The business processes of a company drive custom software development, but a custom software company must take other elements into consideration. The IT infrastructure of a client is also an important factor when designing software.
Obviously software that is running on an individual workstation will be developed differently then software running on 60 networked workstations across multiple branch offices. Also, a company's project growth is important.
If that single workstation mentioned in the previous examples grows into the 60 networked workstations, then the software will no longer be viable.
When working with a new client, Vazkor Technologies tends to use five IT Categories:
- No IT
- Light IT
- Medium IT
- Heavy IT
- Enterprise IT
Vazkor Technologies' client base is comprised of companies in the first 4 categories. At our current infrastructure level, we could not provide more support than an internal department of custom software developers, which most Enterprise IT companies have.
- NO IT: Companies in this category are startups or small home-based businesses. "No IT" companies don't have a network beyond an Internet connection. Companies in this category would benefit from desktop software, or a web based applications. Occasionally, a company needs an integrated solution that integrates their internal data with a website.
- LIGHT IT: Companies in this category start just above the "No IT" level, and have a small wireless network with Internet Connection Sharing and a handful of workstations. At the upper end, these companies might have several workstations and a small server. They might contract with a network professional on a per-need basis.
- MEDIUM IT: Medium IT companies have server products such as Exchange, SQL Server, Sharepoint, etc. Often they have remote workers who connect into their network via a VPN connection. They can have anywhere from 1 to several servers. The company usually has its own external domain name, and will receive and send email using it (e.g. jsmith@companyname.com). They usually have one IT professional on staff to handle desktop and server issues.
- HEAVY IT: Heavy IT companies can have up to a few hundred worstations. They use multiple servers, have an IT department, generally employ a CIO who makes buying decisions, and will almost always have one or more custom built software solutions, but not necessarily a custom Line of Business software solution.
- ENTERPRISE IT: The simplest way to define this level of IT, is to categorize it as "everyone else." Most Fortune 500 companies will fall into this category, as will companies heavily dependant on a large staff. These companies have multiple locations, large call centers, a large HQ presence in a capital city, and a very deep level of heirarchy. Generally these companies do not need the support of custom software development companies of Vazkor Technologies' size because they tend to have their own departments of custom software developers working full-time on staff.