Whitepaper | Software Engineering - Innover Digital

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Overview
The software industry has undergone a signi?cant
transformation over the past few decades. There
is a never-seen-before demand to develop software
products at a breakneck pace but also at a
reduced cost without compromising on quality.
Consumers and business users are not only
demanding high-quality software products at a
faster pace but are also looking for products
that enable easier integration across multiple
systems. This growing trend of rapid-paced
software development is in stark contrast to the
earlier times when software developers had time
to think about designing and delivering the best
applications/platforms to their customers. The
Covid-19-necessitated growth of remote work and
increasing deployment of digital solutions has
only accelerated the demand for delivering
top-notch As-a-Service products. The
scalability, affordability, cost-effectiveness
minus operational and maintenance
responsibilities of various cloud service models
such as Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as
a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS) are strong reasons for
organizations to shift to the cloud. How- ever,
walking down the cloud road has inherent
challenges such as data security issues owing to
multitenant architecture, loss of control,
excessive vendor dependency for speed,
reliability, sup- port, limited range of
solutions, etc. The increasing prominence of the
Build-Once-Deploy-Everywhere model, wherein a
single appli- cation can run across various
platforms along with the growing need for
integrating different pro- grams and maintaining
support across the product life cycle has put
placed great demands on software developers as
they have to operate with demanding timelines and
budget constraints. The creation of new markets,
the proliferation of new devices, and
software-driven productivity gains have thrown
up growth opportunities as well as challenges for
software development organi- zations. According
to a McKinsey report, the market cap of the
global software industry grew at twice the rate
of the overall market over the last decade. The
growth story of the software industry is there
for all to see but there is no overlooking the
fact that the pro?tability of software organiza-
tions has also come under pressure owing to
falling development costs, free or low-cost
options, and transparent pricing. This White
Paper takes a deep dive into the factors driving
the growth of the software industry growth,
challenges, trends that will shape the future of
the software industry, client success stories,
etc.
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Key Factors Driving Software Industry
Growth Robust Growth in Packaged and Cloud-Based
(SAAS) Solutions One area that is witnessing
speedy growth within the realm of the software
industry is Packaged Applications that serves as
a favorable option for buyers and sellers since
development costs are shared among many
customers. According to a Forrester report,
Packaged Applications including
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) have expanded from
19 to 49 of the overall business software
spending, while custom-developed software lost
share. Packaged Applications has superior
testing capabilities that help organizations
reduce the time and resources spent in providing
support to the end-users. Such applications also
require fewer business disruptions for
example, irrespective of which packaging format
you are using (MSI, AppV, or MSIX) -
installation, uninstallation, and upgrading of
Packaged Applications can be silently carried
out in the background, without interrupting or
prompting action from the end-user. Factors
Driving Cloud Adoption
Scalability
Affordability
Performance
Reduced Costs
Customer-Facing Applications Shifting to the
Cloud Organizations are increasingly shifting
their customer-facing applications to the cloud.
Cloud migration enables organizations to
implement new features and upgrades more quickly
than it would take to test and execute
on-premises. The app-integration exercise in the
cloud is also less time-consuming, which also
enables IT and CX teams to focus on applying the
technology as per the organizations speci?c
business requirements. This is where APIs can
come into play to devel- op customizations that
align with business needs. Taking the cloud route
can aid organizations to promptly scale during
busy periods to serve customers more quickly as
well as to reassign IT resources to more
strategic functions to improve customer
engagement that may translate into tangible
revenue increase. Other Software Segments Even
as the software industry is witnessing a
proliferation of packaged applications and cloud
migration of customer-facing applications, the
other software segments such as operating
systems,middleware, custom mobile apps built by
contractors, and consultants and
in-house-developed software are also witnessing
growth. The growth of these software segments
indicates the growing acceptance of free or
low-cost open-source software in operating
systems and middleware categories (for example,
Linux in operating systems and Apache in web
servers).
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A large chunk of software development companies
is often bogged down by an acute shortage of
talent that poses roadblocks in effectively
executing projects.
