project. With clear lines of communication established between both the client and teams, our processes make sure that every decision works out in favor of the project.
Long-term Engineering Strategy
One of our clients told us once, “I came looking for a technology solution. What I got was a business solution”.
Most software companies can help you develop a great product. But can they give you a long-term engineering strategy…one that takes into consideration the many ways in which the product could evolve, how the industry could change, how the technology developments impact the product on the whole, what more should the product do as user needs evolve?
Most of our clients have come to us with an idea of what their ideal product ‘should be’. Having worked with multiple clients, across business verticals, and having developed many products we have a clear idea of how a product should be developed. We also believe that given the climate of constant change, the product development process is never complete.
From developing an MVP, then a Version 1 of a product, the development process is ongoing. Work has to be continuous to improve and upgrade the product further in the form of technology or feature upgrades. We understand that product modernization is today’s reality as business models are also becoming increasingly prone to change. We are proud to say that our client associations have all been long term.
This value that we bring to the table has ensured that those clients who started their journey with us have continued to stay with us. Our working standards have ensured that along with the clients, our employees, and also our vendors reward us with their loyalty. Given our technical expertise and strong delivery skills, our clients have had no reason to go shopping for vendors. How’s that for differentiation?