7 ways how reduce software development costs

2014-11-26 by Marina Astapchik

Once you think of reducing costs for something, the very first idea that may pop into your head is do-it-yourself strategy, but it is unreachable if attributed to software development.

It is hard to imagine a modern company that doesn’t use software. So the necessity for software development and maintenance becomes only cuter and cuter. Thus, the costs do not stay on the ground level, they rise and skyrocket until they may supersede the company`s overall profit if we speak about a newly established small firm or company that experiences hard times.

So what can be a good solution for the company that needs a high-quality software product but at the same time forced to tighten its belts?
A simple but useful 7-step strategy can help the cost-focused company invest smart into software development and keep up with customers` requirements for constant innovation in design and functional software features.

1. Turn to Outsourcing.

Outsourcing is a good step to undertake if you need to decrease your costs for custom software development. The countries of Eastern Europe can deliver high-quality products and the prices are reasonably low there. Nevertheless, outsourcing itself is not obligatorily a prerequisite for success.

You should pay special attention to choosing the company that is reliable and prompt in fulfilling the required tasks. Remember that the cheapest price may turn into a poor-quality product delivery, so carefully choose a software development company.

2. Document your requirements for custom software development.

Words can easily be misinterpreted or forgotten, make sure that the software developers understand it right what you want to get. Create a document where all your requirements and wishes will be written or put graphically and if something new comes to your mind during the software development process, add it to the documentary files. Fill it with as many details as you can to avoid any possible conjecturing that may lead to later necessity for rework.

3. Use Agile Software Development Approach.

Another clever thing that is good for cost reduction is Agile Approach. It means cooperation of stakeholders on all stages of software development from beginning to end. Upon every stage completion the developers show the product to the customer and improve the product basing on customer`s revisions and feedback. In such a way the changes are made during the whole process and therefore the risk for rework reduces to zero.

Be aware that many companies use the traditional "Waterfall Approach" in software development. It means that the software product will be shown to the customer when it is already developed and very often such products do not fit customer`s expectations. Therefore such "WA" products need total rework and it increases software development lifecycle and thus it increases costs.

4. Ask for automated developer tests for your software development.

Make sure manual processes are reduced to minimum as they may lengthen the time for development and leave probability for a human mistake. The proactive software development teams use automated tools for task completion and build user acceptance scripts and make quality assurance testing. Smart Software development management can guarantee the final software product make sense and be usable.

5. Eliminate the so called "nice-to-haves" features.

Surely, you are good familiar with the situation when you buy a gadget and use no more than 40-50% of its functions. The same can be with a software product that has lots of unnecessary functional features that significantly increase development and maintenance costs but that are something you will never use. Think of the most viable functionalities your software is to possess and forget about the rest. It will drastically reduce your software development costs.

6. Test your new software development company.

There are lots and lots of software developers who claim they will build a premium quality software product in practically no time. Nevertheless, it turns out they fail to stand by their promises. And you find yourself searching for another software developer and that will definitely exceed your budget. One good tip here is to give your new software development team a five-day task and see how they will manage it.

Test your new team and it will reduce your final costs for software development. It would be better if you try to find a company that already has experience in building the software of the type you need. They will be able to fulfill the task better and quicker.

7. Fixed prices for development and maintenance.

Find a company that will offer you low fixed prices for software development and maintenance. It frequently happens that some companies offer cheapest prices for software development but the prices suddenly and drastically skyrocket once it comes to software maintenance. Discuss the prices before any cooperation is started so as not to make a floater later on.

It is definitely not a piece of cake to survive in a highly competitive business world for newly launched companies or firms going through hard times. Therefore, cost reduction becomes a high priority issue for every business owner. And as business cannot exist without software, a good reliable outsourced partner would become a good answer to a cost-reduction question.

Elinext Group, a reliable software development company, can become your answer to cost cutting for software development and maintenance. With many years` experience in software development and applying of agile approach, we are ready to deliver you with premium-quality product on time and within your budget.

Elinext Group software development projects:

Poshberry Airline Tickets Website
Animalpetbook.com Social Network
IT Infrastructure Management Software
SaaS CRM System Case Study
Tuttidare Charity Organization Case Study

Industries and Technology Areas

Industries: IT

Technology Areas: software development, custom software development