Featured - Finoit Technologies Thu, 12 Sep 2024 10:37:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Detailed Guide-How to Approach MVP in Software Development https://www.finoit.com/blog/mvp-in-software-development/ Thu, 17 Feb 2022 11:50:47 +0000 https://www.finoit.com/?p=16019 Reflecting on his past struggles with team management and experiences of working with managers

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]]> Prototype MVP Product When you build a prototype, you ask—Does it work? The goal is to test the concept from design and technical standpoints. When you build an MVP, you ask—Can it be sold? The goal is to test the concept from sales and business standpoints. The test of saleability does not always need a prototype. And that’s because saleability depends on the value proposition the product offers to its users. The problem that the product solves. For example, Dropbox solved the file synchronization problem that many users were suffering in silence. Although, when it comes to validating the problem, these “silent sufferers” became a greater challenge for the founder, Drew Houston. It is because the problem was intertwined with the “way of doing things”, and users were not aware that it could be done differently for a better experience; a factor that made investors reluctant to bet their money on it. But Drew Houston had faith in the solution, and he was determined to test the leap in faith question—” if we can provide a superior customer experience, will people give our product a try?” To prove this point that they could sell a “better experience”, they needed a workable software, a prototype. But as the product was complex, even building a prototype would have taken years and required huge technical talent. And what if no one needed it? To save all those efforts and money going down the drain, Drew Houston built a demo video: He rolled out this video to a community of early adopters for their feedback and suggestions. Drew recalls, “It drove hundreds of thousands of people to the website. Our beta waiting list went from 5,000 people to 75,000 people literally overnight. It totally blew us away.” This approach of MVP development for startups is known as the Explainer video format. However, it is not viable for all product types. For instance, if you are building a solution for an operations team in a service department, a demo video may not always be a valuable solution to get feedback from non-savvy users. They need something in hand. Well, there are several other types of MVP approaches that popular companies have used in the past.

Types of MVP

Minimum viable product development validation approaches are of two types: Low-fidelity MVP validation is the first type, that helps you identify the problems of the customers, but the quality of proof may not be highly reliable or enough to pursue the idea. The second is high-fidelity MVPs, that help delve deeper into customers and validation channels with strong evidence to validate the solution. While both types of MVPs help in getting “validated learning” about the problem and customer’s requirements, the purpose of using a particular type may differ. For instance:

1. Strategic Objectives of Low-Fidelity MVPs are to:

    • Understand how critical the problem is to the customers and how willing they are to solve it
  • Explore slight variations/changes that could maximize the value proposition
  • Find out the most critical requirements of early adopters

2. Strategic Objective of High-Fidelity MVPs are to figure out:

  • Is the “value proposition” worth buying? Would the customer pay for it?
  • What are the best channels to get validated learning from?
  • Strategic decisions to build or kill the product
Here, take a look at various types of MVPs that fall into the category of low-fidelity and high-fidelity approaches and the strength of the evidence.
MVP Chart
Below is a detailed description of how companies have used these top 5 MVP approaches successfully.

1. Landing Page MVP Approach

A simple landing page is an easy way to get early customers’ responses to your product. For example, Joel Gascoigne, CEO and Co-founder at Buffer used this approach to test “if a scheduling feature for Twitter clients and apps is worthy of its own application”. The application would queue up tweets without having to schedule each tweet individually. To validate his idea, he first launched the following landing page:
Landing Page MVP Approach
Image source: buffer.com He tweeted the page and asked people about their interest in the solution. Few people then mailed him and discussed the kind of product they would like to have, which he considered his first “validated learning” about customers. But it was important for him to know whether customers were willing to pay for it. So next he launched the landing page with a price range.
buffer
Image source: buffer.com When people started clicking on the paid plans, he got his clear validation and he began building the product without delay.

2. The Wizard of OZ MVP Approach

This approach addresses two of the fundamental challenges of software development—time and complexity by creating a fake impression that the application is already working. Zappos, acquired by Amazon in 2009 at $ 1.2 billion, had used this approach to create an effective prototype of their footwear eCommerce startup to test the market response.
zappos
Zappos’ early website Nick Swinmurn, the founder, wanted to test the assumption that people would buy shoes online or not without actually trying them. Instead of building a costly inventory and an automated platform to manage the backend, he just went to the local stores, took a picture of the product, and then advertised it on the website. If someone orders, he would go to the store, buy the pair, and process the backend work manually. Gradually, the application gained momentum, and the rest is just history.

