If we look in-depth, software product development is the major process in the arena that is defined as a precise procedure, inclusive of different strict steps known as the Software Development Life Cycle. If you need a sophisticated application system (either web or mobile app), you look forward to this process. 

Surely, you would have several questions and confusions pertaining to SDLC and its processes. Thus, we will take a comprehensive look at the software product development process in this article. 

Decoding Software Product Development Process

Software product development process is a term defined as collective steps needed to develop a software product from its initial stage to market presence. Typically, it consists of a number of phases in the complex process of delivering a new product and transforming an old product notion into a marketable solution. 

SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) is all about the rules and practices that assist in connecting tech, non-tech teams, and project stakeholders in bringing ideas into digital products or software solutions. 

The process starts from ideation and concludes with product features, pricing strategy, and distribution strategy. In the beginning, the processes hover around the area and market. Although the product development process aims to maximize the product value and mitigate the risk, failure occurred due to poor quality, noncompetitive pricing, retard and premature entry, weak promotion, and bad brand awareness. 

So, now you would have understood what the software product development process is. Let’s take an in-depth glance into the processes it consists of.

Step By Step Software Product Development Processes 

The software development process is an amalgamation of different processes, and each has its own significance that empowers the complete process with different attributes and insights. Owing to that, many businesses consider product development consulting to do everything right in step by step order. So, let’s take a glance at the step-by-step processes included in software product development for startups.

#1. Brainstorming The Ideas & Planning 

Brainstorming is the initial stage of this cycle, where we define the concept for the product. First, it begins with a great idea that you need to carefully think over in order to implement. Besides, the processes can also be termed as idea generation, as we think of every step or stage of the product. 

The fact is that a business generates a number of ideas, and a handful is good. The process may include : 

• Discussing the project value and idea with the development team
• Gather information from the market or go through the market statistical occurrence 
• Describing the concept and idea on a document and sought approval of stakeholders 

Once you brainstorm over all the ideas and decide the one to implement, It’s time for planning. Meticulous planning is one core phase of software development. It determines the scope of the project and defines means that can meet strategic business objectives. 

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Moreover, planning also includes considering resource availability & allocation, cost determination and budgeting, timeframe, and determining solutions. Once the perfect plan is determined, you are ready to move forward. Although having a detailed plan is another perk that can turn out very fruitful. 

#2. Product Research & Requirement Analysis 

It is critical to have the right product concept in your mind. If you miss out on this, you can fail to validate your idea first and then end up losing precious time in re-considering. Product research and validation enable you to ensure that you are going to develop a product that users will like to pay for, and you won’t be wasting time or money. Here are the ways you can conduct product research to validate your idea. 

• Conduct an online survey to get feedback 
• Begin a crowdfunding campaign 
• Asking for feedback on forums like Quora or Reddit 
• Researching in the demand 

During this phase, you would be able to define the project in detail and analyze the feasibility. During this process, you need to gather a deeper understanding of the project goal and collect all requirements.  

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Moreover, product development engineer carry out the feasibility analysis that allows them to consider all technical and economic aspects and impacts on the development process, time, resources, tasks, team members, and calculating ROI is majorly defined in the feasibility analysis. 

Although requirement analysis assists in identifying risks in the beginning stage, it helps identify the risk mitigation strategies that can be implemented from the beginning. 

#3. Prototyping & Design 

Prototyping is the process of creating the preliminary product to test the design of the product and validate the idea. It enables product developers to cater a solution to stakeholders, which can be used for marketing purposes. Once you develop a prototype, your product starts taking a form. 

After prototyping comes the design of the product, where the actual conceptualization of the solution happens. In design, the detailed software architecture gets developed to meet specific project requirements. The custom-tailored software design helps in defining workflow and standards. 

(Design Principles In Software Development)

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Moreover, it encompasses overall solution design along with the database. In this phase, the complete product is developed as a mockup or prototype for the next stage of custom software development. From features of the solution to defining hardware and software components are inclusive. 

#4. Development & Coding 

Once the designing has been done, now comes development, which majorly includes code writing and transforming design documents into an actual software project. It is the lengthiest cycle of a software development project, as being the backbone of the process. 

