You would agree today that most of the things we utilize are based on different software products. And we can't even imagine our world without some of it. But ever wondered what goes into making them?This article allows me to explain the essentials of software product development and provide answers to the questions of its importance, methodologies, and processes.But first things first – what is a software product development process and its various stages?
What is Software Product Development?
It refers to developing a software application or a program from the ideation stage to the market launch phase. The steps to this process are the same as for building any other product, starting from researching a product, evaluating customer needs, designing, developing, and testing to the final launch. A typical software development life cycle encompasses a standard set of activities or stages that converts or transforms an idea of a product into a working solution. An IT development process will have four software development phases;
Ideation and requirements engineering -This phase involves product discovery, defining key features, and extracting or detailing functional and non-functional requirements and constraints.
Design and implementation - The development team takes over to design and building software functionality in this phase.
Verification and validation - The software product is tested by deploying it in various environments as a part of the development process to ensure that it complies with the user's needs and requirements.
Maintenance and evolution - Improvement and modification of the software product based on customer feedback and requirements.
Now that you are clear on what it is all about. Let's explore why do organizations of any size need it?
Need For Software Product Development:
While the focus and orientation of companies might vary but listed below are some of the most common reasons;
Business process optimization - Businesses have their strategy and internal procedures, which may or may not fit an available application or software. To overcome such issues, software product development helps a company to work with the internal processes, strategy, and system requirements and optimize business procedures.
Competitive advantage - Software product development enables businesses to develop a product or a service that offers unique features and processes. Such tailor-made products and services can help give companies a competitive edge.
Low growth cycle - If a company is facing a low growth curve, it would be necessary to consider innovating its product or services. Attracting new clients and ensuring they stick with the company's products or services is essential. Hiring software development teams can lead to the innovation of new products and services.
Better customer experience - After a particular time, complacency may set in, leading to product stagnancy and service apathy. Development and innovation in products and services can be essential to pull new users and customers and help retain them in the longer run. This ultimately translates into increased customer satisfaction, sales & boosting revenue.
Efficiency - Using old and outdated products or services can lower employee morale and cannot work efficiently. It ultimately leads to performance issues and will affect deadlines and business growth. Product development, innovation & update can help increase the efficiency and morale of the workforce.
While the above might cover why you need to go with software development, I'll try to answer when you must consider this as part of your development journey.
When to Consider Custom Software Product Development?
Ensuring Individuality For Your Product: In modern society, software applications adapt to your business needs. A designed custom software product needs to address convenience for your clients and employees while they get used to it. With all the necessary features, custom software would enable performing tasks faster and with fewer errors.
Need Total Control of Product: With custom software development, you are the software owner with complete control over it and trust me, no one can take that away. As opposed to a white-labeled product that someone else can terminate if needed. So there is no need to worry about what features you change, remove, or provide an extension – it is holistically yours.
Acquiring Competitive Edge: Custom software enables you to decide how it looks and acts, thus giving your company a competitive edge. While your competitors might be using limited off-the-shelf applications, you can make it more customer-centric or robust in terms of the product's general functionality.
Flexibility To Make Changes: Being the product owner, you always have the option to decide when and how your software changes/evolves with time. Therefore you can add, change and even remove features while adapting to business needs. At a development level, you need not spend time switching software – all you may need is work data transfer to a newer platform or expand the existing one. It is based on your flexible cycle.
Total Profitability: Now, this is something I feel excited about. For any expansion or enhancement to the application (usually with off-the-shelf products), you need not have to pay in any way. And, moreover, for additional or extra functions/features, you need not have to pay extra to keep the software running.
Final Words:
While application development or software development can be a confusing topic with many terminologies and solutions available, they affect or are affected by many factors. All you need is a specialist custom software product development services partner. They can help navigate this issue while focusing on developing the right solution. The device type, project specification, budget, technology, and user base would be considered. I recommend going with a team of specialist product developers with experience delivering bespoke digital software solutions of varied nature.