As technology advances at a lightning-fast pace it could become quite overwhelming for many businesses to keep up with trends and customer demands. Yet, carefully evaluating and leveraging these latest developments can boost your company growth. This article explores the benefits and use cases for maximizing the value of building a dedicated software development team. Read on to discover success stories from our experience as a software engineering and technology consulting partner of choice to businesses from 20+ countries worldwide.

Who can benefit from a dedicated software development team?

Building a dedicated software development team requires a process that sets up the foundation for a successful relationship in the long-term. We’ve covered the essential steps in one of our previous posts – How to build an external dedicated development team. This article takes a step back and answers the question why would you need such a team in the first place? We have asked experts from our Engineering and Customer Success teams to outline 4 of the most common use cases they’ve encountered in their experience. The following cases are applicable for leaders managing one or more software development initiatives in their organizations, or those responsible for translating technology challenges to business stakeholders and vice versa – communicating business requirements to IT teams.

Use Case 1: You don’t have a technical manager on your end.

Making informed technological decisions is a fundamental capability within a software development team. You could be a visionary who knows their industry but lacks the technology expertise or simply, someone who is deeply versed in product development and stakeholder management without necessarily being a hands-on technology expert. In those cases, a collaboration with a trusted dedicated team can help you achieve your delivery goals, without having to deep dive in the software engineering aspects of the job.

Read on: Empowering Software Development Teams with the Product Trio.

Use Case 2: Your company is expanding into a new tech field.

If you start working on something new or moving in a different direction, it is natural that your in-house team may lack skill or expertise in the field. If you don’t have the resources to educate your team or find new roles, building a dedicated team will be more efficient and will pay back sooner.

This is the case with one of our clients – an international end-to-end railway engineering service provider whose portfolio ranges from track construction to power supply, communication technology, and logistics services. As they were expanding the development of a responsive web solution for one of the European branches of the company, they needed a partner with strong experience in building cloud applications and best agile development practices to help them digitalize their business. A dedicated software development team from Accedia helped them introduce innovation that was directly related to business modernization – communication between different internal systems and real-time access to technical reports for tracks and inventory conditions. This was possible thanks to our expertise in cloud engineering, data analytics, visualization and web development, which set up the technology infrastructure for growth and staying ahead of competing players in transportation.

Use Case 3: You are managing several projects at a time.

The more projects you take on, the harder it is for your team to keep up with maintaining performance and productivity. Meanwhile, utilizing budget efficiently, while meeting high quality standards for software delivery stays a high priority. Even in cases where you manage to secure additional people from other internal teams, this hardly does the job – questions like efficient onboarding, retention and motivating people to collaborate as one team remain on the table.

This is one of the classic scenarios where it makes sense to engage a dedicated software development team. A well-oiled machine, with extensive technology expertise can help you deliver multiple projects on time , while optimizing costs.

Similar was the case with one of Accedia’s clients – a leading African media & digital entertainment company. Their platforms are used by approximately 14 mln people in 50 countries, which translates to lots of innovation projects at the same time in a competition to satisfy growing user demands and outrun new market players.

Our relationship took off with one team and gradually grew to a total of 30+ technology consultants in different roles, ranging from business analysts through software consultants and DevOps engineers. Before Accedia joined the client’s team, it was difficult for them to execute on their ideas swiftly. Therefore, by helping them build a dedicated team, we also provided them consultants with domain experience and diverse technology skills. We work together on various projects with a focus on cloud infrastructure optimization. For example, one of their latest innovations in an AI model to optimize Azure resources consumption and redirect the budget to more effective marketing activities thus saving the company thousands of dollars on cloud resources.

Use Case 4: Organizational complexity stands in the way.

Let’s say you have technical leadership, innovation readiness and efficient project management in place. A possible hurdle could appear in the face of organizational constraints such as operational silos, difficult-to-navigate stakeholder management, or a well-intentioned but somewhat bureaucratic procurement department. These hold especially true with large organizations, where additional requirements often occur such as local compliance regulations or evidence for sustainability of services, making it harder to deliver technology innovation efficiently.

Read on: Sustainable Practices for a Greener 2024

It pays off to convince higher leaders or procurement of building a dedicated software development team with an external partner and expand as needed with the same provider, rather than going through the same cumbersome process repeatedly to get additional internal experts. Follow these steps to successfully secure a dedicated software development team.

1. Get refences of their work – someone your decision-making team can trust or, a well-known name from the industry, that the IT services provider has worked for.
2. Put yourself in procurement‘s shoes. Understand their priorities, constraints, and decision-making process and ask the software development company to prepare tailored documentation accordingly.
3. Build a strong business case – articulate the value that the specific team brings by highlighting their expertise, track record, and quantifying the potential benefits: cost savings, improved efficiency, faster delivery, or better quality. A customer success representative on the side of the external company can help with that.
4. Leverage your influence as an IT leader within the organization – seeking support form senior leaders based on your track record of successful deliveries and high performance is a compelling case for them to consider your proposal.
5. Agree on work processes and Quality Assurance so that no one remains unpleasantly surprised. Define timelines, communication channels and regularity, quality assurance benchmarks and project milestones.
   All of those will get you the buy-in needed to deliver practical software innovation that will lead your company‘s business growth and efficient operations.

All of those will get you the buy-in needed to deliver practical software innovation that will lead your company‘s business growth and efficient operations.

Building a dedicated software development team? Final verdict.

All in all, the complexities of today’s technology demands necessitate the evaluation of working with a dedicated software development team. A well-coordinated one, possessing multiple roles and levels of expertise can help you navigate organizational complexities, manage multiple projects, or expand into new tech fields. Following the outlined steps to build such a team, you opt for efficient operations. To maximize the value of a dedicated software development team over the long run make sure to build trust in their technical expertise and their ability to shape innovation ideas into achievable, practical and actionable plans that ultimately lead to faster return on your technology investments.

To prepare your organization better for building a dedicated software development team, download our whitepaper for free here.

About Accedia

Accedia is a leading European technology consulting and software development company. Established in 2012 in Sofia, Bulgaria, the company has witnessed exponential growth, thanks to its dedicated team, commitment to excellence, and technology expertise.

With an ever-expanding global presence, the company serves clients across 5 continents and more than 20 countries, ranging from South Africa and Japan to the United States and the Nordics. Accedia’s reputation as a go-to software development partner spans various sectors, including Manufacturing, Finance and Banking, Technology, and Energy, and is evidenced by the steady high percentage of clients happily recommending their services to counterparts.