What We Do:
Essential Software is a software maintenance outsourcing company focused on helping our partners increase the value of their legacy applications. Some of the benefits our customers mention they get from working with us include increased customer satisfaction, increased customer retention, improved productivity, and reduced development life cycles.
What is the difference between a software-contracting house and a software maintenance specialist?
First, outsourcing creates a context that focuses on business results. Contractors deliver hours – at Essential Software, our focus is on business value. As software maintenance outsourcing specialists, ESW engineers deliver high quality fixes, enhancements, and strategies that increase the value of mature, field deployed systems.
Second, most engineers and development staffs are focused on ‘Next-Generation’ solutions, especially in companies where time-to-market is critical. Our partner’s development staffs are focused on new languages, new technologies, new development methodologies and a constantly searching for what’s next. Yet these businesses recognize that the most logical customers for these ‘Next-Generation’ solutions are using today’s software and systems. Relying on Essential Software’s legacy expertise, our partners know what they are going to spend on an application, know what results they can expect, and know the delivery schedule.
Our team consists of elite software engineers with vast experience in providing precision software services on many of the leading platforms. We offer maintenance and new development services for user interface, database and embedded software, particularly turn-key systems. We specialize in Intel hardware and Microsoft operating systems. And we have expertise in web based software development platforms.
Core Competencies
- Rapid Code and Analysis/Understanding
- Goal Setting
- Project Management
- Project Configuration Management
- Programming Modification & Enhancement
- Project Completion
1. Rapid Code and Analysis/Understanding
At Essential Software “we eat code.” Undoubtedly there are more eloquent and less succinct ways of expressing a skill at the heart of Essential Software’s growth. Yet, our customer’s have told us “eating code” speaks to Essential Software’s the skill and speed which to understands a code base, analyzes our customer’s issues, and translate those issues into solutions and that maximize our customer’s Return on Intellectual Property (ROIP),
2. Goal Setting
Establishing clear business and technical expectations is critical to success of software maintenance project. Unlike many companies, who provide one-day project estimates, Essential Software insists that before embarking on any maintenance project that are in agreement with our clients that there are clear requirements, agreed to develop technical and business solutions, and have earned the trust of both your developers and management.
3. Project Management
Identifying, designing, and executing business and technical requirements to ensure project success, including proper documentation. At the same time overlaying your existing processes so that you feel that ESW is an extension of your staff.
4. Project Configuration Management
A subset of Project Configuration Management - Software Configuration Management (SCM) - is important to any software project. In outsourced maintenance projects, it is ESW’s experience is that it is vital that configuration management to include communications, requirements, test cases, collateral material, etc. Collecting and cataloging this more inclusive view of software, significantly enhances our ability to focus our efforts and has improved our maintenance partnerships.
5. Programming Modification & Enhancement
Surgical precision is required for software maintenance. ESW has both a business and technical methodologies that make only the change requested, minimize the chances of injected changes, and maximize the value of your software Maintance dollar. Our quality assurance engineers work with you to minimize your customer’s risk.
6. Project Completion
Completion is a focus at ESW. Delivering on time, on budget, and agreed quality requires us to become experts at rapidly closing issues. Even with your and our best efforts software is not perfect. We have developed methodologies which cleanly close projects. At the same time our post-delivery program and product warranty position us to both complete the project and continue our relationship with you, your code, and your customer’s. Our business model insures that we are as vested as you in a successful solution.