One of the typical questions when you look at the project briefing is how to minimize software development cost. There are many ways of doing it without sacrificing quality, however, don’t forget it is all about trade offs.
Collaborate with software experts
When we talk about reducing software development costs, one way to achieve this is by outsourcing. Fortunately, you can find many exceptional development partners, such as Apiumhub, and you no longer have to worry about geographical or knowledge limitations. Partnering with a software agency allows you to leverage a large pool of resources and save on a multitude of expenses, such as paid vacations and sick leaves, insurance, recruitment costs, budgets associated with onboarding and training, and more. Here from the first sight let’s say hourly or monthly rate may seem expensive, but if you really choose experts, you start developing your project right from the start, applying best practices, thinking about software architecture, infrastructure, etc. Note, that before starting a collaboration it is highly important to provide detailed project scope and requirements.
Use prebuilt features
Analyze and identify which pre-built features you can actually use. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to pick everything off the shelf, you can simply consider this for features and add-ons that can be easily and seamlessly integrated without having your development team write code from scratch. For example, a user management and access management solution can be built from scratch in 2 weeks paying hourly rate or it can be integrated in one day with the VYou app paying for a yearly license, which is much cheaper, you can read more about it here. This can not only save time but also reduce the overall cost of the project. Moreover, since the add-ons and prebuilt features are already tested for performance and functionality, they can help in terms of developing a comparatively affordable yet high-quality product.
Agile
Agile is an insurance policy for market changes. By designing your solution according to this methodology, your project remains flexible and is always ready for change. It is always better to correct the mistake early in the process. With this method, you keep your finger on the pulse of a dynamic market and changing user expectations, which means that you can always adapt, change your strategy and create a product that will be in demand by the target audience, even if preferences have changed during the development process.
DevOps
DevOps is one more way to optimize the development budget of your application. A key DevOps approach is that this practice and its culture allow team members to better interact with each other and the customer. The software development team and those responsible for the operation of the application share responsibilities clearly, and it helps you avoid shifting responsibilities from one team member to another. DevOps involves the intelligent consolidation of areas of responsibility. Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) are the main components of the DevOps strategy. According to this practice, each module created is gradually integrated into the business processes in order to assess its effectiveness and get feedback. Thus, you can avoid a situation where the application created does not meet the goals and needs of your business.
Essential features only
It is important to focus on minimum viable product (MVP) – the first working prototype of your solution, which contains only key functions, vital ones for the business, to test it, receive feedback and iterate.
Semi-custom alternative
Custom software development costs can be high since your developers will create each module and design each element from scratch. This is the best way to come up with something really outstanding or innovative, however, if your development budget is limited it is necessary to look for other alternatives. Here the main idea is to use already existing functionality from other apps, which is already proved to be working. For example, VYou app can be used as a user management system, but it can also be personalized and you can still add features that are a must for you.
TDD
Test-driven development, or TDD, is a process of iteratively writing tests for your code. Once these tests are in place, you can confidently develop your software, knowing that you are not accidentally breaking functionality. It may require more time at first, but then it gives you this sense of confidence and security that you are not breaking the functionally, you are building working software.
Right tools adoption
You can start with tools that will have an impact on your day-to-day work. Some common examples include: platforms for managing projects, customer relationships, infrastructure, testing, payments, access management, etc.
Automation
When building software, spend as much effort as possible to automate your processes. You don’t have to re-invent every wheel. Spend your time and money developing new features or improvements, not reinventing existing ones. Automation leads to greater productivity because it allows limited human resources to be focused more efficiently on specific tasks with higher payback. Besides, the only thing you have to consider is if a third-party company has already done a better job developing an automated solution for your needs or if you have enough time & money for developing your solution from scratch.
I hope you found this post useful!
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