Rapid Technology Advancements
Ever-Increasing Customer Demands
Software Security
Acute Talent Shortage Infrastructure
Constraints
Con?icts between Development Testing Teams
Challenges Faced by the Software Industry Rapid
Technology Advancements Any technology
advancements augur well for the software industry
but the pace at which the technology is hitting
the market is far from comforting for industry
stakeholders. The rap- id-paced technology
roll-outs create a lot of pressure on software
development organizations to integrate them into
their product development cycle. Evolving
technology trends are a reality that
organizations must come to terms with and
accordingly ?nd ways and means to future-proof
their businesses. Ever-Increasing Customer
Demands Constantly-evolving technologies, rapid
pace of innovation, and growing customer demands
have reinforced the need for software companies
to accelerate speed-to-market and in a
cost-effective manner. The software development
process is a long-drawn-out affair, wherein
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developers are always racing against time to wrap
up project requirements. This can be chal-
lenging for organizations when they work with
international clients across multiple time zones.
A lot of times time constraints can lead to
reduced ef?ciency among development teams, thus
resulting in mediocre quality of software
products and poor customer experience. Software
Security Software development organizations are
cognizant of the fact that their job does not end
with just building the software the onus is on
them to ensure the software is equipped with a
higher degree of security and trust. Since the
software is intertwined with all aspects of our
lives, customers must be able to trust the
software. This is critical, especially for remote
soft- ware systems accessed through a web page
or web service interface. At all times, software
development organizations need to make sure
malicious users do not attack the software and
maintain information security at all times.
Acute Talent Shortage Infrastructure
Constraints A large chunk of software development
companies is often bogged down by an acute
shortage of talent that poses roadblocks in
effectively executing projects. The lack of the
right talent can bring down the productivity and
performance of software development teams.
Further, the lack of the desired infrastructure
can adversely impact organizations. The absence
of high-perfor- mance software development
tools, lack of powerful computing platforms,
inef?cient data stor- age architectures or
improper networks, and connectivity can impact
the overall results Con?icts between Development
Testing Teams Software development
organizations often have to deal with
interpersonal con?icts between development and
testing teams. Of course, every organization
strives to best avoid such scenari- os but it is
easier said than done. Such con?icts stem from
working under high-performance pressure,
different mindsets, the difference in job roles,
etc. Organizations must have a deep
understanding of the problems that lie ahead of
them and accordingly put a roadmap in place to
overcome them. Such con?icts, if not addressed
effectively, can adversely affect the overall
project.
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There are a lot of trends across the software
industry, but we zeroed in on a few trends we
believe would impact the revenue of software
development organizations. User Design
Experience is no more a layer that is added at
the end of the software development cycle and
needs to be included right from the beginning of
the software design process.
Smooth Learning Curve
Accelerate Sales
Exceptional Onboarding Experience
Reduces Software Development Costs
Understanding Future Customer Demands
Enhanced Brand Credibility
Intuitive Experience Accelerates Performance
(1) User Design Experience Software development
organizations have often focused their time and
investments on the technical side of their
products and overlooked the signi?cance of User
Design Experience until after the product is
developed. There is a strong need for software
development organizations to make User Design
Experience an integral part of their software
lifecycle. In these times of disruptive
applications and cutting-edge platforms, people
interact with dozens of applications every day,
but they will only leverage the applications that
deliver the most value. One key human aspect in
this digital age is that if something is too
dif?cult to use, doesnt deliver the expected
experience, and doesnt evolve ahead of our
needs, we wont use it.Organizations must factor
in User Design Experience to create truly
disruptive technologies. User Design Experience
is no more a layer that is added at the end of
the software development cycle and needs to be
included right from the beginning of the software
design process. According to Forresters ROI of
Design Thinking study, design thinking can
deliver an ROI of 85 or greater.
