You must be thinking, why I should spend money on something again when I already paid in building that. The concept of maintaining a software sounds unreasonable, but you should. It’s not because the software will change over the year, but the technological world will change under that.
The application and software management process is changing rapidly with the invention of advanced technologies and methodologies. It is important for a business to scale up with the change. CIOs are often looking for technologies which can be used in order to maintain their enterprise software and applications to increase agility, efficiency, service and reduce ramification.
When you have a decent number of users for the software, all your vendors, stakeholders, employees, customers then someone will discover bugs. When they do research on the software to utilize it for their maximum profit, they will come to know how it can help them in a better way. There are basically two kinds of changes happen which may force you to make changes in your software or application, first, a Human Environment and second, Technological Environment. A human environment like government law, company policies, the number of users and technological environment like changes in the software features, technology platform upgrades, operating system updates, hardware changes etc.
“About 60% of a software’s cost is maintenance, and about 60% of the maintenance cost is improvement.”
There are various types of sustenance services which usually organizations require for the software systems. Few of them are;
Software maintenance is just an effort to evolve with the change, and sometimes try to go a step ahead of the change.
Why you need Software Maintenance?
A software is a modern reality & we all know reality changes. When users found a software useful & a value addition to their day to day work, it is obvious that the expectation will rise for a better performance & more added functionalities. Software is easy to maintain than hardware. As a result according to the requirement, changes can be done in the software. For a successful long lifespan of a software, it needs to be modified to run a smoother operation. So, software maintenance is essential. Below are few reasons for which you need software maintenance.
Bug Fixing
Sustenance has to be performed to identify and fix bugs in the software or application. This might be a reason for bad code, or any system failure, which causes unexpected results. Bugs can also appear because of any change or modification in the hardware, platform, framework, software version upgrade or any related (3rd party or direct) part of the software. Think about a situation, Adobe development team is not fixing the issues encountered on Adobe Suite Products (Illustrator, Photoshop, Muse etc.). Will you use them anymore?
Upgrade Access
Upgrades are there to make your system work more efficiently, as a result it can give you quicker results. New upgrades which include new features and functionality will increase your efficiency, scalability, performance and security. It will autocorrect bugs present in the previous edition. A regular upgrade of the system ensures quality and testing while minimizing potential issues of system failure. Most importantly you need to upgrade the system to avoid being stuck with obsoleted versions or your software. Think about Antivirus. Will you use Norton or McAfee if they won’t release new patch regularly?
User Adoption
Without regular maintenance, there is a huge chance for your system to become outdated. But the tech savvy users and customers are not. They need new features, new functionalities. If you won’t invest on maintenance in providing what user needs, then time will come when your users start working outside of the system or application. It will be a greater loss of money and time for you.
Have you ever thought Orkut.com, one of the most powerful social media platform during 2006-2010? It was on the top of all social media communities Facebook, Google+ etc. but lost its presence in less than 4 years after success. Orkut failed to revamp business strategy according to user’s preference. They knew the current failed to predict future.
Re-engineering
Re-engineering of your software or application is essential. Preventive maintenance saves time. By analysing the future changes in the business system, you need to take a decision to re-engineer the system through data and code restructuring. If you won’t go for re-engineering it won’t affect the functionality of the system, but it will reduce the durability.
Why Google, Apple, Microsoft and other tech giants are heading towards Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Predicative Analytics etc.? They know, they have to move along with users demand, otherwise someone else will replace them.
Business Growth
Without proper upgrades, maintenance and support, it is difficult to ensure that your software will perform desired operations timely. It is also hard to match the performance expectation level. As a result, it won’t match business performance needs. But you have invested in something which you wanted to help your business grow. So regular maintenance is required for optimum business growth.
Do you doubt financial and technical capabilities of Intel? Off course not, they have the best leaders and technical manpower. As of Dec 2016, Intel is no more in the Mobile Processor business. They invested huge but failed to compete with other players. They were not able to run with market need and could not handle market dynamics. Finally, Gave-Up and Lost the Battle in fear of losing Desktop and Server processor market.
Business and Legal Side
There is always a business and legal side of things. Technological parameters are important, but you can’t ignore legal & business aspects. There is something very important called privacy and security of the users, and usually law decides the parameters. You need to adjust your system according to the changes in the law made by the government.
“When you’re working on more growth by driving innovation, you require a high-performing & responsive technology infrastructure to support your efforts. Stats indicates the majority of IT expenditure of companies spend over software maintenance.”
You must have already heard many news about Samsung and Apple meeting in the Supreme courts because of Design Lawsuit.
What are the benefits?
There are many business benefits of software maintenance. Few are given below;
Conclusion
It is not right to sign up for annual maintenance without understanding the exact requirement. Carefully check the contract from all aspects before signing. Validate every point which is essential for your business.
Software Sustenance is not an option, it is must. You can take the example of your vehicle. If you don’t maintain your car, it may cause thousands of wrecks each year. The bill for unperformed vehicle maintenance will cost you much more than a regular touch up, oil change, washing, brake inspection, or tire rotation. Similarly, if you ignore sustenance from your plans, there will be a lesser scope for optimum business growth.
Get in touch with Apogaeis to understand more about software maintenance. We are one of the most preferred technology partners for many top companies. Apogaeis’s expertise lies in Innovation, Consulting and Sustenance services. Click Here to contact.
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