The whole process relies on this and a vital thing to pay attention to. The work of the software engineering team is that its code meets the software requirement specification and matches the stakeholder’s requirement. However, the previous stage of software is fulfilled carefully then a ready-to-use software is bound to match the needs. 

In this phase, the software release cycle takes place in three stages, including alpha, beta, release to actual product. 

#5. Integration & Testing 

Now when the software is developed, then comes the next phase involving system testing and integration. The process can vary due to the testing processes. But Typically, QA engineers leverage a wide range of frameworks along with integration executing unit tests, automation compilation, and manual testing. 

QA team performs a number of tests, including functional testing, interoperability, system integration, and acceptance testing, etc., in order to ensure that code is clean and the business goals of the solution are met. 

Meanwhile, validation and verification are critical aspects of software product development services, ensuring the application/solution is completed successfully. When the software turns into a bug-free solution, deployment starts.

#6. Implementation and Deployment 

It is the process where actual thing-installation happens of the solution. It is a retrospective process after the implementation plan. In this phase, the newly developed and tested application goes forwards to the production stage with the inclusion of data and component transfer. 

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However, the specific changes will be deployed during the release. Moreover, it can be a straightforward release depending on the complexity of the project. After this, system analysts and end-users can actually try the ready-made application. 

#7. Operations & Maintenance 

Now comes the final stage, where the software development life cycle includes maintenance and regular updates. The phase is regarded as of utmost importance as you collect the real-world feedback and tweak the solution in order to polish it, enhance, and upgrade the fine-tuned solution. 

In this phase, the performance gets looked at, and an upgrade takes place to modify the solution according to need and performance aspects. The actual need of the end-user and new capabilities are met by additional user requirements. 

Wrapping Up 

As a matter of fact, the software development processes vary from company to company depending on the aim, such as delivering the best quality product that satisfies the need of product demand. Moreover, customer demand is the major aspect targeted during the processes. 

The processes of product development engineering can be shaped and altered depending on the need of each particular project, such as app development, a software provider to identify precise action, and the particular goals achieved. At the same time, the process declaration is a foundation measure to arrange the model for defining frameworks and equip team members in both technical and non-technical works. 

From the quality of code and solution in general, the expectation needs to meet the project manager’s decision-making progress and more. In the end, the final product is all that matters. Relevant software development processes can help in meeting the customer’s expectations and by well-tailored and great software solutions that meet business needs and offer exceptional customer satisfaction. 

However, SDLC helps programmers to stay on top and keep complete information of the project, while the management team can focus on determining the ways to the timely and efficient delivery of software. Moreover, if you have a dedicated product development team, then you can be a step ahead in software engineering and achieve great results. 

The post Glean Insights Into Software Product Development Process To Develop Successful Business Solutions appeared first on ValueCoders | Unlocking the Power of Technology: Discover the Latest Insights and Trends.

And, Software Development is a significant game-changer of digitization. Every single cutting-edge gadget such as smartphones, personal computers, tablets, or the Internet of things (IoT) is workable because of software. 

Although we are facing the most critical time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, software development is still in trend. The latest software technologies are custom software development, data science, AR/VR, artificial intelligence, and Point of Sale (POS) systems. These all advancements are meant to make our survival more convenient and comfortable.  

According to NASSCOM, Indian software companies are worth Rs. 243.5 billion or US$ 5.7 billion in 1999-2000. But, if you check the worth of companies ten years back, it was about less than Rs. 3 billion. So, it is quite predictable to figure out the success of software development firms.

What is custom software development?

Delivering the desired services to customers is about custom software. It is also known as tailor-made software or bespoke software. When you want to meet the specific needs of your customers, you need to create customized software. It will help an organization to add features and functions to an application in order to improve its user experience. It is also beneficial to meet the distractedly changing business needs. 

In today’s business world, things are getting more challenging for a consumer. By managing complex applications, they feel puzzled and stressed sometimes. If you are in business, your first step should be developing customized software as per your customers’ requirements. Moreover, offering the most customized software solutions allows customers to meet their requirements.

