GBCORP BLOG · IT SERVICES
Software Development Company: How to Choose One, Using GBCORP
Every software development company says it delivers on time and on budget. The questions below are the ones whose answers predict whether that is true, with GBCORP's answers beside them so a business can compare.
A software development company builds the software a business runs on: apps, platforms, consoles, integrations and the sites that sell them. GBCORP is one, and this article is the checklist it would want a business to apply to it, with the company’s own answers. The questions are about price, rhythm, ownership and support, because those four decide the outcome more than any technology choice.
The questions and GBCORP’s answers
| Question | GBCORP |
|---|---|
| How is the work priced? | Fixed price per release, with a date, agreed before it starts |
| When do we see it? | A test build on your phone every two weeks |
| Who owns what? | Code, cloud project, domain, store and payment accounts in your name |
| What happens after launch? | A support plan with response times, patches and store updates |
| What do you run yourselves? | Apps, platforms and sites in production, on the same engine |
| How do we leave? | Export the data; the accounts are already yours; hand-over included |
Price: per release, not per hour
Hourly billing pays for time and ends when the money does. A fixed price per release pays for a working build with a date. Changes are priced as changes before they start. GBCORP prices a scoping week on its own first, so the quotation is based on screens and a written scope rather than on a call.
Rhythm: fortnightly builds
A build every two weeks that the client opens on a phone and answers within days. Decisions in writing so they have a record. A named contact. The rhythm matters more than the location: a company that ships every fortnight is easier to work with than one nearby that ships when it is done.
Ownership and support
Everything in the client’s name from the first week, so there is nothing to transfer on exit. Code in a repository the client controls, documented with every release. After launch, a support plan: monitoring, patches, operating-system and store updates, hours for small changes, response times by severity. Software without a support plan is a project, not a product.
Checklist before choosing
- Ask for the price per release and the scoping week priced on its own.
- Install two of the company’s own products and use them.
- Read the ownership and exit clauses before the price.
- Ask for the support plan in writing.
- Ask who your contact is and how fast they answer.
- Agree the one number that defines success.
The numbers to expect
Scoping in one week. A first release in eight to twelve weeks at a fixed price; a configured app within days. Releases every two weeks. Support at a known monthly figure. Customised or more complex functionality is quoted separately before any work starts.
A worked example
A manufacturer chose a software development company on a low daily rate and ended eighteen months later with an unfinished system and no documentation. Its second choice was made on the four questions. GBCORP’s scoping week mapped the existing system and the data; the first release replaced the most-used module in ten weeks at a fixed price; two further releases completed the migration. The company received a build every fortnight, owns the code and the accounts, and pays a known monthly figure for support. The daily rate turned out to be the most expensive number in the first contract.
Technology choices, briefly
GBCORP builds apps once for iOS, Android and the web from a shared codebase, backed by a cloud project per client with managed databases, sign-in, storage and functions. Sites are static and fast. AI steps sit behind an interface. The choices are conventional on purpose: a business should be able to hire any competent team to continue the work, and it can.
How the relationship runs
A named contact who answers within a working day. A build every fortnight and a short written note with it. Decisions confirmed in writing. A quarterly review of the number the software was built to move. Changes priced before they start. The relationship is designed to survive staff changes on either side, because everything is written down and everything is in the client’s name.
Sizes of work GBCORP takes
A single configured app for a local business. A custom app for a mid-sized company. A platform for a group with several brands and markets. An AI step inside an existing system. A site for any of them. The routes differ in time and price; the method, the rhythm and the ownership terms do not.
Working across markets
Every product is multilingual with right-to-left layouts as a setting, with currency, tax and payment provider per market. Work is remote by design, with fortnightly builds and decisions in writing, across 17 countries on 4 continents.
Ownership terms in one paragraph
Code in a repository the client controls, documented with every release. Cloud project, domain, store and payment accounts in the client’s name. Data exportable at any time. No commission on sales, and no credentials retained after a hand-over unless a support contract requires them.
Questions we hear first
Large company or small?
Neither predicts the outcome; the four questions do. Ask them of both.
Should the company be near us?
A fortnightly build rhythm and written decisions matter more; GBCORP works across 17 countries on 4 continents.
What if we already have software?
A scoping week maps it; the extension or rebuild is quoted per release, and the data is imported.
Can we test GBCORP cheaply?
Buy the scoping week; its documents are yours whatever you decide.
Where to start
The GBCORP software development hub sets out the method; the GBCORP Custom App Development product is the priced starting point. For the custom-software angle, read choosing a custom software development company.
GBCORP operates across 17 countries on 4 continents through six pillars: AI & IT, Innovation, Sustainability, Infrastructure, Premium Business, and EV's & Solutions.
