The selection of a technology partner is one of the most significant business decisions you will ever make. This might improve your company and push it towards sustained growth, or it might choke your processes and workflows ushering a downfall. A Technology company might be the best, but it might not be the right fit for your company.

How does that make sense? Today technology is rapidly evolving, diminishing the line between technology and business. Previously, technology was used as a means to support businesses, but over the last decade, rapid advances in the field have made it the driving factor in all business. Regardless of how small or how big your business is, the reliance on technology is ever increasing.

Therefore, choosing the right technology partner is critical to your company’s prospects.

• Variety is key initially – The methodology to narrow down a technology partner is not a simple checklist. Meet several potential companies before narrowing down the list of potentials to 3 that you feel are right for your project or transformation. Then, you rely purely on instinct to pick the right one and work with it.
• Requirements & Expectations – Initiate by making a note of what your high-level requirements are, and what you hope to accomplish? Ask yourself, what would my company look like after the implementation? What are your expectations?
• Narrowing down – You can make a list of 10 companies that you feel have the most potential. The most dependable way to do it would be through business references, and a quick web search would also yield good results, but don’t rely too much on the web search as everything you read on the web might not be accurate.
• Finding the Right Fit – Concentrate on companies that are roughly the same size as yours or reasonably larger than yours as smaller companies might not have the capability & Skill, and you might not get the right amount of commitment from the larger companies.

• Initiating Contact – Initiate contact with all of them by sending them your requirements through email though their websites

• Don’t Rush Things – The most committed technology companies are not overly aggressive and are very pleasing and accommodating. They will take the time to set up a meet or several meetings and go through your requirements in detail, asking many questions to gain the right understanding before offering you a proposal or solution.
• Shortlist – Eliminate all those who are aggressive and have not presented proposed solutions in detail. The right company might not have all the answers, but they will find out and get back to you.
• Be Vigilant – A committed technology partner usually asks to sign a Non-Disclosure agreement, which is a sign of quality as they refuse to expose themselves.
• Research – Check their expertise, both by doing research and by asking them tough questions about their solution and their implementation methodologies.
• Follow your Instinct – By this time, you will start feeling a mutual synergy, and an understanding with the partner who you think is the right fit. This is the time to dig deeper into the culture of the company. If both of you don’t run operations similarly, then you are bound to face issues during development and implementation.
• Check Legalities – Check their support for your software post-implementation, and verify the warranty. Confirm inclusions and exclusions in their support services.
• Verify – One of the ways to ensure that the company can deliver what they say they can is by asking them for references. A good company might not be willing to give out their client contacts to protect their privacy, but they will provide you a gist of projects they have done, or companies they have served. Alternatively, you can check their website and contact their customers directly through Linkedin or any of their contact details.

• Finalize – Before finalizing among the top 3, check on what sort of non-technical support and industry knowledge they provide. This is not only essential but extremely crucial, as technology companies are usually working on a GIGO (Garbage in Garbage out) concept as per your requirements. You may have given the specifications, but they should have the management, operational, and industrial capability to come back and say why a particular provision may not be the best for you.

At Cipher Solutions, we treat our customers with the utmost respect and give them the care they deserve. We provide next-gen technology-based solutions for the SME segment exclusively and are increasingly becoming a dominant force in the Saudi Arabian technology space. Even if you don’t decide to employ our vast expertise, you can always reach out to us for any queries regarding technology or deployment of technology, and we will always be glad to serve you.