3. Concierge MVP Approach

The Concierge MVP approach is the younger sibling of Wizard of OZ, with a little difference. While it too uses manual work to replicate an automated program until the solution is validated and developed, a critical difference is that users know about this “little trick” unlike in the Wizard of OZ approach.

4. Single Feature MVP Approach

It is a traditional MVP approach and works best when you know that the key factor that solves the problem. For example, Spotify knew that people love listening to music and they were about the white spaces the product would fill in. They offered the solution which Napster was providing illegally and Apple was charging $2/piece. Today it is a fancy product but it initially started out as a technical prototype to get rid of “buffering” while listening to music. They first shared this prototype with friends and family.
Single Feature MVP Approach
When they got thumbs up from their circle of friends and family, they began working on the product and launched the beta version in 2007. To test this version, they chose influential music bloggers from Sweden. Soon the word spread, and they expanded from the freemium version to the premium version.

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5. Crowdfunding MVP Approach

One of the greatest examples of achieving success with the crowdfunding MVP approach is Oculus Rift. The company raised $2.5 million in a Kickstarter campaign followed by series A and series B rounds before Facebook acquired the company. This MVP approach is loosely based on give-and-take principles. The early adopters fund the product in lieu of some “rewards”, for say, a discount on the fully-developed product.
top 5 mvp approaches
While these are commonly used MVP approaches, there are several others such as email campaigns, blogs, the piecemeal MVP (used by Groupon), and digital prototypes to test the assumptions or business hypothesis for a solution. Choosing the right MVP approach is always a challenge. The water in the ocean is not the same everywhere, and if you want to test the water, you must choose the right spot, which in this case is the channel and the early adopters.

Choosing the Right MVP Approach for Your Business

Your approach to MVP in software development depends on the factors that drive the business environment at different stages of the MVP cycle. A full-cycle of minimum viable product development look like this:
MVP Cycle
At each stage, ask key questions related to the problem you are trying to solve to uncover the potential of the solution and approach to prove the solution.

Ideate

Ask relevant questions that would help you understand the problem better and take effective action to find a reliable solution. Ask yourself—

What are you trying to solve?

One of the tricks to be sure of assumptions is to create an assumption stack by listing all your problem assumptions, core solution assumptions, and implementation assumptions alongside their hypotheses. Here you would daisy chain assumptions to understand which problem is built on top of the other problem. Once your assumption grid is ready, you could see which assumption has a higher chance of failing, which if fails will make other assumptions irrelevant and would ultimately kill the software product. Let us take an example of a video chat application, similar to Google Meet.
What are your riskiest assumptions
Now let us evaluate the risk factors for every assumption and hypothesis, for instance, what happens if the number of companies adopting remote work start decreasing. Would the solution stand the test of continual requirement, growth and scale? The next hypothesis is that employees of such companies use mobile devices. Have you done any research on what type of devices are used by the workers of targeted markets, such as iOS or Android or Windows devices? What if most of them use Android whereas your application is designed for the iOS platform? Or what if most of them work on laptop/desktop and do not find it feasible to use mobile devices during work? The riskiest assumption must be handled first, as it might be about the problem that you are going to solve. And that is why it is important to conduct experiments, market research, and customer interviews to validate your assumptions and associated hypotheses before you start building a software application.

Are you the first? Or close to the first?

Providing a one-of-a-kind solution or being second or third in the row with a “unique value proposition” may need you to create a more impactful MVP to convince the customers that they even have a problem. Like what happened with Dropbox? Users were not aware that file synchronization is a problem, which could be solved. Before your approach mvp development companies and engage in the product development process, you must have an understanding of user awareness reality as in:
  • Do customers know that they have a problem?
  • Do they want to solve the problem?
  • Are they willing to pay to solve the problem?
  • Do they understand that your product is the solution?

Who will be the early adopters?

Early adopters are generally those users who will overlook the not-so-attractive aspects of the software and use it for the problem it solves. Segment your early adopters on the basis of their industry, budget, demography, and tech-savviness to understand them better. Focus on:
  • Any potential solution they are using to solve the problem
  • What workarounds do they use?
  • Are they fully aware of the critical challenges and opportunities they are losing due to that specific problem?
  • Is your solution the straightforward solution to their problem?
  • Are they just interested or willing to pay for the solution?
  • Does the amount they can pay prove a business case? Can it make a profitable business?
Having the right early adopters is critical to the software product development process because you learn through them, and their feedback extensively contributes to your next step.

Build

Start building for early adopters. An important step at this stage is to define the full vision product and simultaneously define essential MVP features required to let early adopters realize the value proposition of your product. Ask yourself—

Have you prioritized the features of your MVP?

