The PTaaS – a development team, at the client’s service
The acronym PTaaS (Product Team as a Service) refers to an innovative approach to IT consultancy, where an entire team of experts is tasked with developing customised software to meet a company’s needs.
Despite its still infrequent use, this approach is slowly gaining ground with companies who have an IT department and require a dedicated team, focused on a specific objective: producing quality programs at competitive prices.
PTaaS and the ‘as a Service’ concept
In the last few years, the concept of ‘as a Service’ has become a key part of many aspects of daily life. For example, streaming platforms which provide films and TV series via a monthly subscription or portals which allow the user to access software remotely without needing to physically install it onto their own computer.
PTaaS operates in a similar way to the strategies mentioned above: the company ‘hires’ an expert product team to work on a project like software development, thereby avoiding having to find suitably qualified personnel for this task themselves.
The advantages of Product Team as a Service are apparent. First of all, it allows you to access professional figures who are genuine experts in their sector: they possess essential knowledge and skills which ensure the quality of the end product.
Furthermore, considering that training a top level team requires time, research and various kinds of investment, there are considerable financial savings to be made. Assembling this kind of team within the company’s staff involves having to divide resources between two or more projects at the same time, risking delays and adverse effects on production.
The ideal software development team members
A PTaaS team dedicated to software development must consist of professionals who are experts in specific roles. Although the type of task to be carried out varies according to the objective to be reached, the following are generally required:
- A Product Manager who focuses on mediation (he must be able to understand the client’s ideas, grasp their business objectives and manage to communicate these to other team members clearly);
- A UX (user experience) expert who guarantees a good level of usability (in most cases programs or applications being developed are aimed at consumers, so they must be easy to understand and intuitive to use);
- A Delivery Manager who optimises working procedures by helping the whole team to function as effectively as possible;
- Various other professionals according to the type of software produced (designer, software architect, frontend and backend developers, system engineers, data analysts, business analysts, testers, copywriters, marketers etc.).
It is essential to underline that, as well as possessing certain skills, the above individuals must also demonstrate the ability to communicate and work well within a group. In addition, a proactive mindset, oriented towards a Lean/Agile experience is indispensable.
As is apparent from this list, finding such highly specialised staff is a real challenge and can be very costly. The PTaaS is therefore an efficient and economical instrument for any company wishing to create a new project, without diverting time and resources away from daily production.
Translated by Joanne Beckwith
