With the growth of the digital business, we are faced with software everywhere. They are the core business of thousands of new businesses and then present in the processes and operations of almost all companies.

Each year the number of entrepreneurs with innovative ideas increases, who, due to technical ignorance or lack of resources, are unable to get them off the ground, losing valuable opportunities for market validation.

These ideas could have come out of the imagination and helped solve the pain of thousands of users, just meet the following conditions: have a qualified team, proper planning and the best technical solutions implemented.

Something similar happens with legacy projects, systems that were created some time ago and that, due to years of changes and other variables, lose performance or become sensitive to any update. You probably already know or have used such a system, which is visibly outdated or excessively slow. This has become one of the main difficulties of companies with a Saas (software as a service) business model.

What does a technology consultancy and software development do?

Consultancies are made up of highly qualified IT professionals, capable of articulating between different problems and demands, offering counseling or development services to companies seeking solutions and growth for their businesses.

As much for the creation of projects as for those already existing, the consultant’s first objective is to perform a thorough analysis and point out the diagnosis of your system.

The analysis should identify your major problems or points that ask for improvement, as well as their respective causes, and propose efficient solutions based on the technologies and strategies most recommended for your system.

It is important that the consultant has multifaceted knowledge and experience with various segments and types of projects. This baggage points to a more experienced posture and a wider range of options to solve problems.

The solutions identified and pointed in the diagnosis can, or not, be implemented by the consultant, varying according to the hiring criteria and the best dynamics for each type of company.

This will depend on the existence of a team of internal development of the client, the level of qualification of this team and the availability that the client has for investment. It is important to consider the ideal service for each need.

For some cases, the implementation of improvements will be on behalf of the consultancy, which in the best possible way will materialize what was pointed out in the diagnosis. The same applies to monitoring, analyzing how the system will behave after the changes.

In cases where it is necessary, the consultant can prepare and train the client’s teams, contributing to a better use of the platform and to the maintenance of the implemented improvements. Generally speaking, the consultancy works in three main ways: creation of new projects, improvement and updating of legacy systems and diagnosis of systems and training.

Methodologies

The work methodologies adopted by a consulting firm are strategically designed to deliver, in a fast and simple way, what the client needs most. The work must be effective and adapt to different types of projects. Thus, knowing a variety of good methodologies, which can even be combined in your planning, helps to enable consistent deliveries.

Each one meets different requirements, which must be adapted according to the reality and type of delivery proposed by the client. The important thing is that they all lead to the same final result. Remember, time is money. Look for efficient, simple and fast delivery methodologies.

Agile is effective for projects with a high level of complexity and unpredictable environment, dividing its final product into small deliveries so that each new functionality is closely monitored and readjustments can happen quickly.

Processes

The existence of work processes says a lot about the quality of a consultancy and what it can offer you. They are fundamental to ensure the direction of the project and to create well-defined steps, with prioritized activities according to the final objective.This is a good criterion to evaluate the quality of the services provided by the consultancy.

Those that employ well established work processes tend to be more organized, with a more chronological development, and more responsible with deadlines and deliveries.The client points to the professionals its final objective, be it to create a digital product, to identify problems in a system, or to improve the performance of a project, and it is up to the consultancy to point out, step by step, how this objective will be achieved.

Agile methodologies and new technologies, a process tends to incorporate the following steps:

Requirements Survey

In the initial stage of the project the priority is to raise all the necessary requirements, that is, to understand the need and the final objective of the client, as well as the future users.

This step is fundamental for the creation of a well-structured planning, which takes into consideration what is the best way to materialize your idea and achieve objectives more quickly.

The idea proposed by the client and the business model must be validated, adjusting the project to be profitable and with good chances of success. It will also be defined the dynamics of work and functions within the team.

Technical specification or diagnosis

At this stage, which extends from the survey of requirements, the ideas and priorities are structured in the product. If you seek to create a new project, at that time it will be completely designed, if you are looking for improvements to your system, will be pointed out all the points diagnosed and their suggestions for improvement.

Creation or realization

This is the development phase, where everything that was previously planned will be implemented. The initial moment implies the definition of the product design, completely aligned with the identity of the company and with the demands of UI and UX of the system. The design should contribute to the maximum to the requirements raised in phase 1.

Next, efforts will be dedicated to the prototyping of the system and to tests to validate its operation and direction, ensuring the creation of a final product, or an improvement plan, that meets the main objectives.This phase could also be called “development” or “programming”, since most of the efforts will be dedicated to the work of the developers.

Validation

Project created, this is the phase dedicated to testing. Each functionality will be tested and the results evaluated, observing both the functioning of the system and the way the user receives it. The test results should be used to make corrections and improvements to the system, as well as to plan – if any – a next phase of the product. With everything adjusted and tested, especially the performance issues, the product is ready.