Software Development Consulting Services

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What is Software Consulting?

In a world where 70% of software projects still fail, who can you trust? As we all know, trust is earned, not given. The best way to earn trust is through a solid track record of providing quality software services and an excellent customer experience. However, that isn’t established when you start out with a new software development company.

How can you build that trust quickly? The answer is transparency. While the average custom software development company will summarize information for you or just flat out not tell you what is included, we are always striving to increase the depth and transparency of our client conversations.

We always want to provide our partners with consistent data on our strategy and our processes. You should know exactly what is going on in your software build at all times. True partnership comes from shared knowledge and understanding.

All software projects, especially a custom software one, has many things that can go wrong. Oddly enough, it is rarely the technology that torpedoes the project – it’s the people. That’s why communication and the right approach are essential to software success.

Agile Project Methodology

Why didn’t Agile fix the 70% software project failure rate? Agile is a great approach to delivering on any project whether it be custom software or something else, but like all things, the success comes from discipline. Those who are disciplined in their Agile approach are successful on their software consulting projects.

However, there are so many things that can take technology projects off course. As one of the top software consulting companies, Geneca uses a variety of approaches, providing software services honed through years of experience to drive success and cultivate strong partnerships with many different businesses.

Pricing matters

Counterintuitively, the pricing models that are used by most consulting companies are more important than you think. The way a client pays for software development services directly impacts the likelihood of success of the custom software project. In fact, the way the consultants on the team are compensated also affects success.

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Pricing Models

There are two basic types of pricing software consulting companies use with their customers.
Fixed Price and Time and Materials. Both are partnership killers. Let’s look into why.

Time and Materials

Time & Materials arrangements are hourly based. Simply put, a client pays for the time and the materials software companies use when working on their software solutions. When there are more hours worked, the price is higher. This allows the client to alter the scope of the engagement in any way they want with little to no pushback from software companies.

Unfortunately, if the client is not watching carefully, they can explode their budget and timeline. The software development consulting company will win if the number of hours it takes something to be created for the client takes the team longer. This pricing model means that more complexity, more things to build, and slower resources results in more money.

Many software companies will use outsourcing as a way to appear to save money on lower cost resources; however, these resources are typically considerably slower at completing high value tasks. Getting done is not the goal of the service provider. Billing hours is the goal for consultants and the customer can feel that. The less efficient, less aligned consultants win.

Fixed Price

A Fixed Price consultancy services arrangement is a set price to build something for a client–an agreement-based price. The real struggle here is for both the client and the software companies to articulate what is included in that arrangement before signing the deal.

If all of the details of the scope are determined up front, the project cannot adapt to new ideas, different strategies, or changing resources. If the details are too flexible, the great “that was in,” “no it wasn’t” debate is inevitable. Much time can be wasted in formal change requests to alter the services the client will receive. Often, companies do not make the right decisions for their products because the pain of changing the fixed price scope is too large.

Ultimately, the consultant wins if they can convince the customer that it just isn’t worth arguing about what was included. Typically, fixed price will not include service based leadership designed to truly build what a client needs. All too often, this type of software development consulting services ends in lawsuits.

How Geneca Provides Software Consulting Services

Geneca was founded on the belief that our success will come as a result of the success of each client. As a result, no consultancy will work as hard and as smart for your company. To strengthen our partnership and likelihood of success, Geneca looks to align our goals with your business’ goals. To do that, we need to be aligned with our customers from the start.

Partnering

Figuring it out
We start your pre-consultancy services by listening to you describe your software needs. At the start, we will not need to know every detail as we will evolve as we go. However, we will create a list of the items within your software build, called an inventory, as we understand it. This will provide a starting point for us to have strategy discussions as we refine what you need for your business enterprise. This list gives an overview of what your company might pay for software which will be refined regularly as your management team makes digital decisions.

As part of Geneca’s software consulting expertise, we provide your company with an Experience Analyst (EA) to lead your build. This role comes with a firm knowledge and expertise in your business’ industry. Because of that, we are able to understand what you are talking about and can dream about new solutions with you limiting the frustrations that can happen when explaining business needs to technical folks. We help our clients by using our experience to make suggestions that advance your digital goals. It is our job as consultants to not just listen to what you want, but to help you get what you need.

