Software costs

An other difficult problem the software industry has to face is the price acceptance. Many times, the inexperienced clients believe that the completion of a software program is easy and cheap.
Programming is a special activity that requires a high level of knowledge not only in the computer area but also in the economic field. The software engineers provide cost-effective solutions that make the economic and production processes more efficient or creates new marketing and sales systems with bigger incomes.
The achievement of a quality software program requires a serious analysis of days, weeks even months of calculations, studies until the best solution is found. In order to achieve this goal you need time, well-trained personnel as well as the most recent development technologies and tools. The expenses of a software company are unexpectedly high. An important part of the company's income is directed to the personnel training (courses, documentation, etc) as well as to the permanent acquisition of the most recent development tools, software and hardware.
Generally, the software companies calculate the cost of a program according to the time estimated for its completion. They calculate x dollars/programmer/1 hour multiplied by the number of hours estimated for the program. When we establish the price we realize how important the detailed specification is. If the specification is good, without any subsequent changes, the final price of the software program can be easily and better established.
As we mentioned at the beginning, if the project - like the house design - is not well done, the cost would be very much increased due to many details occurred during the work, details which are not agreed by the client or were not included in the project in the first place. That situation can be avoided very well if the specification is as comprehensive as possible. As soon as the specification is completed and accepted by the client, the software company has to establish a delivery term and a program price. If the company doesn't comply with the delivery term, the client is entitled to ask for penalties. The company is also entitled to ask the client to pay the eventual changes made after the specification approval as well as to accept a delay of the term in case these changes occur.