Businesses are actively investing in software, driving digital transformations which automates their custom workflows. This may be done at single or multiple phases analyzing the complexity of the business workflows and ease of transition. Though these efforts help to optimize and streamline operations, resulting in improved process efficiency, from a business perspective, these transformations are critical, as they involve significant costs and complex transition initiatives. In the worst case scenario, if the transformation strategy fails, the consequences can be severe, potentially leading to business collapse. This highlights the importance of adopting a well-defined strategy when developing software to meet custom requirements.
Understanding the context: What should be opted- a off the shelf product or a custom software?
Analyzing the nature of the business and the value addition it receives (aligning to the business goal) once digitized, should be the primary checkpoint when choosing the development strategy .To be more specific,
- Check if the process have too much manual interventions that can be automated
- Check if the resource (human and technical) can accommodate the transition
- Check if the business uses any existing software services and if so define the purpose of upgrade
- Check if the transition aligns with the business objectives and vision
As custom software development requires a significant investment in time, money, internal resources, and updates in workflows, it’s inevitable to ensure it’s worth this investment. Otherwise check if any off the shelf products available in the market can serve the intent which would be far more general in terms of cost, functionalities and support.
Major Don’ts
- Don’t skip the analysis or discovery phase: Failing to thoroughly understand the business needs and user requirements can lead to misaligned features, wasted resources, and a product that doesn’t solve the intended problem. Requirement validation is essential to confirm the accuracy of needs and evaluate potential solutions.Ignoring this stage or relying on vague assumptions instead of concrete user stories or use cases can backfire .
- Don’t complicate the design: Whether it’s the platform technical architecture or the visual design, solutioning becomes outstanding when it’s more simple. Complicated designs make the platform engineering process slow and dull, and worstly affects the useability of end users. User centric visual designs along with effective technical architecturing promises high platform performance and useability.
- Don’t underestimate the security: Neglecting the security considerations can expose business to cyber threats and data breaches. It may result not only in losing the user’s confidence but will invite legal liabilities for the organization. Proper consideration for security and privacy regulations should be ensured when developing a software.
- Don’t ignore scalability or integration potential: Developing platforms without considering scalability is disastrous. It’s not just the expensive rework, but also the platform’s performance that takes a blow. Having foresight regarding user load and feature expansion is essential when building a platform. Additionally, exploring third-party integrations to support scalability can accelerate the go-to-market process.
- Don’t postponed testing to the last phase: Bugs in the production can negatively impact user experience and question the credibility of the platform. Directing to costly fixation, the last minute testing may fail to confirm if the built in functionality defines the requirement drafted. The user feedback and the market fitness cannot be assessed until it is too late, if the testing keeps pushed to the last phases.
- Don’t forget post deployment support: Custom software requires ongoing maintenance, updates, and potential fixes. Focusing only on the initial development without considering future maintenance and support can bleed the product workability. Support strategy and resource allocation should be checked after each release based on the functionalities built.
Major Do’s
- Clarity on business goal: Understanding the business and developing an effective digital transition strategy requires clarity on business goals. Requirement elicitation and validation process will help in gaining this clarity. Qualitative and quantitative user surveys, descriptive analysis of reports and comparison with products available in the market will help in defining the approach to attain the goal.
- Handshake with experts: Once the business goal is defined and the development strategy is crafted, validate the approach with top software development firms, either it be offshore software development companies or on shore development companies. The subject matter experts will analyze the business and technical challenges, possibilities and approach and make corrections based on the priorities. The technical architects and business analysts involved from the firm will contribute at this phase.
- Leveraging third party services: Wherever possible, use off the shelf third party services and check for the scope for white labeling, which will speed up the go to market in low cost and time frame. All leverage services provided by high quality service providers as it diminishes the product quality in any case.
- Keep an eye on estimates – cost and time: Though the software development cost estimation is challenging, having an upfront estimate will help in proper resource allocation, identifying cost-saving opportunities, and delivery planning. When requesting cost estimates, it’s important to consider time estimated for different phases and the value it adds to the product.
- Discovery or the Requirements analysis phase: This involves understanding the project’s scope and client needs, including time for user interviews and defining user journeys.
- UI/UX design or visual designing: Costs and time associated with wireframing, prototyping, and creating the overall user interface.
- Software development: Typically the largest cost, covering front-end, back-end, and database design, along with integration efforts. The number of developers, with respect to the development approach will affect both cost and timeline.
- Testing and quality assurance: Includes unit, integration, and user acceptance testing, as well as bug fixes, security audits, and performance optimization.
- Project management: If needed, this covers overseeing the project lifecycle, managing risks, and ensuring clear communication between the client and development team.
- Maintenance and support: Ongoing updates, bug fixes, and support services to keep the software functional and relevant after delivery.
- Communication is the key: Communication doesn’t end once the requirement is passed to the development partner. It’s just the initiation part. Deep discussion on what, why and how will help to engineer a perfect product for the market. Testing intermediate releases (based on the methodology chosen), sharing feedback or change requests at the earliest possible time will reduce the rework efforts.
- Be vigilant on data: Domain specific data flow regulations to ensure secure data transmissions should be considered when discovering, analyzing, architecting, designing, developing, testing and deploying the applications. This will make the platform aligned with the compliances.
Conclusion
The complexities of custom software development as mentioned in the blog should not restrict your business from exploring the digital transformation journey. By adhering to the do’s and avoiding the don’ts, you can ensure a smooth transition that will deliver a competitive edge in your domain.
