Pricing Models
At Business Smart Software LLC we offer three different pricing models to meet our customer’s needs.
Software-As-A-Service
Starting at $99 /month
SaaS pricing is a subscription based pricing model. This pricing model provides numerous benefits to our customers and is our preferred pricing model.
Pay As You Go
Starting at $75 /hr
If we will not be providing any continued services such as hosting, SEO, etc.. then we offer Bi-weekly payments based on the number of billable hours spent working on your solution.
Fixed Price
Starting at $999
If we will not be providing any continued services such as hosting, SEO, etc… then we offer a lump sum payment option based on an estimate of the level of effort for your project.
Software-As-A-Service
Benefits
1. No-Risk Software Development
With our SaaS pricing model, we take on all the software development risk. All you need to do is provide us with a problem to solve and be available for questions. We will build you a custom application to solve that problem. When we finish your application, we will provide you with a complete demo of the functioning solution. If you like the solution we created and want us to provide ongoing services, then we will provide you with a monthly subscription quote.
2. No Commitment
You will never be locked into a monthly fee as you can cancel and walk away at anytime.
3. No Money Upfront
Before you pay a single penny, you will have access to a working solution and will have agreed to the monthly fee. If you don’t want to use the software we provided, then we will thank you for the opportunity to solve your problem and wish you well.
4. Complete IT Solution
We handle everything. You will not need to be worried about web or database hosting, domain registration, DNS management, maintenance, server updates, backups, secure certificates, or anything your application needs to be available with a guaranteed 99% uptime.
How we determine monthly fees
1. Capital Spent On Development
First, we determine the amount of money we’ve spent on developing the solution. Expenses can include purchasing videos, pictures, relays, control boards, fingerprint scanners, domain names, servers, etc.
2. Billable Hours
Second, we determine the number of billable hours we spent creating the solution.
3. Maintenance Costs
Next, we forecast the cost of keeping the solution up and running—hosting, backups, storage, etc.
4. Divide Total Cost by 18
Lastly, we divide the total cost of creating and running the solution by 18 and round to the nearest $99. That means the cost of developing your solution is spread out over 18+ months. It also means that we don’t even start making a profit on your business for 18 months. This pricing model helps to ensure we are providing you with a long-lasting, value-added solution to your problem.
Pay As You Go
Benefits
1. No Hiring Costs
With our Pay As You Go pricing model, Business Smart Software LLC acts as your on-staff Software Development Team. If you need Software Engineers to update or modify existing applications, conduct code reviews, or if you need a few hours of IT consulting, this is the pricing model for you.
2. No Commitment
You will pre-approve the number of hours spent working on your solution, and you will never be locked into providing a set number of hours a week.
How We Determine Our Hourly Rates
1. Required Skill Set
After we understand the problem you need solved, we can determine the skill set required to work your problem.
2. Level Of Expertise Required
Next, we will determine the minimal expertise required to solve your problem successfully.
3. Apply Skill Set And Expertise To Our Hourly Matrix
Lastly, we apply the skill set, and expertise required to our hourly matrix and return a rate between $75 and $250 an hour. This means that if your problem is relatively simple, you’ll pay a rate closer to $75 an hour. However, if you need an AI expert with multiple years of experience of successfully developing AI applications, then you’ll pay a much higher rate.
Fixed Price
Benefits
1. Software Ownership
A Flat Fee or Fixed Price is the traditional pricing model for software development. With this model, once the software is delivered, the software development company has no further responsibilities to enhance or maintain the software beyond a specified warranty.
Downfalls
1. Waterfall Development Methodology
Over the last 20 years, the software development industry has learned that it is extremely difficult to completely understand the requirements of a software project upfront. Without a complete understanding of what is required and all the implications on technology those requirements will have, the Waterfall Development Model has a high risk of failure. The Model is highly dependent on Big Design Up Front (BDUF), and usually, a software development contract will set a fixed price for completing that design. The problems come when the customer realizes changes to the design are needed. Typically, a customer will recognize their design does not work when developers start showing demos of what they’ve already created, and thus, the customer has already paid for.
The problems of the Waterfall Model have led to the explosion of the Agile Software Development Methodologies. While the use of Agile dramatically increases the success of software development projects, it does not allow software developers to give a fixed price. Agile is a continuous process of improvement until the customer’s needs are met. This is why we highly recommend the Software-As-A-Service pricing model that eliminates the risk of paying for software you won’t use.