What benefits can you guarantee?

All projects we take up carry the following guarantees:
Confidentiality guarantee: All client details will be kept confidential
Price guarantee: Minimum 60% cost-saving over on-site development
Support guarantee: Free 3-12 months support for defect resolution
Results guarantee: Progress-linked payments weighted toward the end

What are your rates?

Rates vary, depending on skills, timelines, project nature etc.
Typically, a Developer would work at the rate of $8/ hour (isn't it too low?).

What is the quality of people you employ?

The quality of a software development company is ultimately the quality of its people. Our people are very strong for software projects:
- Are English-speaking Graduate/Post-Graduate Engineers
- Have multiple years of industry experience
- All people have experience on off-shore projects with US/European clients
- Most people are from premier engineering institutes or have proven exceptional abilities
- Are industry-certified (MCSD, MCP, Sun-certified)
- Link3's selection process includes a 1-hour written technical test, 4+ hours of interviewing, reference checking and actual problem-solving on the computer!

For all that you claim, isn't the rate too low?

The rate is low not because of technical limitation, but simply because we operate from Bangladesh, where living costs are much lower due to international economies and exchange rates. It is our strategy to pass on these location advantages to our clients.

What are your payment models?

We work either for fixed-price projects, or on per-hour rates basis. For long-term committed clients who prefer time-based billing, we also offer a monthly rate.

What are your payment terms?

For fixed-price projects:
Advance: 20%
Early proof-of-concept: 20%
Beta release: 30%
Final release: 30%

For per-hour rate projects:
Weekly/fortnightly

These are typical distributions and individual projects may differ in details.

How do you assure confidentiality?

We sign NDAs and Confidentiality Agreements as required by you.

All our employees are full-time employees, and are bound by the company Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure clauses.

Additionally, for sensitive projects, we create isolated cells disconnected from any public network.

At a practical level, all CD-Writers need authorization for usage. Internet uploads larger than a threshold also need authorization.

Can you guarantee time-bound results?

Yes; in some cases we bear project risks even before the first payment.

We are worried about quality; how do you assure solid projects?

Our developers are dedicated to producing quality code. We have formal processes to keep quality under tight control, including periodic code reviews and design walk-through. We concentrate on being first-time right, and believe the creation-step itself should be strong.

Every project goes through the hands of suitable QA/testing professionals, under stringent test-plans including black-box testing, white-box testing, test regression, usage analysis etc.

We are worried about support.; how do you handle this issue?

This is our strong point, and shows our confidence in our work. We issue free 3-12 month defect resolution for all our development, unconditionally.

Why should we trust you?

We believe trust and confidence are the foundation for any successful relationship, and develop only after association over time. The following facts may help demonstrate our commitment to our business:
- We have completed projects for many Hongkong
- We have been 7 years in business, dedicated to the off-shore execution model
- We are here for the long run; our CEO has global experience with leading technology companies and has started up with a long-term vision
- The team consists of people from global companies

What contracts and agreements do you sign?

We sign NDAs before initial discussions, and final contracts are drawn out in detail.
We are normally bound by the legal framework of our client's country, and are a registered company in India.

Can you come on-site?

Yes we do, where required. This may be especially useful in initial requirements gathering, final implementation or other pain points. In such cases, our consultants will work on-site at pre-decided rates.

What control do we have over the project?

You will have ability to keep close control over the project. Our assigned Project Manager will be your single point-of-contact for all issue resolution, and will work closely with your guidelines.

How do we keep ourselves informed about progress?

We will send you regular project status reports. We use a combination of pre-determined update schedules (normally email) and ad-hoc meetings (usually tele-conferences, or live chat).

With Microsoft Project 2003, you can keep live track of project plan, milestones, code status, bug status, timesheets status and a host of other software development metrics.

We like the idea, but are unsure. Can we do a Pilot Project?

Link3 welcomes you to try our services. You may choose to have us do a Pilot Project. We have always succeeded in continuing the relationship after demonstration of ability in a pilot project.

Our preferred Pilot Project is either the first sub-system of a larger project, or an independent project that completes within itself. Pilot Projects are typically within 8 weeks' duration.

We invest the same time and energy in Pilot Projects as real projects. You would find the pilot of sufficient quality to continue on the same code. In this sense, Pilots are very different from prototypes.