Eight key criteria to select a global trusted partner for application development

Results of a recent survey conducted by info-Tech, shows the factors that organizations consider when choosing a vendor. While there seems to be a direct relationship between the size of the organization and the size of the vendor (larger organizations tend to hire larger vendors), it is not the most important factor. There are eight key factor that influence the selection of a vendor:

Experience with a specific technology
Stability
Industry experience
Price
Vendor interactions
References
Vendor size
Location/Time zone

The above is a good checklist however, before making a selection, I would also recommend the following:

Don’t focus exclusively on cost. To offer a reduced price, the vendor frequently has to cut on things that probably you don’t want to be cut, such as project governance, quality of engineers, and other service practices. Also, healthy organizations will be around in the long term, so the vendor’s goal of making money is not necessarily a bad thing.
Your team must be involved. A common mistake is to think a project can be just handed over to a vendor with minimum involvement on your side. This is not a reasonable expectation. Be prepared to govern your relationship with a vendor, and yes, this means policies as well.
Be careful with that first project. When you are dealing with a new vendor, it is a good idea to start with smaller, less critical-path projects/tasks. This way you will have the power to decide when and how to give them more responsibility, or pull the plug if necessary.
The little things make a difference. A trusted partner becomes part of your team, and working with a remote vendor can be challenging. Make sure your vendor can deal with: