You just paid a development team a hefty sum to develop custom software for you. You probably take a deep breath and say nothing else needs more spending. But then you hear about the cost of software maintenance and wonder where that sprang up from. Well, to simplify it all, every software development process has a software maintenance component. The development team isn’t charging you repeatedly for the same software. They are charging you for catering to the additional requirements that need to be made if you want your software to perform well based on changes and updates that occur with the supporting technology. Or, even to be in par with the changing needs of the market
If you are working with a competent tech team, they would tell you early on that software maintenance is as important as development itself. What’s more? When it comes to software development, 60% of the cost can be attributed to maintenance.
In this post, I will detail the reasons behind the need for software maintenance and what the different types of software maintenance are.
What is Software Maintenance?
Software maintenance is an inevitable part of the Software Development Life Cycle. Your product needs to be constantly maintained to ensure its functionality, reduce glitches, and satisfy users’ needs, among others. You can’t just release and forget and hope that users will be drawn to your software till the end of time.
Software maintenance is just that process that entails modifications and updates to your software. In the real world, the needs of the users change, and your software needs to be able to cater to those changing needs or it will be abandoned by the user.
Here are some steps that can help:
- Engage with the QAQuality Assurance is the process of reviewing a piece of work to ensure that the quality and standards are met.... team
- Listen to what the Help/Support Desk has to say
- Obtain User Feedback
- Sunset the functions that are not offering value
- Optimize your software maintenance team
Why is Software Maintenance Needed?
Overall, software maintenance optimizes system performance by reducing errors, eliminating unnecessary development, and applying innovations. Let’s discuss this in a bit of detail:
1. To improve performance
Your software would need fine-tuning so that it performs optimally.
Many a time, after the software goes live and the end users use it, problems arise. With a maintenance program, you can easily access upgrades all year round to address and fix issues faced by users. These upgrades improve the overall performance and functionality of the application.
Sometimes, end users find better ways of using the system and they give their feedback. The maintenance team needs to take the feedback into consideration and make the needed tweaks to improve the performance.
Likewise, there can be functionalities that are no longer used and reduce the efficiency of the system. Such obsolete functions can be removed to improve performance.
2. To fix bugs and remove glitches
Nobody wants to use a ‘buggy’ software. That’s just a plain NO. But, if you have been in the tech field long enough, you’d know that nothing is completely bug-free. It has got nothing to do with best practices or even your development team’s due diligence.
The goal is to make the software as bug-free as possible in the first place and have a plan to quickly fix those as and when they may arise. However, there are times when the magnitude of the bugA is old computer term for something that happens in software or an application that is not as expected. Bugs... makes an immediate fix impossible. That’s why it is important to establish a standardized process to address the bugs and glitches that arise in the software.
Keep an eye out for customer feedback and be proactive with monitoring if you don’t want the bugs to hinder a smooth user experience.
3. To add enhancements and insertions
Technology is fast-paced. In order to keep your business on par with the recent technology, it is elemental that your software is updated.
Enhancements and insertions to the software (user interface to coding elements) need to be made using the latest tools and technologies. This change makes the system adaptive to cope with changing circumstances.
A well-defined software maintenance plan will help you with just that. It will keep your software in pace with the recent technology and help you leverage all the benefits of the new technology.
4. To allow for modification and reconfiguration
Ongoing software maintenance plan will enable your business to seamlessly integrate with other applications in the ecosystem. This will result in enhanced visibility for all parties involved.
Modification and reconfiguration help improve the underlying architecture of the system. Design maintenance can include adding new features, changing existing ones, or updating security protocols.
5. To future-proof your business
Software maintenance ensures that performance issues are addressed as soon as possible, preventing them from escalating into more significant issues.
When software maintenance tasks are completed regularly, you can rest assured that in case something goes down, there’s a contingency plan in place. This can be done through proper documentation on how the maintenance team will respond to certain critical issues. Backup and disaster recovery plans should be written down and implemented.
6. To save costs
From experience, I can say that if you have covered development and maintenance activities in your budget, it will allow you to respond quickly to the ever-changing market needs without needing to increase your outlay.
When the software is well-maintained the cost of adding a new feature or offering a new business value is cheaper. With good documentation, a maintenance team is better equipped to pivot and can prevent minor issues from escalating into bigger and costlier ones.
Types of software maintenance
The type of maintenance strategy you choose would largely depend on the type of business you own and what your requirements are.
1. Adaptive Software Maintenance
In Adaptive Software Maintenance, changes are made to the system to ensure its compatibility with changing environments. This entails fine-tuning your application so that it can perform optimally.
Adaptive maintenance needs to ensure that the changes made do not disrupt the stability and utility of the application.
2. Corrective Software Maintenance
For corrective maintenance, experts detect and fix bugs. Doing so gets rid of the glitches that affect the user experience and enhances performance.
Errors and mistakes in the existing solution are corrected to ensure the effective operation of the system.
3. Perfective Software Maintenance
Perfective Software Maintenance includes the addition of new features that the users want. It also entails upgrading the functionalities to help enhance the user experience. Through perfective maintenance, an app’s operational life can be ramped up and its performance levels boosted.
All elements of the system, functionality, and capabilities are fine-tuned to improve system performance.
4. Preventive Software Maintenance
Preventive maintenance includes modifications and updates that help prevent future problems with the software. This type of maintenance helps weed out problems that may not be critical at the moment but may cause serious issues in the future.
This helps prevent potential system vulnerabilities.
To Conclude
Software Maintenance helps you adapt to the changes and you can then leverage the updates to allow for greater flexibility, scalability, and quicker ROI, so that overall business productivity is enhanced.
At Aerion Technologies we provide highly effective software maintenance services that not only revitalize outdated software but also keep on par with the changes in technology.
Get in touch for a free consultation today.
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