What is the full vision of your product? And where stands a “minimum viable” solution?
Have you prioritized the features of your MVP
Start by deciding on the elements of “minimum viable”—minimum+viable.

Prototyping Phase

If most of your assumptions have been already validated in customer interviews or market research, you may begin deciding on the elements of MVP (Minimum but Viable). A lot of times, you may also build a clickable prototype, for example, in a B2B SaaS, you may build a clickable prototype with a basic MVP software design to evaluate the market /user reaction and a potential fit. Besides, MVP is not just about product validation. It is about giving a taste of your product to customers and at the same time, evaluating the strategic fitment of your product from business perspectives. So for say, if the fully envisioned video chat application contains 10 high-end functionalities, as similar to Google Meet, your MVP must contain minimum features that help your customers realize the value of the product, see its benefits, and continue using it. For instance, a comparison between the features of MVP and a fully envisioned video chat application may look like this:
Prototyping Phase

Usability testing

Modern software users are habituated to using “convenience” features, for example, swipe or drag-and-drop features, instant registration via. mobile device, access to contact list, and so on. While in MVP, early adopters may disregard high-end functionalities, but not these basic features of convenience. It makes using the product simple for them, and helps them to focus on its value. A/B testing of mvp software design elements by actual users will help you identify such requirements and get high-end feedback on app’s usability.

Iterative and incremental development

Assumptions are subject to change with new learning. Following an Iterative and incremental software development model is recommended so that product managers and software developers can test the components based on new assumptions or requirements without the risk of losing too much time and effort. Iteration may include a complete overhaul of an MVP app development project or simple errands that could make the application user-centric. “it’s not iterative if you only do it once. Teams need to make a commitment to continuous improvement, and that means not simply refactoring code and addressing technical debt but also reworking and improving user interfaces.” —Jeff Gothelf (Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience) Work with an MVP custom software development agency that specializes in agile project development management. In this methodology, the project is split into smaller, independent software development cycles thus allowing product managers to make necessary revisions until satisfactory results are produced.

User Representation and Validation

Who have you talked to for your MVP app development project? Have you let actual users test the MVP? Will they recommend your product to others? It is important that your validation or beta testing circle includes actual users as they would give you a better perspective of the challenges they are facing and the value they need.

Learn

Collect and read data. What does it say? Do customers love your product? Are they paying for it? Will they continue to pay for it? And most importantly, is your app or web development MVP a profitable project. Ask yourself—

Has the MVP proved how the problem is solved?

This really depends on how rigorously you have tested your assumptions on the metrics of low-fidelity and high-fidelity MVP approaches, and the performance of your product on critical metrics. According to Eric Ries, entrepreneur and the author of The Lean Startup, there are 5 stages of growth that matter to MVP development for startups, and at each stage, they could learn about the product performance on the metrics specific to your product type. Take a detailed look below:
The Five Stages of Growth
Stage Learning
Empathy Found a poorly-met need that a reachable market faces
Stickiness Found a solution of the problem that customers would keep using and paying for it
Virality Figured out a model that incentivize sharing and referring of the solution among the user-community
Revenue Found a revenue model that fuels organic and artificial growth of the solution
Scale Figured out a sustainable and scalable model for the solution
At each stage, you can use the following metrics to measure the growth of your solution in context to the learning you need.
Has the MVP proved how the problem is solved
Image source: slideshare.net Evaluations on these metrics will help you understand customer and market response to the MVP, following which you can move ahead with your strategic decision to build or kill the product. Next Step—Learn, Build, Repeat MVP is a continuous process. To keep this process up and running, and achieve excellence, make sure that you prioritize customers’ responses instead of being possessive about your idea of the product. A great idea sometimes may not be a not great product. Or it may not realize the ROI you have initially expected. Staying true to customers and market responses and developing your capabilities around it helps you navigate the challenges and build a solid, successful product. Need help to build an MVP? Write to us at info@finoit.com or schedule a no-obligation consultation now to get an expert opinion.

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]]> To Join a Startup or an MNC—The Dilemma of Programming Beginners https://www.finoit.com/blog/join-a-startup-or-an-mnc/ Fri, 10 Dec 2021 13:42:26 +0000 https://www.finoit.com/?p=15923 A thought of comparison between Startups and MNCs brings to mind the iconic scene from the 1975 movie Deewar.

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]]> A thought of comparison between Startups and MNCs brings to mind the iconic scene from the 1975 movie Deewar.