That EA can articulate all the things we want in the product we are inventing together. They are then able to break it down into pieces to build as well as organize it up to the big picture. EAs help your management team to know what is happening when and where your money is going. However, your Experience Analyst won’t abandon you once they’ve outlined the big picture. They will work closely with your entire group throughout the software process, translating your business requirements to our technical team to ensure the end product meets your expectations.

Visibility
Visibility and transparency are key to a successful client and consultancy relationship. You should never have to wonder what is happening in your software build. We have developed a few tools to provide our clients with a clear view into their build throughout every phase of the software life cycle. Geneca starts with lightweight documents to summarize all the work we are going to do together in just a few pages with high fidelity images. We want it to show where the money is going so we spend it on the right stuff and know what is rolling out in each release.

We carefully plan what will happen meeting each day for a few minutes to take care of all dependencies and make any necessary adjustments. As the project progresses, we meet with all groups involved in the product’s launch (marketing, sales, customer service, etc.) to be in sync so the launch will be successful.

Pricing
Geneca invented its own software consulting pricing model to eliminate the inherent contradiction that causes products to fail and partnerships to be ruined. Our commitment-based Product Approach incentives both you as the client and us as the consultants to help each other to be successful in the product build. We use visibility to hold each other accountable for contributing to shared success.

It is important to realize that getting a product to market on-time with a “lovable” feature set is imperative. In order to do all the marketing and sales work that needs to be done for the product to gain adoption, those activities must start long before the product is actually ready. Those will spawn commitments and your ability to deliver on those will solidify a positive reputation with customers and prospects in regards to the kind of company you are and the type of experience you deliver.

Because of this, Geneca has designed its Product Approach to be different than the software development life cycle of other consulting firms and its pricing approach to motivate both partners to put out a product on-time with lovability.

Assisting Customers through our Software Consulting Services

Our goal at Geneca is to help you make money, not to take your money. It just makes good sense that our clients’ success drives our success. If you make more money because we are there to help, you will be more likely to invest more money and even tell everyone else you know what we did. We focus on decision making as the center of our consulting services. If you make better decisions, you are more successful. If you are more successful, you will want Geneca to do more work for you. Simple philosophy.

Because of this philosophy behind our consultancy services, we always bring top thinking as if we have to live with the answer as you do. Since we want to continue to be your software development consulting partner and create great products with you for many years, we envision, architect, design, and build your product–from the simplest mobile app to the most complex enterprise software–to last a long time. This approach allows us to proudly claim some 20+ year clients and a 96% client retention rate. We build with forward-thinking scalable architecture as it is always better to be able to evolve a product than to have to replace it. Evolution gains revenue and market share, replacement only costs money.

Expert Software Development Consulting services at Geneca

Development Consulting Services

Geneca focuses on industry-standard, enterprise-level practices and tools. We always want the products we build for you to last for a long time, perform in the future, and generate as much profit as long as possible. We use standard Java and .Net technologies that scale so your technology can adapt to the way your business grows and changes over time. Because of the vastness of our history building software, we have extensive knowledge in the latest technology. This allows us to choose the correct technical architecture, systems, and solutions for our clients. We’re not trying to trick you into using technologies that only we know or that have a built-in replacement cycle.

We will be here to provide answers to all your questions–big and small. Should you use cloud platforms or should you buy servers? Do you need to build mobile products for your employees? Should you be outsourcing your support? What expertise should you hire in-house vs use consultants to perform? We take partnership seriously and will provide you with the right expertise and strategy for a long term relationship.

Our consultancy services span a variety of digital transformation solutions for clients around the world. Some clients needed a focus on big data while other companies required e-commerce services. Consulting on cloud computing transformations and enterprise software integrations require specialized technological understanding combined with a track record of digital expertise, both of which you get with Geneca.

High Quality Software Development

If there is anything we hear consistently, it is how talented our Genecians are. We grow our own developers here at Geneca, hiring right from college and teaching our Genecians into the rock stars they are through countless hours of training and mentoring in everything from big data to machine learning to cloud computing. The years of experience we invest in our team benefits our clients directly. Our developers are based here in the United States with no outsourcing or off shoring.