According to research, software companies spend about 27% of their budgets on custom software development. In this estimation, they manage software languages, application software, testing, and qualities related problems. 

Here, don’t get confused with commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS). The available software products in the market are considered COTS. For example, Adobe Reader is a software used to view PDF or sometimes creates it. It is an example of COTS, but if you want to develop software to address the issues of your employees with digital tools, then it comes under customized software development.

Key benefits of custom software development are:

1. It provides high scope and significant future progress.
2. It helps in meeting the demands of competitive business.
3. With custom software, you can get rid of issues related to cybersecurity.
4. Supportive for other software platforms.
5. If it comes to cost, developers can use some open-source tools.

Also Read: Benefits of Custom Software Development Over Off-The-Shelf Software When Working From Home

Reasons to know why companies need custom software development

Serious effort for business progress definitely replicates your strategies and planning. If you want to achieve your business objectives, you must know how to engage your target audience. For that, connecting with the top custom software development companies must be your first step. 

Are you still in a dilemma of opting for tailored-made software to meet your industry’s demands? Let’s have a detailed discussion on the benefits of adding custom software development to your business planning:

1. Secured and agile 

The most significant advantage of custom software applications is their flexibility. Being a boss, you are free to add many functions to your software applications as per your requirements. At the same time, you want to create secured work operations. 

Usually, hackers target off-the-shelf software more likely as compared to bespoke software. By sharing your requirements with custom software developers, you will get more enhanced and secured software applications.

2. Budget-friendly

It might seem like an expensive move by developing customized software applications. It may feel costly to invest in software outsourcing companies at the very initial stage but not in the longer term. You can have an eye on the entire development process and design your software according to your necessities. With the availability of your budget, you can add or delete or modify software features. 

3. Personalized software application

How can you provide your company’s touch to your internal operations? When it comes to increasing your overall productivity, it is beneficial to have internal software. 

With highly responsive custom software development solutions, you can provide an enhanced work environment to your employees and allow them to work comfortably. Moreover, it helps you to promote your business identity.

4. Effective maintenance & support 

By choosing the top custom software companies, you will find the best support to handle technical queries. Through personalized support, you will resolve technical glitches and eradicate security loopholes (if any) in minimum time. 

Moreover, custom software developers are experts in building the desired software applications and offer effective maintenance whenever needed.

5. Better integration with existing systems

Generally, big organizations and companies have to operate different software to organize the operations of various departments. Therefore, they face integration and compatibility issues resulting in degrading efficiency and reducing production. 

Simultaneously, custom software development solutions allow them to handle multiple systems by integrating them into central software applications. Custom software extends the functionality of existing digital tools and develops new similar programs for better workflow.

6. 100% Scalability 

Business growth brings lots of challenges and more complex issues into an organization, which have to be adequately addressed. If you are not prepared for better tomorrow, you will find roadblocks in your success path. 

Therefore, be ready with more advanced tools to accommodate future growth. Software development firm allows business owners to tackle these hurdles with custom software. Indirectly, it provides 100% scalability to your business progress.

7. Optimized business operations & workflow

Being a business entity, just evaluate how efficiently you handle various in-house processes and your business model. If you are facing issues in changing your business processes as per your software packages, you require custom software. 

Make sure to hire a custom software development company to tackle your business requirements and develop the best software accordingly. Doing so will help to optimize your business operations instead of replacing them.

8. Reduced hardware costing

Customer software development solutions are the best answer to reducing unnecessary hardware costing. Developers know how to design software inlining with existing hardware capabilities and eliminate additional hardware costs. The most significant benefit of customized software is that it can be created as per existing business. 

9. Add innovation into your organization

As you know, customized software helps you make the right decision to handle business functionality and technology. By manifesting the right custom software ideas, you can add trendsetting disruptive technologies to your organization. Software development allows you to be creative and organize your business processes as you want them to work.

10. Promotes adaptability 

The most significant thing about any organization is to adopt the changes in the market trends. Keeping the dynamic market changes in mind, you can add valuation to your organization by creating customized software. Through tailored software development, you can integrate these new changes into your existing processes and remain abreast of your competitors. 