As if the mighty MNC is asking the modest startup—what can you give to your employees? Mere pass large projects hain, infrastructure hai, brand power hain? Tumhare pass kya hai?

Do you think “hamare pass learning hai” by the startup stands a chance against an MNC? Or probably growth or projects may be.

No one is expecting a massive show from the startups, but if MNCs claim that they function like a startup, there is something worth looking into.

If we could figure that out, we would probably be able to solve the dilemma of programming beginners torn between an MNC or a startup and help them make the right choice.

Let us first simply explore what a startup could offer its employees.

1. Inside view of how companies are built (or should not be built)

A flat hierarchy structure is a thing in startups. You could actually see how management functions, how people in the management make decisions, and what influences their decision-making. You would get exposure to the real startup hustle of building businesses with limited resources.

Joining a startup at the beginning of your career would provide you an inside view of what it takes to run a company, an insight which you could use later on to your entrepreneurial journey.

“Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.” – Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO

Continuing your journey with the same startup has its own benefits. As in startups, you grow with the company. Fortunately, if the pace of growth is high, you could step into leadership roles in a short time.

The leadership journey of Parag Aggarwal is an excellent example. He joined Twitter in 2010 when it was a mere 4-year old company, and now holds one of the coveted positions in the company.

While it is easier to dismiss his extraordinary achievements in a startup as one-of-a-kind, there are hundreds of professionals, whose length and breadth of achievements may not be as his, but definitely are as inspiring and fulfilling.

2. Proximity to the amazing talent

Most of the founders and co-founders of startups are from prestigious white-collared institutions.

Those who are not, are also no less. As they have great industry expertise, knowledge of the domain, generally a sharp business acumen, and most importantly a passion and vision to change the way things work.

A few things that bind these two lots together is their instinct to not go by the rules; to not do what everyone else is doing, and most importantly, to see opportunities that are most overlooked.

At startups, they would be your mentors. You would be working alongside these people.

You may also find some amazing “misfits” in your team. These misfits are highly talented people but lack the traditional traits essential to succeed in MNCs. They are passionate about the kind of work they are doing instead of the glamor of the workplace, brands, or even the project.

Besides, you would find someone just like you, starting from scratch, hoping to make it big in the future.

3. Developing leadership skills

At startups, while you are bound to a process, you could easily liberate yourself whenever you find out that you are in the wrong lane.

This is because the larger objectives of the organization are in your plain view. You could see your efforts aren’t getting results, you can easily reach out to experts within the organization, take their suggestions and apply feedback.

You would have the opportunity to measure the alternatives and share a more effective solution, which is likely to be implemented, even if you have to walk alone and lead the process all by yourself.

4. Project allocation and distribution of tasks

While how projects are assigned in a startup varies from talent to timeline, and differs from company to company, what could be generalized here is the knowledge of your project type.

A common complaint among MNCs candidates is that they were assigned unattractive projects with low learning value.

Or the project they were assigned is unrelated to what they were trained for or have studied. There have been many instances where an app development agency or a software development agency will place a server-side developer into QA roles.

Unfortunately, most of them get stuck in the same project for years, especially because they do not have risk-taking habits.

This rarely happens in startups. It is because startups do not handle many projects at a time. So the hiring is quite specific, helping to avoid common tech team hiring mistakes. During the recruitment process, hiring managers are aware of what they are hiring for.

They can provide clarity on the work type so that you can decide whether to join the company or not.

5. Future Plans

Your decision whether to join a startup or an MNC also must align with your long-term career objectives.

For instance, do you want to start your own company?

Or do you aspire to hold senior level managerial positions in top MNCs?

Be realistic when evaluating your potential for accuracy. You should not be someone who ended up working in MNCs for years in an attempt to build a safety net and be totally surprised by the hustle of starting a business.

It is because MNCs provide a comfortable environment. You must give credit to them for creating a stable, organized, and respectful work culture. As with the startups, its ecosystem is maturing gradually. At startups, you would be the to make the decision, and you would be the one who is going to implement them.

The managerial and subordinate lines get blurred quickly, depending on who has more talent in that area, instead of what designation one holds. In startups, everyone is team A.

Also Read: What are the most common reasons software startups fail?

6. Learning to deal with agility and chaos

Startups are for troublemakers. The one who likes to abolish the traditions—the traditional way of doing things, the traditional thinking of job security, or a 9-5 work culture.

The agility of startups is unmatched, there is no place for outdated traditions that hold the enthusiasm and talent of professionals. The open culture in startups allows you to convey your message quickly to the right person.