We start with the most talented individuals from our unique testing and interview process. Not the people with the highest GPA or the “top” school, but the people that have a real gift for seeing and building great software. We look for those who demonstrate tenacity, technical prowess, and strong problem solving capabilities. Technology consulting requires a different mindset and we make sure our team understands how our clients depend on us for solid advice.

We take those people and teach them all the technologies and strategy they need to build a great product. Once that technical information is embedded, we start them on our 61-lesson leadership skills program to teach them all the ins and outs of systems, teams, interpersonal skills, sales, marketing, etc. Everything one needs to know to integrate well with the business-oriented product team as well as lead the product’s development.  Essentially, we teach our technical teams to speak business and our business teams to speak technology for a seamless integration with all members of our client’s company.

Constant learning is important, especially in such a fast-paced industry. We aim to give our employees ample resources to develop their technical and business acumen and provide frequent opportunities for application of new knowledge and continued learning. We have won many awards as a best place to work because our employees appreciate that we are a software company that believes in spending effort to develop our people so we can all develop better software solutions for our clients.

Software Development Consultation Throughout Every Stage of the Project

Geneca has been building software solutions and providing consultancy services to clients since we were founded over 20 years ago and has many senior leaders that have been leading digital transformation services for twice that long. Those individuals have seen thousands of builds across many years of experience and all the factors that can affect a consulting project. Using that knowledge, Geneca has created its own product approach that takes all the best of existing Agile practices and brings them to the client, the technology, and all the efforts that need to happen to make a product successful. Sure, that often means some tough things need to happen, but custom software development consulting is a messy business.

We start with the product’s invention. Geneca can help figure out where there is a new need in product companies’ marketplaces or with their target audience and invent a product to cash in on that opening. Our Experience Analysts work directly with business stakeholders throughout the application design and development process to ensure alignment among client management and technical teams within your company.

Geneca can help you build the business case, the pricing model, the go-to market strategy, and all the plans and services needed across your organization to make the product launch a success.

Of course, we build the software itself. From invention to architecture to development and launch, nobody does an Agile software product build better. We have the resources to build solutions from scratch or integrate existing systems into one application that does exactly what your business needs.

Then, we can help you launch to the market easily when marketing, sales, and training of the product have been included from the start. Geneca is not just a software consulting company. Geneca is a software PRODUCT company.

Our Approach to Development Projects

The most common comment we receive from prospective Geneca partners is how well we understand their business and what they are trying to do. From just a one-hour software consulting meeting, we can envision what a product is, what it will do, what it will look like, and put a plan together that we are willing to bet our paychecks on. How we do all that from a one-hour discussion is part of the Geneca magic.

Understanding the Project

Geneca starts by understanding your vision for your product or if that isn’t fully developed yet, what problems you see out in the market. We do this with consulting specialists in your industry, so we start with a strong understanding about your business processes and digital transformation of your market. We have individuals with expertise in your space.  From there, we can effectively outline the big picture and recommend the right solution, services, and technical architecture needed to really impact your bottom line. A technology consulting partner who understands the business side provides companies a huge leg up when it comes to inventing a product.

Scoping the Project

Once we have aligned on a vision, we start with creating an inventory of everything we need to do from all angles of the product. That, of course, includes service architecture and all the other things needed to build on the software front; it can also include marketing, sales, and operational change management – whatever your unique business requires. We leverage our industry experts together with our technology, marketing, sales, operational, and education experts to create the right all-in-one package client consulting services to make your product a success. We give you all this information in an easy to digest form that shows you exactly what we are thinking and exactly what you are getting. We want you to have the detail you need to make sure we share an understanding of your unique digital goals.

Development of the Project

Then we get to the development. We use Agile methods to drive all 4 aspects of the project (software / marketing / sales / operations) for which you want our help. While each client has their own things to accomplish, it is critically important to keep the greater whole in view. All four aspects must move as one. As a top software consultancy since we were founded in 1997, we have honed management skills so that all team members are always operating at their top performance. We’ve also created proprietary software applications to give you the transparency you crave throughout the software application development process.

