The concept of a software factory is simple: a company with teams endowed with the expertise and tools necessary to design, develop, integrate and sustain customized systems and applications at scale for other organizations.
And it has proved to be the ideal solution for many organizations, which for various reasons, cannot get their IT projects off the ground, or if they do, they do not get all the expected benefits from work overload.
Could. The application development process has particularities that make it a risky investment for organizations – especially those that do not have technology as their core business –although no less necessary. It is not uncommon, in these cases, that systems are born obsolete, full of spaghetti code, or very unfriendly to users.
Due to its nature and experience, the software factory has mechanisms to manage such risks without increasing project costs, delivering to organizations more than a system and the security of a project executed within the defined scope.
However, although this is the expectation, it is not that simple or what happens in reality. Not all organizations find this security when contracting software factories, which creates confusion regarding this service.
How Does A Software Factory Work?
Although it has scale, a software factory does not produce off-the-shelf software in bulk or all the same. On the contrary.
Software factory projects are extremely customized to each client, as are the teams formed to meet the demands of each project. This includes specifying requirements, defining functional profiles, adopting software development methodology, metrics and tools, customer communication cadence, and cost and deadline estimates.
However, despite all these needs being quite different, most of the processes or components that meet them are similar.
Services Offered By A Software Factory
A software factory’s service portfolio can vary greatly from vendor to vendor. But, in the standard, we can cite:
- Allocation of IT professionals
- Application projects and design
- application development
- Improvements in legacy systems
- Migrations from legacy systems to the cloud
- IT support
- Consulting in IT projects.
When To Hire A Software Factory
The maturation of the software factory concept takes place along with the digital transformation and the consequent increase in demand for software in various sectors – many with little IT maturity -, high market competitiveness, and a tendency towards outsourcing, factors that in themselves lead to many companies to this type of service. Especially for organizations whose core business is not technology.
Although IT is no longer just a sector to be at the business center of most companies, in most cases, the demand for projects does not automatically generate the need to form a complete IT team internally or hire an IT outsourcing.
Six Benefits Of Software Factory Services
Access To A Team Of Experts
A software factory is a technology company with a high volume of demands. Soon it will have an extremely skilled workforce in its projects.
When hiring a software factory, your company has at the disposal of its projects these professionals and teams whose hiring clashes with the technology market, which absorbs most of the best opportunities.
On-Time Service
By taking your project to a software factory, you have more guarantees that it will be delivered on time. These are contractual guarantees not aligned with sectoral planning.
Software factories have the know-how to estimate deadlines more accurately, and metrics to, throughout the project, ensure that they are executed or adjusted within a narrow margin.
Defined Budget
The possibility of having a clear project budget is another advantage of hiring a software factory. Proposals are budgeted in advance so that the project budget and resource allocation conditions are clear throughout the work.
Advisory Bias
A software factory may not offer to consult in its portfolio, but, being a factory, it has extensive project experience in its baggage.
This makes the service of your project managers more consultative and the alignment and delivery much more reliable.
Innovation Maturity
Again, the vast experience factor in projects in various segments makes the software factory an agent of innovation for its customers. More than executing projects, professionals help the organization gain IT maturity.
Quality Control
The quality of software delivered by software factories is guaranteed by clear management and process quality controls, which are measured, documented, and evaluated together with the customer.