But getting heard has its own risks. Because once you are heard, it is highly likely in a startup that you would be responded to.

And that response could be in the form of questions, harsh feedback, tougher to implement suggestions, even rebukes, but in most cases an authority to take action. From the very beginning, your skills could be in question but would eventually lead to very fast progress in your learning curve.

Competitive Factors Startups
Workplace environment Open communication and flat hierarchy, high entrepreneurial energy
Team culture Mentorship over management
Learning No template-based learning, hands-on experience of handling multiple aspects of a single project.
Growth Exposure to entrepreneurial journey, high recognition within the company, ability to switch roles and grow quickly.
Life at startup Full of surprises, good and bad both.

PS: Do not mistake a startup culture with pizza, free-soda, casual attire or a family-like culture. Look inside, check the real culture—by how they interact and promote talent within the company.

What do you think? Do startups stand a chance against mighty MNCs?

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]]> Guide: 10 Lesser Known Methods to Reduce Software Development Cost https://www.finoit.com/blog/top-10-methods-to-reduce-software-development-cost/ Thu, 16 Apr 2020 12:35:51 +0000 https://www.finoit.com/?p=15754 Our empirical observations since a decade in the software development

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]]> Our empirical observations for a decade in the software development industry suggest that the key to a successful software development project is no surprises.

In software development, any deviation from the original plan for unexpected reasons means an added effort to materialize the “planned outcome”. And since everything in software development has a cost associated with it, such effort could easily lead to budget overruns.

As there are many variables that affect the cost, it is necessary to impose a robust structure at the very beginning, so that every activity must hinge at ‘as planned’. Failing to do so, for whatever reasons—hasty timelines, poor estimations, irrational commitments, lack of foresight, or technical incompetence could have catastrophic consequences for the project.

While being within the budget requires careful analysis and regular tracking of all the variables like — (a) people, (b) programming, (c) tools, and (d) deliverables, reducing the software development cost and not letting it exceed the defined budget needs a lot more effort than standard project planning.

With years of our experience and insights from industry experts and businesses, here are a few proven approaches that not only help in reducing the software development pricing but also beneficial in preventing the cost overruns.

1. The ‘Future’ or ‘Now’?

Most projects start with the future in mind. With consideration of how industry, users and product functionality/features requirements dynamics would evolve. To incorporate and plan, keeping these things in mind, special focus needs to be given to system design and architecture.

Your software’s architecture is like the foundation of the product and may define the level of scale you would be able to achieve. If a software product is being planned like a POC, scalability may not be the priority and can be planned with the timeline in mind while an enterprise software that will be used by thousands of users now and may have hundreds and thousands of users in future need very thorough and meticulous planning for system design.

This planning, with future in mind, in the very beginning, will help mitigate future challenges associated with scalability and may help save huge costs that otherwise would need to be invested to rework on software architecture and scalability.

2. Mapping Requirements

Software requirement analysis and finalization is never a “gathering” process in fact a consistent process of discovery and invention. Researchers and tech authors often use the term requirements elicitation to indicate the changing requirements.

You cannot actually define all the software requirements for the software system at the very beginning of the project. On an average, a small to mid-sized project software development project can take around 4 to 8 months in completion, mostly irrespective of type of software development agency, and in that period, new requirements can emerge at an average of 2% to 5% per calendar month especially if the initial requirements were defined very meticulously.

So if your software development project has a strict budget, try to narrow down the requirements before starting the software development process. Change in requirements is inevitable and never free. The best option is to slim down at the beginning, so when the project demands new requirements in the middle of the development phase, it won’t be a do or die situation for you in terms of budget.

Besides, at times, you will have little control over new requirements. A simple proposal from BA could trigger the new requirements. To address such requirements that have both cost and schedule effects, better create a Change Control Process and assign the responsibility to the stakeholders whose primary task is to control and implement change effectively, rationally, and appropriately, without acting as a barrier, but as a powerful structure that minimizes scope creep.

3. Estimating All Probabilities in Cost

One of the first questions that come to mind is how to achieve cost-effective software development without compromising quality and functionality. And when finally, after continued assessment of the requirements, the budget is fixed and allocated, a very common phenomenon occurs—cost overruns.

Common!

If we try to find what companies may have missed during software development cost estimation, we would come across problems such as:

  • A number of unaccounted activities performed during the project
  • Unexpected but necessary involvement of non-technical workers
  • Unplanned delay in the project, either caused by software failure due to technical incompetency or extensive schedule pressures
  • The emergence of new requirements and lack of contingency reserves

Although it is quite difficult to quantify every activity and keep a reserve for probabilities, it is important that C-level executives evaluate software development pricing and the project outcome in a variety of conditions.

