Outsourcing Questions

[shonay]

Hello everyone.

I run a small software company, only it turns out getting clients in this part of the world is something next to difficult...My sole Aim is software Development for banking applications which inlcude Java , C#, Delphi.

I want to develop software which I can sell to Banks in Liberia and some west african Nations , going about it is what i dont know how to.

I am just bothered as i dont know where to start. Wondering if i code the Application then Start sending emails or do i start making calls and sending emails to people.

P.S I havent done much on outsourcing as this is probably my first trial.

[Phil]

I run a small software company, only it turns out getting clients in this part of the world is something next to difficult...

That sounds like the age-old problem of small businesses everywhere.

A few random questions that pop into my head:

Is your company a legally registered entity that can operate in those countries? I ask this because many companies won't work with individuals, only legitimate companies that have liability insurance, etc. In the U.S. this would typically be an LLC.

Do you have a business plan? Or is that what you're trying to come up with? One problem that we technologists have is that we often don't know how to speak the language of business. There are probably endless online resources that can help you with this. For example:
http://wendykennedy.com/the-methodology/

That is, can you answer the 9 questions posted there?

Do you have business partners or investors (eg, a retired banker who knows the business)?

What's your competition? That is, do banks develop this kind of software internally, or do they turn to an outside vendor, or is it an unmet software need? Looking at the page source of a bank's Web page might indicate who developed the Web app - maybe work with them to get started?

Back-end software, customer-facing Web app, mobile app?

I would think these questions are more important to answer these questions before writing any code.

-Phil

[tk]

According to my experience it is just very hard to get clients for sth. new.
Unless you find a market hole. There we succeeded some years ago but it was hardware not just pure software.

For pure SW product I think today it is even harder. I think today everybody more and more assumes that SW is free of charge, just download and use.

So to get money from pure software you must have:
1. a very good SW product.
2. a very good marketing or strategic contacts.
3. big portion of luck.