Buyer guide
Choosing among software companies in Riyadh is easier when the question is “which company fits this build, and how would we know?” rather than a search for a winner. Interkey publishes this guide, and it is not a ranking: it scores no other company and names none. It sets out nine questions a Saudi buyer can put to any software company, Interkey included, and where Interkey fits on the facts it can support.
Published 5 min read
In short
A list of company names cannot tell you which one suits your build. The more useful first step is to write the build down in four lines: what it must do, which systems it must connect to, who will use it and in which language, and who will run it after go-live.
| Question | What to ask | A good answer |
|---|---|---|
| Team and working week | Who builds it, from where, and on which working week? | Named engineers in the Kingdom on the Sunday to Thursday week, so a Thursday deployment window is staffed. |
| Disciplines | Which of backend, frontend, data and DevOps will the company’s own engineers do? | Own engineers and subcontractors named, discipline by discipline. |
| Existing systems | Have you built against systems that already run, and will you read their interface documentation first? | Documented experience integrating with existing systems, not only building from scratch, and a discovery step that checks what each system allows. |
| Engagement shape | Is this a scoped project, a dedicated team or added specialists, and why? | A shape chosen by where the domain knowledge sits. A fixed-price project for a problem nobody has defined yet is a warning sign. |
| Arabic and right-to-left | Are requirements gathered in Arabic with the people who use the system? | Arabic sessions, and right-to-left layouts designed in and tested rather than mirrored at the end. |
| Handover | What transfers to us when the work ends? | Source code, documentation and the deployment pipeline, written into the contract. |
| Operation after go-live | Can you run what you build: containers, monitoring, databases? | A written scope that says what is and is not included, delivered from inside the Kingdom. |
| Verifiability | Is the commercial registration Saudi and checkable, and what can we see before we sign? | A registration number you can verify, certificates you can request copies of, and references arranged with the customer’s consent. |
| Commercial fit | How is the work priced, and what changes the price? | A quote per engagement that names its drivers, and a short paid discovery phase before a firm estimate. |
Interkey is a software company in Riyadh that has built custom enterprise applications since 1999, originally as IKeyData, a data partner to Tadawul. Against the nine questions: its team works from Riyadh on the Sunday to Thursday week; requirements, documentation and the delivered interface are in Arabic and English; engagements take one of three shapes (scoped project, dedicated team or augmentation); source code, documentation and the deployment pipeline transfer at handover; the work is quote only, usually after a short paid discovery phase; and its commercial registration, 1010156897, is Saudi and can be checked. Interkey holds ISO 9001:2015 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificates, issued by AQC and valid to 12 February 2029; the certifications page explains how to request copies.
Where it does not fit: a requirement that a configured product already meets, because buying and configuring is usually cheaper than building. The software development service sets out what the team builds. Put the nine questions to it too.
The questions are the same for everyone. Which of them end a conversation depends on what you are buying.
Gates: existing systems and handover. Most of this work is extending, integrating or modernising something that stays in service, so documented experience with live systems matters more than a portfolio of new builds.
Gates: engagement shape and team. If the problem is understood but nobody has time to own it, project delivery fits; if only a skill is missing, added specialists may be enough.
Gates: operation after go-live and handover. Ask who monitors it, who deploys it, and whether you could deploy it yourselves without the original authors.
Score each company only on answers you receive in writing. A question nobody can answer in writing is a finding in itself.
No. It is an evaluation method. Interkey publishes it, scores no other company and does not claim to suit every build. The right company depends on the problem, and the nine questions are how to find out which one that is.
Enough for the questions to tell them apart, and few enough that each gets the same nine questions in writing. Three to five is usual. A shortlist built from the four-line description of the build is shorter and sharper than one built from reputation.
If a configured product already meets the requirement, buying it is usually cheaper than building, and stays cheaper because someone else carries the maintenance. Building is the right answer when your process is what sets you apart, or when no product fits without changing how the business works.
Sunday is a working day in Saudi Arabia. A supplier on a Monday to Friday calendar is unavailable on the first day of the week and during a Thursday deployment window, so ask which week the engineers actually work.
Next
Next step
Describe the build in the words you would use to a colleague: what it should do, what it must connect to, what worries you. The answers come back in writing from the team in Riyadh.
Or directly
+966-11-2180999 [email protected]Tawuniya Towers, North Tower, 7th Floor, King Fahad Highway, Olaya, P.O. Box 56835, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia