Website and custom developed applications…

I always give this feedback, never get into the business of developing things that’s not your core focus like shopping cart, chat engine etc. Definitely my intention is not to ask you all to download and use whatever free application or open source you get on the web.

Let’s take the example of shopping cart, reason being a module that requires much integration. Today you have several companies that are core providers of such modules, these modules does not cost you much compared to your effort. Most of these offer one year free updates and support also, even the price will come down on every purchase. You can even buy the necessary modules instead of buying the whole bundle.

These modules will give you the power of skin customization for sure, may not be 100% percentage. It is not difficult to convince your client as you can show them the clear benefits. Today everyone wants to cut costs and organizations are saying no to products that costs high, which needs an average of 6-8 months customization. A ready to deploy solutions is what all wants!

An average shopping cart will consume 2 – 3 months of effort including integration and testing. If your organization charges $10 per hour, and with 2 resources this will cost $6000 to build. The ready to deploy module is available for $2000 and your time for integration will be 100 hrs, max.

Sure I can even build one reusable shopping cart and use it across my projects. I will accept your answer if the answer is yes for 2 points below.

1. Is this your regular business or core competency?
2. Are you a domain expert in this business?
3. Are expecting at least 10 such projects in a year?

Building a shopping cart is not difficult, but do you have the bandwidth to maintain this module?
Image, with this approach the entire project delivery cycle will come down at least by 40% and that’s a clear benefit for you and the customer isn’t it?

You may have a different approach to this, I would be glad to hear it!

Cheers,
Sudhish Chemmur