Vishal BhatiaSoftware development is one of the most important components of modern tech-related companies … unfortunately, it can also be one of the biggest expenses for these same companies.
So what can you do to get the necessary software development without spending all of your profits? Here five tips are given for businesses looking to maintain high-quality software development while at the same time cutting costs:
Software Development Cost-Cutting Tip #1 – Be Clear
One big reason for cost overruns when it comes to software development are unclear initial instructions. You must be extremely clear with your directions to your custom software development company to eliminate any confusion and prevent unnecessary work from occurring.
The best way to do this is to create a document that spells out what is expected and what the final software should do. If a new feature is thought of during the development process, which is often the case, be sure to immediately add it to this document.
You want everything about the software to be contained in this document. You should strive to be very detailed and specific to prevent software developers from going down the wrong path and creating features that you don’t want or need.
If you are working with a top web development company in the USA they will require you to fill out some type of overview document or creative brief so that both sides have in writing what is expected.
Software Development Cost-Cutting Tip #2 – Promote Cooperation
Often called taking an “agile approach” to software development, with this tip what you want to do is ensure a close, cooperative relationship between yourself, your company and your software developers.
This is a crucial approach that a top web development company in the USA will also strive to follow.
One way to ensure cooperation is to have developers keep you up-to-date on work throughout the process. At the end of each stage, you should receive a status update report. This way you can make changes as work progresses instead of waiting until the end which can force developers to redo work resulting in more expense and longer completion times.
If a company doesn’t use this constant communication approach and instead prefers what many call a “waterfall approach,” which means they only show the product to the client when it is already developed, you should run, not walk, away!
Often, these “finished” products don’t meet customer expectations and must be redone, leading to greater costs.
Software Development Cost-Cutting Tip #3 – Take Advantage of Automation
One great way to cut costs is to try and keep manual processes to a minimum. Instead, have the software developers use automated tools as much as possible. If a company is truly a top web development company in the USA they will have numerous automated tools to make the development process faster and easier.
For example, they should have automated tools for task completion, user acceptance scripts, quality assurance testing and more.
Software Development Cost-Cutting Tip #4 – Cut Features
One big issue with a lot of software is that it tries to do too much. People like software that does one thing and does it well. Don’t try to overload your software with features that nobody will use. This will just cost you money and make things confusing for your users. Instead, streamline your software so that instead of doing a bunch of things “OK” it does a few things “very well.”
Think about the most viable functionalities of your software and focus on those. Forget about the rest. This will save you money and production time.
Software Development Cost-Cutting Tip #5 – Hire Talented Developers
You should be looking for a company that is widely recognized as a top web development company in USA. Ideally, you should be looking for a company that is also well known for providing industry-leading software development at reasonable prices.
But these companies can be very hard to find. You should be willing to pay a little more for a quality company as this will save you money during the course of the project.
Hiring less talented companies can lead to mistakes and redos which will add cost and also lengthen the time needed to complete the project.
Here’s a tip for cutting costs – look for a company that offers a business model that combines the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing with the trust and excellent communication that comes with US-based project management.
For a long time, cost-effective outsourcing has come with the trade-off of poor communication which can lead to mistakes in work and greater expenses to fix those mistakes.
When you hire an outsource company that has foreign workers but US-based managers poor communication becomes much less of an issue.
You should also look for a development company that offers customizable service and pricing plans. You want a company that makes the best web development services affordable for almost any business.
Hiring a company like this will allow you to:
- Gain immediate access to a full team of project managers and coders with extensive experience bringing software to life
- Eliminate the hassle of working with unreliable or unqualified freelancers and the cost of building their own in-house team
Here’s one more money-saving tip when it comes to hiring developers:
While many software development companies use a “reinvent the wheel” approach every time they work on a project and they are notorious for billing their clients more for “building their software from scratch,” you should carefully seek out a company that is able to save its clients thousands of dollars in development costs and months in development time.
How can a company do this? By using pre-built components from licensed code libraries. To learn more, visit www.DedicatedDevelopers.com.
