HIS Recommends
CHRONOTEK

ChronoTek has been saving companies and organizations money and time by the use of telephone timekeeping. HIS Communications has had the priviledge to work with them in cases such as the UCP Sacramento "Respite" project.
AwShucks Farms

AwShucks Farms is one of our most faithful customers. Go see their yearly corn maze, but don't forget all their other attractions as well!
About Us

Family Owned and Operated - HIS Communications has been in business since 1982. We started out in the telephony field and added computers, computer networks, and software development soon thereafter. We decided, because we wanted to keep our business fairly small, we should concentrate on one area. For the past several years, our focus has been on web application with content management, desktop application, and website development, with a strong focus on the needs of small businesses. The decision to make software development our main focus has been a good one for us. We did not, however, leave our hardware clients without help. We either kept those who wanted to stay with us or found a good hardware service for them.

HIS Communications is a family-owned, home-based business. We have kept our business compact intentionally. We do the work because we enjoy helping small businesses grow. We even work on projects of our own at times. We actually enjoy each other's company and enjoy family activities outside of business hours. If, however, there is a pressing need for our client's work to be finished, we're willing to work until 11:59pm on Saturday night if needed, but not Sunday! Sunday is our day of rest. We'll even start work early on Monday, if necessary, but not Sunday!

HIS Communications employees are members of the Carolina IT Professionals Group, Enterprise Developers Guild, and Charlotte SBS IT Pro Group. Each group meets monthly. The Developers Guild has a yearly code camp that has helped us greatly in expanding our skills to better serve our clients. Carolina IT helps us keep up with the latest in technology in the computer field. Since we use a Small Business Server in our office, the Charlotte SBS Group helps keep us from having to take time away from our clients' projects to work on our own equipment.

How Do We Charge? - Like most people, you probably want to know "What's the bottom line?" We, at HIS Communications, have three (3) ways we use to price software projects. You might call them "pricing models"; we just call them "hourly" or "contract". I can hear you now - "That's only two ways." You're right, of course. Our experience has shown that it is easier to estimate a small software project than a large one. The larger the project, the more the scope and complexities increase. For this reason, we prefer to break up large projects into smaller portions. This is what we mean by "three ways" - "hourly", "contract", "smaller projects". These "smaller projects" can still be priced "contract" or "hourly", but smaller projects can be completed, tested, and even sometimes used while the next portion is being started.

Large Project vs Small Project - So what's the difference between a small and large project? In general, a large project is one that we estimate will take over 3 months. There may be times when a project over 3 months is not split into smaller projects. Each situation is considered on its own merits and the needs of the client. It is our preference to have a contract for any projects which are likely to extend longer than 1 month. Why? Under a contract our client can have a definite price for the project as requested yet still make changes through the use of "Change Orders". We try to be very specific on what the contract covers so that when a "Change Order" is called for it is easy for the client to recognize this and give specifics in their "Change Order" so that a firm estimate of cost addition/subtraction can be quickly provided for the changes requested.

Hourly Rates - Some clients prefer the "pay as you go" approach. This is "hourly" from our perspective. We try to work with what best suits our clients. Our hourly rate can be used for Consulting, Analysis, Project Management, Programming, System Administration, Installation, Training, etc. We offer all or any of these to our clients. We have been told by other software developers that our rates are too low; that we won't be taken seriously at these prices. I repeat - we do the work because we enjoy helping your small business grow. Our hourly rate is only $75. Projects are figured with the same desire in mind - to help your small business grow.