Having custom software is the need of the hour for modern enterprises. As a result, the custom software development company is buzzing with activities. Here a question arises- as an entrepreneur, should you spend money on maintaining your company’s software? You may think there is no point in spending money on something paid once, but the correct answer is yes, you should spend money regularly on software maintenance!
On the one hand, software maintenance ensures seamless performance. On the other hand, it prepares the software to adapt to changes in line with business changes. As per the survey, 60% of the spending on software is associated with its maintenance. This article will delve into software maintenance’s importance and business benefits. Let’s start from scratch.
As one of the vital parts of SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle), software maintenance involves modifying and upgrading custom applications. Core objectives of the software maintenance process include eliminating all possible errors and malfunctions, improving work efficiency, and enhancing performance over the period. Simply put, software maintenance involves any activity necessary for optimizing the software product.
Various aspects of software maintenance are infrastructure and disaster recovery, hosting, and management of tailored software. We cannot expect the software to function seamlessly without regularly maintaining it. In other words, software maintenance is essential for providing its maximum value to its users. If ignored, it can bring the risk of losing efficiency of various processes or your customers. Let’s understand it through a few real examples.
Suppose your company owns an instant messaging application. How about your competitor brings a better version of an application? Your application may become outdated in such a scenario. iChat, AOL Messenger, and other IM applications ran out of business for this reason. Also, the lack of maintenance makes your software incompatible with other systems or applications. Finally, a traditional application may disrupt daily processes due to the lack of maintenance and degradation. We can divide this process into four types based on its reason and objective.
Here are four types of software maintenance. A custom software development company can give any of these services per the requirement.
This type deals with error detection and resolution in the existing solution that ensures flawless performance.
When you want to prevent system vulnerabilities, this software maintenance technique comes into the picture.
It is related to making some changes to the software to make it compatible with changing scenarios.
It is about fine-tuning all elements of your software, its functionality, and its capabilities to improve performance.
Software maintenance is a complex process. The custom software development company has to overcome these shortfalls effectively. Here we mention a few of these challenges:
It is one of the biggest challenges for modern enterprises. Startups and SMEs need to keep some amount aside for regular maintenance. However, this can be difficult for them in the initial phase when they face budget constraints and issues related to limited resources.
It is challenging to opt for software maintenance without making a proper roadmap. Apart from requiring thorough research on market trends, user requirements, developers need to consider even the features of the competitor’s software. It is better to take the help of a reputed custom software development company to make a clear roadmap for maintenance and upgradation.
Let’s face it. Software maintenance requires a lot of time for improvement and upgradation. Also, dedicated resources are necessary to handle this process efficiently. Companies have to either hire dedicated professionals or recruit them.
The software product keeps on changing with time. As a result, companies may not manage it effectively over the period. It leads to product failures and frequent crashes. Eventually, companies may lose control over it, and the software becomes vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Advanced software promotes automation and transformation in core business processes. It directly impacts the company’s work culture and other aspects related to employees. In such a scenario, companies must keep employees in line with the software changes.
The software maintenance process has a life cycle consisting of different phases. IEEE has given the standard and phases for software maintenance. As per its report, the critical phases of the software development life cycle are:
This phase identifies software modification requests and assesses the necessary maintenance activity.
It determines the scope of every modification request for the software and makes the necessary changes.
It involves designing new modules in line with the requirements and creating test cases to address various concerns.
Here, the developers modify the software by tweaking or twisting the code and integrating new features.
Once the system is modified, the custom software development company tests regression to ensure its performance.
It involves detecting errors and verifying new features to ensure that the modified software meets the requirements.
This last phase enables users to get proper documentation with manuals, help files, and the modified software.
Timely software maintenance can assist companies in avoiding issues related to its performance and user experiences. Here we mention some key business benefits of software maintenance for modern enterprises.
A robust and reliable software can secure corporate data effectively. Hosting the application’s infrastructure with the safest method possible is essential for your digital product. Software maintenance can ensure that your company’s data is shared and accessed in a secure way.
Proper software maintenance can prepare your project to face any issue, including the breakdown of servers and a sudden rise in user requests. In other words, companies can achieve seamless continuity by maintaining software regularly. Without having such continuity, companies may face many challenges over the period.
When your custom business software works seamlessly, it can save time and energy in accomplishing various tasks. As a result, your team can focus more on other core activities and quickly transform the workflow. It results in higher productivity and efficiency for your team members.
Regular maintenance brings maturity in processes that lead to accelerating the workflow over the period. Also, the custom software development company can make changes to your business software by keeping your team members on the same page. It further results in streamlined processes and simplification of workflows.
When the software remains well-maintained, adding a new feature or offering becomes easier and cheaper. It can help you increase business value without spending more on feature addition. Complete documentation and cutting-edge infrastructure in well-maintained software can reduce the time and amount for adding features.
Custom software development services can give your company an edge over competitors. However, if you want to stay ahead of the curve for a long time and enhance the value of your custom business software, you need to consider software maintenance.
As a leading custom software development company in India, we provide top-notch maintenance and support services. You can take your company to the next level with our innovative software made by experienced developers. We always adhere to a design-thinking approach to building user-friendly software. Email us at [email protected] to get a quote or share your requirements.
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