Example of top 5 companies using custom software

I think a blurred image of a custom software development service is already created in your mind. Now, you have ideas on how you can boost your company business seamlessly with bespoke software. For more clarification, see how top companies expand their footprints in the business world with a custom software solution:

Amazon: Biggest Online Retail Industry 

Once Amazon was the online retailer of only books, now, it amazingly handles every basic need of a person. From groceries to clothes, the company is continuously fulfilling customers’ demands. 

By understanding customers’ dynamically changing preferences through data collection and analysis, the company provides hassle-free shopping digitally. They use customized software to lead the eCommerce market. Currently, the company is also doing business in selling its technologies.

Netflix: Popular in Video Streaming (Paid)

From nobody to known video streaming application, Netflix is capturing the market of digital videos with fantastic user engagement. After producing the biggest hits (Stranger Things, Jessica Jones, or Extraction), the company is continuously working with custom software development services for innovation in its platform. The technological advancement of the company reflects viewers’ seamless experience with back-end technology, content art customization to increase viewership, and improved suggestions based on watching history. 

McDonald’s: Most Popular Fast Food Company

Using the best custom software ideas, Mcdonald’s became the leader of a fast-food supply chain. It adds large touch screen menus and lets consumers create their own burgers by creating a self-serve kiosk. The company calls it the “Restaurant Experience of the Future.” Besides, you can ask for help or place your order at the counter as well.

Uber: Famous Cab Service Provider

Uber provides effective cab services across the world. Through tailored software development, they cater the seamless experience to drivers as well as riders in their ecosystem. Uber has grown its market in the U.S. by 76% with the help of an intelligent system. By connecting a rider to a nearby driver, the company provides the best experience for hassle-free travel communication.

Telus: Top Telecommunication Company

Using the best technological knowledge, Telus has created a workforce management platform to organize its business processes precisely. The idea was awarded as the best management solution and adopted by many other industries. 

Through custom software development, developers integrate new features to existing applications and develop Telus Business Services and Telus Health Solutions. 

How do you choose the right custom software companies in India?

For the best custom software development solutions, you need to connect with the top software solution company. However, choosing the right platform to share your requirements and receive the most desired outcomes is a complicated task. 

If you are struggling with making the right decision, you should go through the following checklist and select the best custom software development company in India:

1. You should know about your business requirements and how to implement them as workable custom software ideas.
2. Before making your decision, check out the profiles of custom software development firms. Evaluate companies’ services and technical expertise.
3. Seek referrals when you want to hire a top custom software development company. Better communication will help you to get a list of top custom software developers.
4. Keep your budget in your mind while considering any company for bespoke software development. You can make appropriate implements according to your budget.
5. Make a wise decision by digging out complete knowledge of technology that is going to be used in your custom software application. Don’t go for age-old technologies to degrade your business growth.
6. Decide a timeline in your mind and discuss it with your selected custom software developer. It helps you to meet your business objectives.
7. Your foremost priorities of any software application should be its security and robustness. So, don’t compromise with security in any condition.

Top 5 Custom Software Development Companies in India:

1. ValueCoders: Top Custom Software Development Company

ValueCoders provide high-performing and technology-driven software development solutions to more than 40 countries with a pool of talented developers. With them, problems become the solutions, and ideas become a reality. 

Why Choose ValueCoders?

The company has 16+ years of experience in handling more than 4000 projects with a 97% client retention rate.

The team of software developers is best in the following services:

• Custom software development
• Software consulting
• SaaS & software products
• Modernization and migration services

ValueCoders serve 40+ countries and manage technical queries of many industries. 

Some popular clients of the company are Jackson Healthcare, Thomson Reuters, Infosys, Capgemini, and Hellopeter.

2. PixelCrayons: Award-Winning Software Development Firm

PixeclCrayon is India’s most trusted custom software company, catering the secure, robust, and scalable technical-driven solutions worldwide. The creativity of their developers’ minds reflects digital advancement while building any software application.

Why Choose PixelCrayons?

The company has a record of 6800+ happy customers in 38+ countries by delivering highly modernized and robust technological solutions.

Their software developers provide advanced software security through data encryption, high-security plugins, and a secure admin dashboard. 