4. Avoid Big Bang Approach

Over-optimism and misplaced zealousness have been one of the many reasons for the failure of software development projects. Even if you have a decent budget for the project, it does not guarantee success.

Here is an example; when Sainsbury’s Supermarket Ltd. outsourced its IT process management and warehouse automation project to Accenture. Initially, the project was large, which was thought to be worth £1.7bn, so Sainsbury roped in other suppliers for building their new automated depots. A year later, Sainsbury began experiencing problems in the warehouse automation system, mainly errors in reading barcodes, and two years later, it announced that its warehouse automation project was a failure. The initiative which started at the estimated budget of £400 million finally stretched to £526m.

Sainsbury’s held Accenture responsible for the failure of the project, however, Accenture refuted the claims, saying that four IT automation systems were not under their existing scope, and since they were not responsible for the “strategy, development, and operations of these.”

According to Paul Smiddy, Retail Analyst at investment bank RW Baird, “Instead of a step-by-step approach, Sainsbury’s went for a sort of big bang.”

Such failures are not uncommon. Whether your project is large or small, slice every bit of the deliverables, from specifications to source code and test cases to user manuals in small sizes and then set the milestones, which will give you an idea of the most recent status.

A successful software development project evolves smoothly—right from the time when the business side of the team puts forth an initial requirement of software with certain capabilities, which moves on to finance desks for approvals, and then finally reaches in the hands of IT executives who ensure there is nothing as unplanned.

5. Accuracy in Schedule Planning

The vision, scale and practices you choose to develop your product lead to a big impact on your schedule. E.g. Consider that you have two technology stacks to choose from, the first one is a low-cost approach which enables you to quickly develop, reach to initial customers to validate the idea, understand the market fit or to reach to investors but it is not scalable if you are an overnight success. However, the second one, while delivering all the above plus scalability will require much more extensive work leading to higher time to market and cost.

What would you choose if you have schedule pressures?

Definitely, the first option—timelines or time to market affect the choices you make, and those choices have cost impact, therefore it is necessary that you conduct proper schedule estimation.

The software development timeline depends on a number of activities, such as- requirements, design, coding, documentation, testing, and project management. For instance, if your IT project is not feature-intensive, then the time dedicated to each activity would be less. Also, these activities vary from project to project, such as the waterfall method requires more activities than the agile method. A typical e-commerce project will have a lesser number of activities than a large healthcare IT project.

Accurate schedule estimation means better planning. If your software development service provider is aware of the schedule pressures at a very early stage, it can choose a delivery strategy and development methodology that delivers the expected outcome.

6. Deciding On the Technology Stack

What is the best option between Angular and React? Is node.js better than Django? How about Postgres or should I select between MySQL and MongoDB ? What would be the best choice between Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS?

There are many such questions that must be rattling around in your head. And since each of these questions have serious cost implications on your software development project, not just today but also in future, taking the right decision is the only option you have. We would recommend you to weigh in on these two things while selecting tech stacks:

(i) Type of software project

The type of software development project affects choices and thus the cost. For example, if it is a backend web development project, your common choices for programming language would be either Java or Python. But if your project is PC game development or enterprise app development, where memory management is not manual, then the preferred programming language would be C++/C# because of its ecosystem, and its closeness to hardware in OS, and drivers.

If you evaluate the scenario from the cost perspective, hiring for Java programmers is easier and with more options available, you have the scope for negotiations, whereas hiring for experienced C++ programmers would be heavy on your pocket.

(ii) Vendor Support

You won’t like to be using anything in your stack that is not future-proof, as in after a few years, if you wish to enhance the capabilities of the system, you will have to work from scratch. While selecting a tech stack, always check what top companies are doing and also who is behind the technology, such as Angular, a mobile and web development framework, is sponsored by Google and React, a framework for UI development, is promoted by Facebook.

When you select technology from a reliable vendor, you get the assurance of long-term vendor support. However, keep in mind that the tech stack must fit your requirements for development, environment, scalability, migration, and software design cost.

7. Balancing Between Skill and Experience

Skill and experience should have strong project relevance.

From project managers to software developers, everyone in your team must have relevant skill and experience, where skill brings technical competency, experience introduces pragmatism and perfectionism that helps in implementation as per plans.

