How to reduce your Software Development Costs?
Software development is a necessity for all businesses, but the costs tend to skyrocket. In reality, the final price depends on many factors, but you can decrease it with efficient preparation and by organizing the whole process.
In this article, we will see different useful strategies to reduce the cost of software development and how choosing an offshore outsourcing company can benefit your business.
Plan your project in advance
Start your project with a solid plan. To successfully reduce costs in software development, you need to be as organized and as precise as possible from the start.
Creating a plan not only breaks down the work and allows for efficient estimation, but also highlights the project’s goals. This allows the development team and all project stakeholders to focus on the essentials. But also, the stakeholders can see from the start what the project will look like and prioritize the work of the development team according to the project budget.
The tricky part is finding the balance between planning and over-planning. You don’t want to dive into the minutiae of the requirements for the entire project, as that would take too much time and money. Plus, it prevents teams from adapting as the product develops. Do you want your development team to be able to be flexible in their work? You may need to:
- Reduce your budget by changing the priorities of the requirements in your product backlog,
- Make changes due to mid-course user feedback.
- Ensure the balance of the two types of planning.
Use DevOps and adopt the agile approach
Adopting the agile software development approach improves collaboration and communication between stakeholders and developers throughout the development process. It makes it easier to add new features along the way and encourages changes at any time, which for some may be inevitable. Also, allowing customers to provide feedback and input on the product is important for product revisions and improvements. Using Agile allows changes to be made throughout the process.
DevOps is an additional way to optimize your application development budget. One of the keys to the DevOps approach is that this practice and its culture allows team members to better interact with each other and with the customer.
The software development team and those responsible for operating the application clearly share responsibilities, and this allows you to avoid shifting responsibilities from one team member to another.
Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) are the main components of the DevOps strategy.
The agile method and the DevOps approach complement each other more than they exclude each other. The trick to avoiding conflict between these two ideas is to understand the underlying values and principles on which they are based.
DevOps is about applying agile principles outside of the development team. Together, these principles reflect a mindset for change that is common to both agile and DevOps teams.
🌍 𝔹𝕠𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕒𝕪 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕙𝕚𝕘𝕙 𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕤𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕨𝕖𝕓 𝕕𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥. 𝕀𝕥𝕤 𝕠𝕗𝕗𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕒𝕝 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕘𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕤! 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖 𝕦𝕤? 𝕊𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕦𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕤 ! 🌍
Run automated tests
What are the benefits of automation? Higher output and increased productivity are two of the most commonly cited benefits. Keep in mind that the most expensive part of a software project is the people working on it. Automation allows for shorter production times, which means fewer man-hours and, therefore, lower costs.
Using automated testing early in the development process helps to:
- Avoid human error.
- Facilitate the execution of tasks.
- To create scripts.
- Perform quality assurance testing.
Automated testing is essential and helps to simplify the software development process in terms of time and cost.
Choose the right provider
Software development can be expensive, and the most expensive part of a software project is usually the labor. Therefore, the more you can reduce the time spent on a project, while maintaining the quality of the code, the more you can reduce the overall cost of development.
This means hiring the right people! You can find our article on “how to hire a good developer?”. You need to find a range of people who cover a variety of skills. You can find out more about our teams at Bocasay, experts in software and application development, on our website.
Consider using an Offshore outsourcing company
Sometimes, using an offshore outsourcing company can be a valuable strategy for reducing costs. These offshore teams can be very competitive in terms of price due to cheaper salaries than those of developers in France, and a surplus of qualified professionals, especially in countries like Vietnam or Madagascar.
In this case, it is important to carefully choose the company you want to partner with. First of all, communication is essential since you will probably work in very different time zones. Use tools like Zoom to meet quickly and make sure the team is a good fit for your company’s culture. Once the project is underway, it’s also important to schedule regular daily meetings. Check in on the project’s progress, ask team members if they’re stuck on anything and if you can help them clear those blocks, and ask them what they’ll be working on next.
How do you find the right offshore development partner? There are several things you need to check first. Look at the company’s website and search on search engines for their history and customer feedback. If they seem to match your company’s values and provide high quality code, the next step is to meet with them!
Remember to ask as many questions as you can. This is also the best way to ensure that communication between you and this company will work.
