Software development is a necessary cost, but can you really cut it by 50% while enhancing its output?
The short answer is yes.
What most people fail to realize, is that software is different than most costs when it comes to business.
How is it different?
If you own a physical store, you need to pay your rent every month or you lose the store.
If you pay for ads on Google to get new leads, you need to pay for the ads, or else Google will not show them to anyone.
If you stop paying for full-time developers, will your app crash and burn overnight?
Outside of regular maintenance and some bug fixes, the answer is no.
Software will keep on running as long as its maintained, and maintaining software is far less expensive than paying for developers who have no real work to do, especially during uncertain times.
There are going to be moments in your business where shipping out new features to your software product is not a priority.
There are a few reasons for this:
- Because you are gathering data to decide which direction to take your product next
- You want to invest money in marketing and business development efforts
- You want to better understand how your users are currently using your product
If your business is in this stage. You can enhance your results by focusing on putting systems in place to track user data, and reallocate your resources elsewhere.
Once a great piece of software is written, it can scale to serve hundreds of thousands or millions or customers.
Instead of focusing on keeping developers busy, the focus should be on which features to build.
So why during this time are you paying multiple developer salaries when it is not a priority to ship new features?
This is where working with a software consultant comes in.
A software consultant can work with you to understand what stage your business is at, evaluate development costs, implement systems to track user data, and help you plan and launch new features.
Once you are ready to launch new features, the consultant can help you implement them.
Very likely you will cut development costs as you will only pay for the consultations, as well as fixed scope development work.
The benefit of software is that code runs 24/7, and can work for you while you are asleep.
Because of this uniqueness of software, it is not always necessary that you need to pay large developer salaries to keep the machine running.
You can ramp up and down your development costs and needed, until your business is at a stage where having multiple developers on staff is justified.
I can help you take a look at your business objectively, understand the role that your software plays in it, and propose a plan to move your business forward.
Send me a message using the contact form below. I’d love to chat!
