Volano’s first interaction with a potential client is about answering questions and evaluating alignment. The big question is obvious – “what’s this gonna cost?” Well, good news/bad news –
Good news – we’ve built hundreds of software systems so we can give you a ‘round’ budgetary estimate in our first meeting. Bad news – we won’t be able to give you a refined estimate until we’ve spent more time together understanding your project and your business.
Consider this – what you want to build will be one-of-a-kind. That is to say ‘custom’… i.e. never been created before. That is why it is hard to estimate. That’s also why it is likely to be expensive. Creating brand new assets takes skill, professionalism, and … calendar time.
Volano has a proven process to get the answer to this big question. We call that process Discovery. The outcome of discovery is a Statement of Work that will document what is to be built, how long it will take, and the estimated cost with a high-level of confidence.
Another important factor to consider is that software is never ‘done’. There are on-going costs and your software development firm should be clear about this. We can help you plan for the costs related to supporting your software over the long term. Also, we offer multiple support methodologies and will can help you chose the best plan to align with your budget and expectations.
June 13, 2023
Data is like a vast set of building blocks, each has different shapes, sizes, and colors. Just like each brick has its unique utility, every piece of data carries a unique piece of information. As a business owner, how can you possibly start understanding what all the pieces of data from those fancy reports mean? […]
June 2, 2023
For small manufacturing companies with less than 100 employees and revenues of around $20–50 million, several key factors contribute to their success. Here are some important considerations: By focusing on these key factors, small manufacturing companies can enhance their competitiveness, achieve sustainable growth, and maintain profitability. It’s important to adapt these factors to the specific […]
June 1, 2023
Several years ago, I was working on a product that required some attention from the software product teams. This happens to all software over time because a user’s needs change, features need to be added, and bugs happen (naturally). The undertaking was large enough, so our team agreed it would be ideal to talk with […]
May 30, 2023
There’s an ongoing debate: custom software versus off-the-shelf Software as a Service (SaaS). A few misconceptions tend to cloud everyone’s judgment and influence decisions in this area. It’s time to put these myths to rest and bring clarity to the conversation. Myth 1: Custom Software is Outdated Custom software is inherently outdated, which couldn’t be […]
March 15, 2023
Why continue to utilize a mess of spreadsheets to run your operations? We think there’s a better way. Here are the top 7 reasons you should switch to custom software.
February 3, 2023
Wait. What’s the problem again? Several years ago I was working in Healthcare for a tech startup. At the time, healthcare systems could not bill patients until a chart was signed off and locked by a provider (MD, PA, or NP). The provider had to step through every single screen and check a box regardless […]