They provide advanced digital solutions to all major industries that include travel & tourism, healthcare, banking & finance, education & e-learning, and so on.

Their significant areas of expertise are:

• Software product development
• ERP software development
• Custom software development solutions
• Software UI/UX Design

Their list of clients uncovers Puma, Adobe, Tesco, Valkaswegan, John Deere, and Vodafone.

3. TatvaSoft: Best in Solving Complex Business Challenges via Technology

TatvaSoft is best in resolving technological glitches with the most innovative and latest digital tools. The company has topped the list of Top SME Custom Software Development companies in India. 

Why Choose TatvaSoft?

The company has started its journey in 2001 and expanded its workforce of 900+ IT professionals in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and Development Center in India.

To date, they have completed more than 1800 projects and add many awards and accolades to their business identity.

Their dedication and technological understanding reflect in the following services:

• Custom Software Development
• Web Development
• Dedicated Development Team
• Product Development
• eCommerce Development

Their primary clients are Anglo American, Pepsico, KFC, De Beers Group, Macquarie University, etc.

4. Cyient: Leading Digital Market with Resilience

The company makes its name in the top 20 custom software development companies in India, from building design to managing software solutions. With a pool of 15000 employees in 20 countries, they are ready to meet their clients’ business requirements.

Why Choose Cyient?

The company serves the most advanced technological solutions to crucial industries, including aerospace and defense, energy, industrial & heavy equipment, geospatial, medical technology & healthcare. 

Since 1991, Cyient provides software solutions, digital technology, and advanced analytics capabilities to more than 300 customers.

Consider the company’s profile for the following prime services:

• Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality
• Predictive Maintenance
• Supply Chain Management
• Engineering Application Development
• Analytics & IoT

Their primary clients are Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, Airbus, Alstom tom, Qualcomm, Bombardier, and Philips.

5. Cybage: Leading Software Solution Provider

Using a data-driven model of operational excellence, the company offers the latest product engineering services globally. It is an ISO 27001 certified company and leading the market in global IT and business process outsourcing.

Why Choose Cybage?

The company won Asia’s Best Employer Brand award and the Big Data & Analytics Award for Best Analytics Service in Talent/HR Analytics in 2017.

Their excellent team of 6300 employees serves more than 15 countries across North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. 

Choose to buy advanced digital solution under the following expertise:

• Offshore Software Development
• Supply Chain Management
• eCommerce Development
• Business Intelligence & Data Science
• Testing & QA

Their primary clients are 123Insight, Marketwire Systems, DealerTrack, DealerTrack, and RateHighway.

Also Read: Top 20 Fantastic Software Ideas in 2021 to Nurture Start-Up Dreams

Final Thoughts:

When you are targeting to achieve success and better workflow management, count every factor centering on your business progress. In such a case, having custom software is the right approach. 

Select the best one from the hub of custom software development companies and meet all your requirements effectively. It would be an advantage to hiring a software developer from ValueCoder, a top software outsourcing company in India, with a 97% client retention rate.

The post A Complete Guide to Know How Custom Software Development Amplifies Company’s Success Graph appeared first on ValueCoders | Unlocking the Power of Technology: Discover the Latest Insights and Trends.

Make no mistake, the novel coronavirus is as big as a problem as it gets. But the world will eventually come out of it. At that time, would you want your startup to take its time to freshen up and understand the needs of the market? Or would you want to start preparing a great software product so you’re ready when the market needs it most?

I’m pretty sure your choice would be the latter, but most businesses have their hands tied. They’re unable to operate due to lockdowns, disruption in supply chains, unavailability of staff, and out of myriad problems created by COVID-19. Yet, there are few businesses that are fortunately working as smooth as ever, especially in the software outsourcing sector.

So if a business (maybe yours) is unable to work on an in-house software project due to COVID-19, is it a wise choice to outsource it to an offshore software development company? Why outsourcing is important? What are the benefits of outsourcing a software development project?

Say, if you’re a tech startup in desperate need to capitalize on an opportunity and establish a market presence, then:

1- This isn’t the best time to run your business.

