RADD stands for Rapid Application Development & Deployment and a RADD Team can be the best option for your business in meeting your technology requirements.
A RADD Team provides a true on-call development resource that meets business objectives while reducing cost and increasing flexibility.
Almost all businesses and industries now leverage software as a means of meeting key business objectives and require development resources on either an on-going or intermittent basis. RADD has advantages over the 2 primary methodologies currently in use, in-house and off-shore.
In-House IT Staffing
While some businesses utilize a full-time, in-house IT staff to meet this need, for many it is either not needed or not viable from a cost standpoint. And yet most companies have on-going development requirements to update/enhance systems, or add complementary functionality. These projects can be complex and business critical and may require maintenance, monitoring or updating–but may not be extensive enough to justify the expense of salaries, benefits, office space costs etc. inherent in a full-time staff.
Off-Shoring
Some companies depend on offshoring to meet these projects. Developers can be found all over the world with concentrations in India, Ukraine, Russia, Latin America and the Philippines. Costs, at least as advertised, can be lower than in the US. While quality can be high in some cases, in others, it can be spotty.
There may also be issues with time zones, language barriers and even security of intellectual property. The process of locating and vetting a quality offshore development vendor can be time-consuming, expensive and difficult. And when found, the selected vendor must learn your business, your systems and processes to be an effective development partner–an often arduous task.
RADD Solves a Host of These Issues
The utilization of a RADD Team as go-to technology resource solves many of the issues inherent with these two more common alternatives while delivering faster, higher quality deployments at lower cost and with fewer hassles.
- Less expensive than an in-house team: A RADD team will almost always be less expensive and require less overhead than maintaining a large in-house development staff. Some companies use them as a complement to in-house staff to enable rapid deployment of special projects while maintaining flexibility.
- Better ROI than in-house (and often off-shore): RADD teams are paid via fixed cost or hourly contracts on a per project basis. Once the project is complete, they are no longer an expense to your business. And as many companies have found, logistics and re-work can quickly inflate the cost of an off-shore project–in some cases nullifying the anticipated cost savings.
- No expense of finding and vetting an off-shore team: Finding and evaluating a potential off-shore partner takes time and money. This can dramatically increase time to deployment and inflate the cost of a project.
- No learning curve on your business, systems and culture: With an established RADD Team as a go-to partner, ramp up time is minimized. The Team already knows how your business and systems work and can start and finish faster.
- Better transparency and collaboration than off-shore: Working with an off-shore team can be trying under the best of circumstances. Navigating time zones and occasional language barriers often results in inefficiencies. Re-work of mis-communicated requirements, narrow windows of time for meetings, and even mismatched holiday schedules can all lead to frustration and longer project completion times.
- Higher Quality: It is well known that the quality of off-shore development can be abysmal in some cases. RADD Teams almost always offer better quality than off-shore. They may even be better than in-house due to a laser focus on the project at hand as opposed to being stretched thin by multiple projects and priorities.
Best Practices in Selecting a RADD Team
Of course, some RADD Teams will be better fit than others for your company. Follow these guidelines and characteristics when choosing a RADD Team to increase your chances of finding the right partner.
- References and Reviews–In addition asking colleagues for recommendations, utilize reviews from credible sources such as Clutch and TrustPilot to provide insight into the best RADD teams for you.
- Virtual Project Management and Communications Tools–The most efficient and effective RADD teams use tools like Jira, Confluence, Chat and Google Drive to track your project and communicate both internally and externally. These tools enable more efficient and collaborative development and can be a key driver to successful projects completed on-time, on-budget and to your satisfaction
- Business Process Focus–Choose a RADD Team that approaches projects from a business perspective. Clean code is critical of course, but a successful project really depends on a Team with a focus on meeting your business objectives
- Experience in Your Industry–It’s also useful to choose a RADD Team with a track-record in your particular type of business. They can often apply knowledge gained by working with another company in your industry to quickly and effectively resolve your challenge.
- Breadth of experience–Look for a partner that has experience with a variety of languages, frameworks, methodologies, etc. It’s important that your RADD Team is willing and able to use whatever tool or procedure will best meet your requirements.
Pell Software is dedicated to the RADD Team model and has successfully performed this role for a variety of customers, delivering web and mobile applications, integrations and migrations, and websites across a range of industries. Contact us to find out how the RADD Team model can benefit your business..
