How to Choose a Technology Vendor/Provider For Your Website Or Mobile App Maintenance ?

5 important points to consider for your website or mobile app maintenance

Maintaining and improving an application after development is one of the most important aspects if you want to have good ROI (Return on investment) on your project. In this small article, we will go through few important points to consider while looking for a technology provider for maintaining your application.

1. One of the most important things to consider is how long the provider has been in business. If you spend the time to explain the features to someone and they get to a point where they understand your application it is best for both the parties to continue for a long time. So you need someone with the good possibility to continue working in future which they should be able to do if they have been able to do so for a long time in the past. Of course, it is not possible to predict the future, but it is prudent to work with a provider who has been in the business for at least a decade.
2. Next most important thing to consider is what value addition can the provider bring in to the table. The ability of the provider to understand requirements and give suggestions to improve is a very important qualification after ensuring that the provider has been a stable organization in the past. The best way to judge this is to talk to a couple of their previous clients. Don’t talk to the ones they recently started working with. Ask for details from clients with whom they have been working for 3+ years at a minimum. If a provider has been able to maintain good relationships with a few clients like that, they are most probably doing things the right way. 
3. A lot of times cheaper alternatives are available in timezone that is different from yours. One important thing to consider when choosing a provider is that, will they be able to provide support in your timezone, if needed. In case of urgency, how long will they take before they can assemble a team to take care of the emergent situation? Will they be available over the weekend to fix a problem, in case its important to you. These are simple points but they will give you peace of mind, as you work with them over a longer period of time.
4. There are a few technical points as well that need to be considered. When it comes to maintenance … there are a lot of tools related to code versioning, bug tracking, test use cases which become important. Do ask the provider to let you know what tools they use. Ask them to give you a demo of the same for a couple of their other projects. Remember the more you find out at the start the easier your life will be once you commit.
5. Finally comes the communication compatibility. Always make sure that your provider can communicate with good proficiency in the language of your preference. We have seen scenarios where it becomes a problem for both the provider and the project owner because the expectations were not understood as is. So make sure you close who is the person with whom you will be communicating and talk to them over a couple of calls to find out if they are good enough to understand and explain.

A list like this never ends and everyone has faced their share of pain points to keep adding but we believe this is a good list to start.

Original Content Source: https://www.sapplesystems.com/2018/09/20/how-to-choose-a-technology-vendor-provider-for-your-website-or-mobile-app-maintenance/