The software you develop for your company needs to have a purpose. While the software you use in-house has to be solid, there can be a degree of flexibility; if a piece of software is primarily for your customers to use, then you don’t have the luxury of flexibility. It needs to be a well-rounded, high-functioning piece of software. Here are five tips to ensure your software yields the highest return possible.
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Built With Them In Mind
You’d like to be able to develop a platform that your customers used and which was also perfectly in sync with the needs of your company. Unfortunately, if you were to build such a piece of software, it would be so obviously for your benefit that your customers would never use it. As such, you need to develop your software with your customer’s needs in mind. What do they want, and need? If you give people what they want, it’ll establish a bond between you and the customer and will ultimately benefit your business.
Intuitive Use
The software you put out into the world for your customers can’t be all things to all people. Focus on the essential details, the ones that you’re able to do well, and leave the rest for another project. Some companies take a good idea and then overcomplicate it, adding in features that are smart but unnecessary. Above all, any software that’s designed for consumer use should be intuitive to use. If you have a piece of software that’s too bloated, consider trimming it down to the bare essentials. Gaining feedback on the user interface and ease of use will also help you move forward.
Flawless Performance
A piece of software that’s perfectly planned and designed will be useless if it contains bugs or has other performance issues. In an age when customer expectations for software have never been higher, software has to be free of bugs, lag, and other issues that can compromise the user experience. Before launch, make sure you’re rigorously testing your software using tools like those offered by QASymphony. Ensuring your software works as well as possible before it’s used by your customers might take more time, but it’s better than launching an inferior piece of software.
Review and Upgrade
Your job isn’t finished once the software is launched. You need to be consistently looking at the performance, monitoring how your customers are using it, and making any necessary changes. If you notice that one aspect of your software isn’t being used, consider getting rid of it altogether or merging it with another section. Additionally, remember that trends are changing all the time, and you’ll need to tweak the interface design and the like to stay up to date with modern practices.
Look at the Bottom Line
Your software is for your customers, but it should ultimately be affecting your bottom line. Taking a look at how your software is affecting your business will make it easier moving forward to develop new software, and to see in which areas you should be spending money.