8 Vital Tips to Reduce Software Development Costs

A dynamic world forces firms to have a vibrant online presence to thrive. For most businesses, it's the company website or app that they use to form a primary relationship with the internet. Are you on the lookout for a software development team to build your website? If yes, you should know how expensive custom development can get.

‍Here are some interesting statistics that will help you visualize software development costs:

• It costs $36,000 to build custom software.
• The price of constructing custom software from scratch ranges between $3000 to $120,000.
• 46.2 percent of the development companies offer basic software construction under the $20,000 mark.
• 61.6 percent of companies offer general utility websites at a range of $20,000 to $40,000.

Let’s understand why custom software development costs so much.

Why is Custom Software Development So Expensive?

Each personalized software is a collection of innovative ideas and unique business logic specifically developed for the client. This scale of customization helps businesses create software that is difficult to corrupt. Writing custom code for each client is the primary reason for high software development costs.

Here's how you can reduce software development costs and still get a robust product.

1. Outsource your Software

Do you want superior custom software without paying the premium for it? Consider outsourcing to developing countries to cut down costs. Qubit-labs states that outsourcing your software development to Asian countries save $25 to $105 per hour. This difference compounds and increases your savings. However, you need to enforce strict quality standards to ensure you get the most value out of your investment. Choose a reliable and proactive software company to help you stay on top of your software development.

2. Clarify and State your Exact Requirements

Unclear requirements lengthen software development time and increase the costs. You can easily rectify this issue by clarifying your requirements. Stating your requirements transparently in an earlier timeline helps coders create great software for you. So, create a document and explain your needs graphically (if required). Updating this document regularly and giving access to the developers saves you money. Specifying as many details as you can lead to less speculation and an end product that you desire.

3. Test Well

Software testing directly affects the quality of the finished product. Incorporating testing practices earlier helps identify bugs faster and gives them ample time to rectify these bugs. Furthermore, testing late in the process increases re-work and development costs. This re-work also causes a delay in the product release. Estimates show that early bug identification is 100 times cheaper than testing after the coding phase. So, involve QA from the start of the coding phase to save cost and effort.

4. Differentiate 'Wants' from 'Needs'

Your website is a representation of your brand. Hence, it's difficult to separate your wants from your needs. Wanting great-looking sites equipped with all the latest features are great. However, we recommend you stick to the bare minimum in the initial stages of developing the software. So, ensure you get minimal software that performs commonly used functions well. After all, you may not use all features you implement. This simple move helps you save development and maintenance costs.

5. Use Agile Software Development Method

The Agile Methodology involves cooperation from all stakeholders on all phases of the software development process. After each iteration, developers show the product to the customers and seek feedback for revisions. So, instead of revising the code after the entire coding process is complete, developers change the code after every cycle of development.  Seeking feedback at every stage reduces re-work, saves time, and saves money. The methodology also improves product quality, customer satisfaction, project control, reduce risks, and improves ROI. Software development through Agile Methodology is proven to be 28 percent more successful than traditional projects.

6. Ask for Fixed Development and Maintenance Costs

When it comes to software development, you need to have a long-term strategy. Developing software is just step one, after which you need to maintain the product as well. Often a company will charge you reasonably for development. However, their prices jack up when it comes to software maintenance. Clarifying all the terms before signing any contract is extremely important. So, remember to discuss all prices in the initial stages to keep the terms clear. Finding trusted partners to assist you in the development and maintenance process is critical.

7. Hire a Proactive Team

If you don't have technical expertise, hiring a proactive team that understands your requirements is extremely critical. A good coding team helps you translate those needs into reality efficiently. Sometimes, they also challenge and advise you to improve your site's performance. You don't want a yes-man personality in your team. Having good critical members helps avoid common coding pitfalls. So, choosing your coding pit-crew well ensures you have great software at a reasonable price.

8. Ask for Automated Testing

Manual testing is inefficient, expensive, and time-consuming. So, if you can push for automated testing processes to complete tasks. You can also use them for user acceptance testing by creating scripts and devise quality assurance tests. Intelligent software development management guarantees the final product is sensible and usable. So, request for automated testing to reduce costs and efforts. Automated testing makes up 25 to 50 percent of 66 percent of testing processes.

We hope you got a fair insight on how to reduce software development costs through our post.

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Conclusion

Custom software development is extremely costly. However, sometimes reducing the cost can significantly diminish your product quality. Making sure you do not compromise on your product too much is vital. Maintaining the balance between cost and quality is a tricky yet important concern. Finding an ideal business partner to fulfill your software needs isn’t easy. So, take your time with the process and have a clear idea of your requirements for a better software development journey.