2- Once we’re done with COVID-19, the state of the market at the time will present unprecedented opportunities that startups could capitalize on.

But at the same time, your startup could be competing with 100s of established enterprises looking to capitalize on the same opportunities.

Is there something you could to have an edge over potential competitors in such a scenario? Product Development Outsourcing could be the masterstroke for a competitive advantage in the long-run. Here’s why.

As you may know, there are multiple options available in the market to build functional software products. However, when it comes to startups, there’s a conventional line of thought which says that the benefits of outsourcing are for enterprises only.

But you can certainly outsource product development as a startup and this is important to your business as well, especially in this pandemic situation. 

Benefits of Outsourcing

There are multiple benefits of outsourcing IT and software development services. let’s start with cost.

Cost-cutting

Managing a budget is a big challenge for startups. However, outsourcing helps a lot to do it right.

In fact, according to a research, 87% of US companies outsource product development to save cost. 

Outsourcing provides a global talent pool at a low cost. You hire a backend developer (in-house) at  98000 USD/year and it comes down to 22000 USD/year when you outsource.

The risk is lesser

In the case of new products whose market is yet to be tested, outsourcing plays an important role in mitigating the risks of trying out something new.

Since the outsourced teams work on flexible models the risks are definitely lower.

It’s Faster

Outsourcing the development helps in faster development with the Agile model and helps in tremendously reducing the time to market.

9% PEOPLE GLOBALLY outsource only to fasten their process.

Technical Expertise

You may be new to the market. That’s not an issue until you have technical expertise with you. If you already have that, then it’s good, however, if you don’t- then it is better to outsource.

15% PEOPLE GLOBALLY outsource to access expertise

Free up time and more focus

For startups, investing time into high priority things is very important. One of the greatest benefits of outsourcing is that you free up your time for other important things. This helps a lot.  This image will show you some other reasons why is outsourcing important:

You can also check this list from entrepreneur.com about successful startups that leveraged the benefits of outsourcing successfully.

key steps for your startup to effectively outsource product development

Choose the Right Vendor

Choosing the right vendor for outsourcing application development is a must. An outsourcing company with expertise in the required development skills will surely be helpful. Picking up freelancers is definitely not advisable, as they cannot be relied upon, for taking up product ownership.

One of the important points to consider while selecting a vendor for outsourcing development is the flexibility of hiring models.

This helps the startup choose a hiring plan that will optimize the costs of outsourcing in accordance with the development requirements.

It is also important to evaluate the portfolio of the hiring vendor to understand the level of specialization in different business verticals.

Defining The Scope Of The Project

The second most important step in outsourcing your product development is to define the scope of the project. First, you need to convert the business idea into a business plan and then put down what all you need from a successful product. Defining the technology with which you wish to develop your product is another crucial decision. This also helps in defining the skill levels of the teams you wish to hire.

Once the scope of the project is defined and the vendor for product development has been chosen, the service level agreement with the vendor can be created.

This helps in ensuring that the outsourced teams are working according to the plan of action.

The outsourced teams must be clearly communicated about the expectations and the milestones. This helps in developing mutually beneficial relationships with the outsourcing partner.

Communication

Keeping in touch with the outsourcing partner on a regular basis and reviewing project work in progress on a constant basis is important. This is helpful in improving project productivity levels. Motivating remote teams with incentives and appreciation is helpful in getting better business results.

Overall, a continuous communication helps you to finish tasks smoothly.

Wrapping Up

Looking to outsource your startup project? Here are some key benefits of outsourcing you software development needs to ValueCoders:

1. Flexible hiring models
2. Advanced technical project consultation
3. Agile methodology and timely project delivery

ValueCoders( a leading software development company in India)provides expert agile teams for all kinds of startup site and application development. We have teams across all our departments, all 350 of them working remotely to assist all your software development outsourcing requirements.

We know these times are rough, but our entire team is working through it. And we are doing it for small businesses, startups, and enterprises like yours; so everyone could come out safely this pandemic, together!

The post Why Outsourcing is Important For Startup Product Development? appeared first on ValueCoders | Unlocking the Power of Technology: Discover the Latest Insights and Trends.