Data Driven Results

Besides using Agile methods and our inventory to navigate the development process with you, we also use mobile crowdsourcing and advanced data analytics to get and give visibility into potential struggles before they can happen. This way we can get in front of risks before they derail the build and cost your business more time and money. That’s how companies win the game–they have a consulting partner who can optimize success.

Customized Software Development Solutions

Web Development

Geneca does its web development with all the latest enterprise technologies to give an elegant, efficient, easy-to-use experience on any device you or your customers bring to the table, whether we’re building something new or updating your business’ existing solutions.

Application Development

Geneca is technology agnostic. We suggest the best technologies that take you into the future and give you the power and growth that you need for years to come. You will never be pushed into a technology because we are beholden to it. Since Genecians are so well-rounded, we can bring the best thinking and technologies for you.

Customized Development

Geneca offers all these services to invent, build, launch, and evolve a software product. We can perform or participate in these phases as it works for you. Our services are all ala-carte, so we won’t drag you into something you don’t want to do. Our solutions are one-of-a-kind, giving you the differentiation you want with the technology you need to do business better.

In addition, if you want us to be part of your teams or your people to be part of ours, we can do that too. We have a variety of talent resources ready to ramp up fast and blend seamlessly with your existing people. Our staffing services allow you to get help where you need it anywhere in the development process, whether it’s with project architecture, project management, or someplace else.

Software Consulting for Different Goals

Companies seek the competitive advantages of software consulting companies for many reasons. Whether you’re simply in need of project management expertise or you need an entirely new software system, software consulting can take care of the details, so you and your team can focus on big picture business items.

Software Stack Assessment

Have you been using the same software stack for years? When’s the last time you upgraded or made changes to the technology your business uses? Eventually, you may realize that it’s time to re-evaluate the way you and your team do business. With the help of a technology consulting partner with up-to-date industry knowledge and deep expertise, you can perform an assessment on your current technology stack. 

Your software consulting partner will identify any gaps or opportunities for improvement in your software. By replacing inefficient software and getting rid of unnecessary applications in your enterprise systems, your business can enjoy improved workflows, higher-quality data, better return on investment, and more.

Software Architecture Assessment and Redesign

Do you know you are in need of a new custom software product, but you don’t know how it should be designed? Software architecture is a high-level skill that requires a unique toolbox of knowledge and experience. 

A software development consultant can help you identify business requirements and will design a software solution that meets those needs and will seamlessly fit into your business model. Your technology consulting partner will provide you with thorough documentation that allows you to scale and make changes to your software solution long after the initial development is complete.

Software Project Management

Do you already have an in-house development team ready to tackle your software project, but you don’t have the right expertise to plan and manage the project? A management consulting partner can lead your team through the development process from design to deployment. 

Your consultant will manage your scope, assign tasks, address issues, and adhere to your timeline by working hand-in-hand with your custom software development team. You get the benefit of a well-managed team and project without the price tag of a full-time project manager.

Software Modernization

Do you already own a software solution that you know and love, but it simply isn’t working for your business anymore? Perhaps it’s time that you update your legacy software application with software modernization. 

Software consulting companies can help you breathe new life into your application and provide long-lasting value by updating it with newer, more reliable programming languages, frameworks, protocols, and infrastructure platforms.

Are you ready to bring more of your uniqueness to your customers? Let’s invent the market changer together.

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FAQs

What does a software development consultant do?
Software consultants are technical experts who typically provide guidance and management for a project from the beginning stages of design to deployment. They work to understand their clients’ business goals and design software to meet those needs. Software consulting partners will work hand-in-hand with other software team members, such as analysts and software engineers, to ensure development projects are completed as designed, on time, and within budget.
How much do software consultants charge?
The price of top software consulting partners varies depending on the consultant’s experience and the project’s scope and timeline. For example, a fairly new consultant designing a simple website will charge less than an experienced consultant designing a large desktop application. If you’re looking for a consultant for your project, reach out to multiple software consulting companies to get an average price and to find the best fit for you and your business needs.
What is the difference between a software consultant and software developer?
While a software developer builds a solution using technologies and programming languages, a software consultant is the one who designs and manages the software system and its development process. Software consulting companies work with businesses to figure out how a software solution can improve their workflows and business processes and then brings that solution to life with the help of a dedicated team of developers, analysts, and more.