4 Qualities to Look for When Choosing a Technology Partner
As IT leaders claim their seats at the decision-making table, leaders must prioritize hiring technical talent to deliver on strategic projects, help drive revenue for the organization, and foster a culture of innovation. The right talent can differentiate your IT organization within your company—and your company within the marketplace. Identifying the individuals who can bond together strong team and who have the right skills needed is a worthwhile but time-consuming task. When you’re tight on time or struggling to find the best talent, consider partnering with a technology firm.
We have the four key qualities that you need in a top-notch partner; but first, let's look at why you might need a technology partner. We'll also cover when and how to get the partnership going.
Why engage a technology partner
If your IT organization requires future-forward insight and expertise you don’t have in house, engaging with a third-party talent provider can be an economical way to find the talent you need. Using a technology consulting firm also allows your organization to use only the amount—and hours—of expert talent you need. Technology consultants enable you to scale easily to meet your IT organization’s needs, with the specialized expertise you need, when you need it.
Technology consultants often work on a wider variety of client engagements versus in-house talent, allowing them to bring a wealth of experience across a range of industries to each project. They’re also more likely to have worked on IT projects at different stages of development and maturity. This diversity in experience gives these technologists a broader perspective and can help your team ensure that your current technology approach will not limit your IT organization’s long-term direction.
Technology firms like SPR also have a wealth of experience hiring market-leading technical talent. If your organization doesn’t regularly hire technical talent, doing so can be burdensome—and not the highest and best use of your recruiting team or technical employees. Vetted technology talent can be the ideal solution when you need to backfill a role to finish a project or when you need industry-leading expertise to architect a cloud-native solution.
4 Qualities to Look for in a Technology Partner
Now let's explore the top characteristics of a technology partner to really set them apart from the pack:
1. Works with you collaboratively
1. Works with you collaboratively
Third-party technology experts should match up with your subject matter experts in a way that allows for smooth project delivery. Pick partners who will prioritize knowledge sharing on your projects, enabling your internal resources to learn as the joint team builds solutions. This will empower your internal talent to better maintain solutions and adapt as your organization grows.
2. Gives proactive advice
2. Gives proactive advice
Third-party experts should be willing to advise you and your teams and apply cross-industry experiences in new ways to fit your business and goals. Look for a talent partner who will offer proactive advice and provide recommendations that help your organization realize additional potential from your technology investments.
3. Thinks pragmatically
3. Thinks pragmatically
A less common attribute to look for in a partner is pragmatism. This means they understand your business goals and industry constraints and help develop solutions that fit your scope. Technology experts should be agile in their work, able to quickly accommodate shifts in business direction or technology requirements, while minimizing overall impact and disruption to the project.
4. Committed to your investment
4. Committed to your investment
Lastly, identify a partner who is committed to your success and sees your partnership as an investment. SPR talent invests time in understanding your organization so we can deliver more meaningful insights. Our deeper understanding, combined with the breadth of experience of our technologists, better positions us to drive the right outcomes.
When and How to Engage Technology Talent
From exploring opportunities in the market, to testing them with users, to developing solutions that meet users’ needs, our experts support the entire development lifecycle. When it comes to engaging partner talent, there’s no “too early” or “too late.” There’s only what best suits your organization, your projects, and your priorities.
If your organization is looking to bring a new product to the market, the right partner can help you brainstorm solutions, research within the market to find opportunities, and explore opportunities with you.
Once you know what you want to design, technology experts can help you substantiate your ideas and refine what you’d like to build. Third-party technologists with expertise in cloud and data can help you make the right technology and architecture decisions before you build, while leveraging UX professionals can help you design a better product before you write the first line of code. Partners can also help you prioritize features and create specs and user stories for your project.
Also use third-party talent during your project build. From software engineers to quality assurance testers to project managers, partners can help you leverage the right professional for the job at hand.
What does SPR have to offer?
At SPR, we pride ourselves on integrating with your experts, and we’re flexible in how we work with your internal resources. We can provide project leadership and a full team of technologists to deliver your project while your organization acts a project sponsor. In this model, we manage the timeline and deliverables. We can also work with our clients to jointly manage timelines and deliverables. We can also provide a few resources to help supplement your existing talent in projects where you manage the time and deliverables.
Regardless of when our talent is involved and in what capacity, SPR technologists are always invested in getting to know your business and project goals.