A good programmer has expertise in quick-and-dirty hacks as well as extremely refined robust coding. If you have budget constraints, try to create a balance between senior software developers and executives. On every 5 developers, there should be one senior developer. Also, hire software developers having experience relevant to your project like it is possible that a developer has 6 years of experience but only 2 years of relevant project experience.

A team that has skills to understand functional requirements, can think from the project’s end-user perspective, relate to software’s users’ challenges and develop the software keeping these in mind will create the best balance and the outcome.

8. Tracking Budgeted vs. Actual Expenditure

Often, when building software, we are able to understand and track the high-level deliveries but end up missing micro-level visibility that impacts timelines and the cost. Defining micro-level tasks/deliverables and formal tracking of accomplishments, milestones, and identifying and addressing problems in a timely manner is effective in controlling cost.

There are two benefits of tracking: quality control and cost control, where one is a consequence of another. Tracking budgeted vs. actual expenditure will alert you that something is not right and is deviating from the plans, which then triggers deeper cost analysis.

The cause of the difference between what was expected and what is happening could be anything from mistakes and complexity in codes, bugs and vulnerabilities in the system, or new requirements proposed by the business teams. Regular tracking of budget makes you aware of the existing stage of budget, while alerting you for any red flags in the software development process.

9. Quality Control

In software development, source code determines many programming decisions, and every decision in a software development project has a cost impact.

Having a robust quality control system in place is necessary to ensure that every code is reviewed and inspected on a routine basis in order to avoid any fault in software and to achieve finer granularity. Peer review and automated and manual testing could help you curb any violation of coding standards, choosing bad boolean names, long function, and ambiguous comments.

Code review and analysis should be implemented at a very early stage and developers themselves must take accountability for their code quality, as many empirical observations support that the cost of defect repair is often larger than the coding. When outsourcing your project to an offshore development company, discuss with them how they approach quality control and manage code smells.

10. Support and Maintenance

If you have not allocated enough resources for the maintenance stage, chances are the new cost elements will leave you frustrated. The problem is many relate support and maintenance with just bug-fixing, whereas, according to a research, bug-fixing is just 21% of the entire proproption of the maintenance task.

There are a range of non-corrective measures, which includes aligning with customer priorities and actions based on that such as enhancement capabilities and removal of obsolete capabilities, and software optimization.

You may not be required to take all the measures on an immediate basis. But you cannot ignore them for long, so practically it would be a better approach if you have proper software maintenance planning done with your Trusted software development agency and extend the budget for relevant processes and activities to avoid last-minute surprises.

The Sticking Points

The software development industry is well-equipped to handle a wide range of requirements, from small budget projects to large-scale IT ventures. By approaching your project with practicality and attention to detail, you can ensure a smooth development process and minimize any potential obstacles. However, if any challenges arise, it is crucial to have a reliable system in place to address them promptly.

As a successful software development company, Finoit Technologies stands as a trusted and experienced agency in the field of software development. To know more or discuss your project, you can contact at info@finoit.com. They are committed to delivering high-quality solutions tailored to your specific needs.

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]]> Top 5 Technology Trends that May Disrupt your Business https://www.finoit.com/blog/technology-trends-will-disrupt-business/ Mon, 13 Jan 2020 10:49:59 +0000 https://www.finoit.com/?p=15539 John Chambers, the Executive Chairman of Cisco Systems once said that

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]]> John Chambers, CEO at JC2 Ventures and the former Executive Chairman of Cisco Systems once said that – “At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years…If they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.’’

Rightly said, transformation, evolution, and revolution are the key to success. And with the advent of 2024, the adventure begins! Quite a revolution we would say the last decade was! The transition to digitization has been impactful, revolutionary and thriving. While 2022 surely has expedited the crusade of businesses from manual to digital, we cannot assume it would stop at this.

The power of disruption has been realized by enterprises as well as app development companies and they are eager to try, experiment, learn, and share more.

In the year 2024, we are talking numbers. Millions of numbers actually as our scope has increased a million times. The increase in dependency of usage of tech-based applications like smartphones, devices, latest trends, social networks; it’s all creating a web of opportunities that no one wants to squander.

We have already discovered service apps like Airbnb, Uber; personal assistants like Alexa, Siri, prudent apps like bank apps, shopping apps and the list continues. 2019 has created the base for 2020 to spawn more likelihoods for users with new trends ultimately. Could you imagine the idea, the innovation we are talking about? If not, read through the blog to get a glimpse of the feasibility of 2020 tech trends.

Gartner the key technology trends of the future would circle two major areas, i.e. human-centric (Sustainability, Hyper automation, multi-experience, democratization, human augmentation, transparency & traceability) and smart spaces (Adaptive AI, edge computing, distributed cloud, autonomous things, blockchain, and AI Security).

