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Cost of Custom Software - The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

Srivatsan Aravamudan Nemili / Apr 18, 2017

Good day and welcome to Cost of Custom Software series. Thanks so much for all the support you have shown towards this series. We are truly grateful for your feedback and hope to provide more useful content for you in the upcoming posts.

Well the idea of this post is to provide you a comprehensive list of items that you can use while working on the cost of custom software. In a way, this would be a consolidation post of all the custom software series post we have done earlier.

I often find a list key word being used in our google searches, and it’s basically a variation of terms like “Top IT Companies, Top Software Companies, Top Custom Software Development Consultant” etc. If you have noticed, our customers are searching for the top software development consultants who can help them with their forthcoming development.

Top companies do not necessarily mean they are good fit for the project & they may not even provide a cost-effective solution.

We all know that top companies do not necessarily mean they are good fit for the project. And they may not even be a cost-effective solution. So, let us list down the items that would work as a cheat sheet to find the “good fit” for reduction of cost in custom software projects. I have made that into tabular form with my remarks and prioritized them as per their impact in reducing the cost.

Ultimate Cheat Sheet for reducing cost of Custom Software.

Sno.	Item	Description	Links & Remarks
1	Requirements	Reduce up to 50% of the wastage and Cost reduction using various methods such as draft RFP, functional vs good to have features etc.	Clear Requirements Functional – Non-Functional Requirements Draft RFP
2	Location	Vendor location can save up to 50% costs.	Vendor Location
3	Timeline	Learn how realistic deadlines can save up to 50% costs and prevent project failures	Flash Effect
4	Design	Understand design and cosmetic clutter reduction which would help in huge cost savings when it comes to hardly used features	Cosmetic Clutter
5	Communication	How enhancing communication can solve your budget loop holes in custom software outsourcing	52 Hz Whale
6	Fixed Costs	Learn how effort vs fixed costs can help to reduce cost. Also, beware of cheap cost estimates from the vendors.	Cheap cost estimates Fixed Costs vs Efforts
7	Agile	Knowing more about agile development process can not only save you cost but also time. Don’t we know that time is money! That’s double saving isn’t?	Go Agile
8	Cloud Solution	Everyone loves a good cheap solution, and when it comes with loads of benefit why not? learn more about cloud computing and cost benefits of cloud.	Rest in Cloud
9	Bonus Cost Saver	Learn how to save up cost in IT environment overall and apply those principals to custom software outsourcing as well	10 ways to save up cost in IT