Custom Software Development Mistakes that Startups Need to Avoid
Start-ups work under constant pressure to develop and launch innovative products. Only the right custom software can help them meet this goal. They can use it as a lever to accelerate development, come up with a differentiated product, and rise above a market concentrated with off-the-shelf software products.
However, developing niche software on their own can be a fairly complicated process. It requires professionals with specific skill sets, adequate experience, and a proper understanding of the custom software development domain. Also, meeting deadlines while developing software on their own can be a roadblock.
Despite such roadblocks, start-ups can achieve successful custom software development if they have the right strategies and vision in place. On this note, here’s looking at the top 4 critical mistakes committed by start-up enterprises while developing a custom software.
Customer Software Development Mistake #1- Unclear Development Roadmap
What Goes Wrong?
The first step towards owning the right custom software is knowing how it can assist you with your product development. For this, they need to develop a clear software product development roadmap. The roadmap must detail all the technical requirements, implementation plan, and leave doorways open to accommodate ad-hoc requirements. This is the first and acritical step where most start-ups falter.
In a hurry to start with the development phase, startups fail to fathom the specificity of the software they need. Furthermore, they may not have a backup plan for future disruptions and end up developing software that is not flexible. This is why most of the time, developers fail to implement ad-hoc requirements. Even worse, the final product is a misfit to their actual requirements.
The Solution
Start-ups must acquire a deep understanding about how they would leverage a customized software to build products in the future. They need to visualize precisely how their products will be used by different departments the diverse problems it will be solving.
Detailed research will provide actionable insights into the exact scope of the product. It will provide additional information on what type of custom software you need to make it productive. Such deep insights are critical to design a product development roadmap.
It is also recommended that start-ups create a minimum viable product to geta glimpse of the planned product. It would set their developers on the right track and minimize the chances of failure.
Customer Software Development Mistake #2- Lack of Emphasis on Product Design
What Goes Wrong?
Product design phase is one of the key aspects of custom software development. It can either make or break the final product. Ideally, enterprises must take a top-down approach to ideate and fix on the custom software design.
However, in a hurry to accelerate development phase, start-up enterprises take a bottom-up approach. They expect developers to adapt a finished product to a design. A design that was finalized post development phase. This leads to several interface issues and results in creating a product ridden with bugs.
Additionally, designers fail to clearly communicate designs of specific features of the product to developers. This misleads developers into thinking that those are irrelevant features. They remove those features from the final product.
The Solution
Enterprises must create a custom software design that is aligned to their immediate needs. Teams of designers and developers must come together to discuss the ultimate product design. This makes it easier for developers to integrate the envisioned design and features that they actually need.
Uniqueness in design should not impact product functionality. Enterprises must also factor in their level of expertise and funds before embarking on the product design. It is advised that they focus on simple design that is easy to implement and can drive maximum product functionality.
Customer Software Development Mistake #3- Harnessing the Wrong Tech Stack
What Goes Wrong?
It is common among start-up custom software design companies to make a rush for modern tech stack in the hope of creating an extraordinary product. Instead, they must adopt technologies that are based on their existing IT ecosystem.
Chances are an untested technology will not integrate into a start-up enterprises’ existing IT infrastructure. Altering the infrastructure is costly and will create project development delays.
Moreover, enterprises must consider the fact that their existing team of developers may not be accustomed to new technologies. Developers who do not have enough expertise in handling a new technology will not know how to debug a product built by that particular technology.
The Solution
Start-up custom software design companies must consider the following factors while considering the tech stack for their software development project:
- Software product features
- Product’s expected functionality
- Integration requirement with other tools
- Active community of users and developers
- Project timeline
- Availability of security patches, bug fixes, and updates
It must be kept in mind that technology adoption MUST NOT be done on the basis of developers’ level of expertise. It will invite unnecessary bias. Such a method will also bring stagnation in an enterprise in terms of expertise with modern tech stack.
Customer Software Development Mistake #4- Customizing an Existing Product Instead of Building from Scratch
What Goes Wrong?
Start-ups tend to choose software from the shelf rather than create one from scratch. Such a strategy accelerates the project completion time, but it will not translate into real value. Therefore, to build the right product, start-up enterprises need to develop their own custom software.
An off the shelf software is built with a one-size-fits-all concept. This means the software may not exactly fit into their product development plans. This depreciates the value of the customized software platform.
The Solution
The solution is to develop software specific to their need. This way they can have a custom software that they can use optimally to build cutting-edge products in the future. As a matter of fact, such products will have an edge above other competing products in the market. They can then develop products the way they want and provide the right solutions to their customers.
How We Help You Execute Custom Software Development Seamlessly?
As one of the foremost custom software design companies, we have a fair understanding of what it takes for start-up enterprises to create an amazing, customized software.
We begin the process by conducting a thorough research of your requirements and understanding the end objective. Based on the findings, we create a robust product development roadmap. We create an MVP that simulates the product interface design and meets all other specific needs.
We bring you tried and tested technology stack, and the best-in-class expertise to develop customized software for you. This eliminates the need for you to research and shop for technologies. As a result, it accelerates your software development life cycle.
Our team of quality analysts conduct a series of functional and non-functional tests on the final product. It will help you ensure functionality and security of the end product.
Who Are We and Why Are We Considered as An Industry Authority?
This article is penned by getSmartcoders. We are among the prominent custom software design development companies that offer a range of diverse custom software application development services. Our services include API integration, desktop application development, enterprise application development, among others.
Get in touch with us if you wish to derive more ROI out of your custom software development project.