As technology evolves and disruption bound businesses to introduce applications and solutions embedded with tech trends that will continue to shape the progress in the coming time, we are excited to share the plethora of potentials that 2020 brings in.

1. 5G

Let’s not underestimate the power and possibilities driven by the 5G trend. Businesses and end-users have already experienced what the growing trend could do and how it could impact the world in both good and bad ways. The power of connectivity through high-speed, low-latency wireless service is impeccable, and the world demands more.

The market research manager of TEKsystems, Mr. Jason Hayman says – “Organizations are advancing their 5G strategies even before widespread network availability.”

5G is one of the technology trends that improves the latency in processes where customers, enterprises, businesses, end-users will experience real-time intelligent decision making or feedback as the network speed fastens.

2. Hyper Automation

Experts outline hyper-automation as a key technology trend of the future. This includes tech-trends like artificial intelligence (AI), Robotics Process Automation (RPA), machine learning (ML), to enhance automated processes and augment human capabilities.

Hyper-automation introduces a range of automated tools that expand human capabilities. It’s different from regular automation as it is a collaborated effort of technologically advanced tools and combining them to create a new way to work.

With little to no human intervention, the hyper-automation trend could develop a workplace that is informed, progressive, agile, and able to use data and insights for quick, accurate, and intelligent decision-making easily.

3. Edge Computing

As per MarketsandMarket ,growing at a CAGR of 17.8%, the edge computing market is expected to reach 101.3 billion by 2027. Clearly, edge computing is a key future technology trend.

The growing need for on-demand compute and real-time app engagements will play a role in driving the growth of edge computing in the year 2024. Edge computing, one of many tech trends that propels the idea of improving the revenue by boosting overall business production, monetizing data, and helping in selling services as products.

IoT enablement is one area that will be significantly benefited by edge computing. When it comes to Web 3.0, edge computing provides for distributed storage networks.

By eliminating the need to transport enormous data volumes across the network of smart devices, edge computing can enable businesses to enhance user experience. The spread of edge AI-enabled devices will thus fuel the growth of the edge computing market.

Fueled by the propagation of connected devices, the benefits that edge computing delivers are:

  • Elasticity to handle existing and forthcoming artificial intelligence demands
  • Avoidance of network latency
  • Faster Response
  • Conduct compound processing that cloud can’t support

4. Democratization of Technology

With expansion and disruption of digitization throughout the globe, the pressure of being digitally advanced even at the end-user level has become critical for businesses. The expensive training to educate and train employees about the latest technology trends such as Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Application Development, etc. has pushed businesses to think of a solution that is compact, reliable, and approachable for end-users.

It is designed to bring a new generation of people/developers who would be self-sufficient to face challenges in the business and act accordingly. By 2024, Gartner is assuming acceleration in four key aspects of the democratization trends, which are:

  • Democratization of data and analytics tools
  • Democratization of development
  • Democratization of design
  • Democratization of knowledge

5. AI Security

Artificial Intelligence has managed to refurbish end-user’s way of living by introducing them with solutions that range from voice assistants to self-driven cars and more. While this is enticing and thrilling at the same time, it is quite hazardous as well. AI opens up the path of security threats easily. There is a lot of information that AI-based apps use to function and become an easy threat.

Capgemini research predicts that almost 51% of enterprises solely rely on AI Security measures for threat detection, forecasting, and retort ideas.

Source: Capgemini

It’s important to analyze the threats and manage the security of AI applications. The year 2024 brings relief as future AI security will focus on 3 critical perspectives:

  1. Enable protection of AI-powered systems by securing AI training data, pipelines, and machine learning models
  2. Introduce enhanced security defense, utilize machine learning to understand behavior & patterns, and automating cybersecurity processes
  3. Forecasting the attacks and plan defending solutions against them

Also Read: How system architecture serves as a blueprint for successful startups?

Conclusion

We can anticipate more tech trends that will disrupt the businesses and prepare them for more significant opportunities and potential challenges. Getting technologically upgraded is the best recourse to embracing these trends. Since the process is fraught with multiple complexities, seeking consultation from an expert can simplify your journey.

So, if you are developing a new-age application, it’s advisable that you join hands with an experienced software development company that keeps pace with the technological advancements.

2024 anticipates more tech trends that will disrupt the business and prepare it for more significant opportunities and potential challenges.

The idea of adopting the latest technology trend seems the only way to meet the user demands and ensure business success

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