|
The number of specialized Drupal consultants is growing worldwide with increasing number of established software developers and startups starting to provide services involving Drupal consulting following Drupal's evolution into a functionality-rich web content management system (CMS). Drupal-core is released for free and its open-source character allows for software tweaks and alterations which enable software developers to build on that platform to produce customized solutions whose application may vary from business knowledge sharing systems to online publishing systems to organizational web portals. Development of a complex web-based system, however, usually requires the use of professional research and software consulting services and Drupal consulting can be of great benefit to both small-scale projects and complex projects developed by large enterprises or government agencies. First of all, a professional Drupal consultant can work out the broader framework of the project and outline the major milestones to be achieved. This project stage should not be underestimated, even in the case of small-scale projects, because Drupal consulting firms can save one's time and money when the matter in hand is precise software development planning as well as perfect allocation of all available resources. Many software development projects have failed to meet their schedule only because of irrelevant planning and resource allocation, which could have been avoided should an experienced software consultant has been hired. Second, experienced Drupal consultants can plan and describe business-specific features of a software system tailoring its functionality to meet the specific needs and requirements of the customer. Some small-scale projects lack detailed software functionality description which could result in major functionality omissions that are hard to correct at a later stage. A reliable Drupal consulting firm should be able to help avoid such mistakes which can jeopardize project's viability as a whole. Furthermore, internally-made software requirements gathering may result in insufficient functionality or overburdening functions that are rarely required in reality and increase the overall cost of the project. Third, Drupal consulting services can be of benefit when drafting a long-term software support and maintenance plan. This is a largely underestimated yet essential aspect of business planning for software application development because software support and maintenance costs should be in line with the overall costs of initial software system development. It does not make sense to develop a web business software system whose initial development and implementation is low-cost and whose long-term maintenance would be hundred-fold more costly. A firm that specializes in Drupal consulting could also benefit a software development and implementation project by defining the scope of stabilizability of the system, thus determining which software modules are subject to further customization and which ones can be used as is in the long-term, which in turn lowers the overall project costs over time. Author Bio: Lawrence Burrows provides services that include Drupal consulting to medium sized enterprises in North America and abroad. His independent software consultancy firm specializes in solutions that incorporate affordable cutting edge technologies utilizing mainly open-source and free platforms like Drupal.
Related Articles -
Drupal CMS, drupal consultants, Drupal consulting, Drupal consulting services,
| 