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Bene?ts of Positive User Design
Experience Reduces Software Development
Costs There is a certain degree of risk
associated with starting any new
business/product. However, since research,
analysis, and testing largely drive user
experience design and design thinking, user
design focused-organizations are well-placed to
achieve success. There is a greater aware- ness
about the fact that ?xing usability
issues/problems at the start is less expensive
than resolv- ing them later with product
redesigns or bug amends. Exceptional Onboarding
Experience Organizations are focusing on
delivering an exceptional customer onboarding
experience. A good onboarding experience can
help brands deliver a great ?rst impression and
set a positive tone for their relationship with
clients. Organizations need to ensure their
onboarding strategy isnt overwhelming,
confusing, and seamlessly integrates into their
clients needs. Intuitive Experience Accelerates
Performance Organizations are increasingly
adopting a customer-centric approach, wherein the
focus is on building software that can be
adjusted to the clients needs, refrain from
imposing a completely new solution, and tap into
the users existing knowhow. Such an approach can
not only help minimize errors and ensure users
are more productive but also enhance the
acceptance of the software. Smooth Learning
Curve There is a need to focus on driving a
smoother user learning curve by developing
user-friendly software programs that adhere to
existing protocols and requirements. A smooth
learning curve can save training costs time
and can enable a hassle-free implementation of
the new software. This facet is crucial because
most users and organizations are reluctant to
apply soft- ware changes owing to downtime
triggered by learning a new application. Enhanced
Brand Credibility A good user experience can
enhance brand recognition and serve as a catalyst
for customer loyalty, while a User Design
Experience failure could mean losing customers
altogether. The credibility of a brand means a
lot to customers and organizations must look to
forge long-stand- ing relationships with their
target customers. Accelerate Sales Software
development organizations must go beyond driving
revenue and also ensure the product is effective
and readily adopted by users. A positive product
user experience can go a long way toward driving
adoption and ultimately generating revenue.
According to a study conducted by Baymard
Institute, 69.2 percent of customers abandon a
shopping cart after adding items citing design
and checkout ?ow as the main reasons why they
leave without purchasing.
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Understanding Future Customer Demands Customer
demands will continue to evolve. Delivering a
positive user experience can help brands build a
strong customer connection, which is critical as
brands will be better positioned to understand
their future demands and effectively respond to
them. (2) Low-Code/No-Code A large chunk of
software development companies is often bogged
down by an acute shortage of talent that poses
roadblocks in effectively executing projects.
Faster Software Development
Cost- Reduction
No Need for Training In-House Talent
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Cross-Platform Compatibility
Lower Maintenance Burden
Low-Code/No-Code development holds great
potential to streamline the software develop-
ment process. It is not a cure for everything
facing the As-a-Service software industry and it
does also present potential challenges. However,
they can be powerful tools when wielded
effectively. According to a Forrester report, the
Low-Code market is poised to touch an annual
growth rate of 40, with spending forecasted to
hit a whopping 21.2 billion by
2022. Differences between Low-Code versus
No-Code Low-Code refers to a form of developing
software, applications, or databases through a
graphi- cal user interface (GUI) and can be
fully customized with a minuscule amount of
programming. Low-Code requires the use of a
visual integrated development environment (IDE)
as the user simply has to leverage visual
components to assemble their custom application.
It offers the option to view or edit the source
code and is cost-effective. No-Code development
can be carried out by anyone, who desires to
tailor an application to his/her needs without
any programming knowledge. Unlike Low-Code,
No-Code does not offer the option of viewing or
editing the source code. It brings into play
citizen developers, who build functional but
generally limited apps without having to write a
line of code. Users by lever- aging a GUI can
utilize No-Code development platforms by dragging
and dropping features straight into their
application framework.
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Challenges in Implementing Low-Code/No-Code Howeve
r, implementing Low-Code/No-Code development has
its share of challenges. Low-Code lacks
customization and has integration issues,
especially with legacy systems. Secu- rity and
reliability are other concerns using Low-Code as
there are risks involved as you dont have
complete control or knowledge of the entire
coding process. No-Code also has its chal-
lenges. It is not always a cheaper option - at
times, it can be even more expensive than out-
sourcing or nearshoring code development and also
has scalability limitations. Irrespective of the
challenges of using Low-Code/No-Code, the
potential upside makes them necessary for
companies to evaluate their ?t for their
development efforts. Bene?ts of Low-Code/No-Code
Movement Faster Software Development Organizations
leveraging Low-Code/No-Code platforms can enable
software development within a few days or weeks,
unlike traditional application development that
can take weeks or even months. This allows for
rapid speed-to-market as well as ensures software
updates are carried out regularly as anyone can
make changes irrespective of their level of
coding knowl- edge. The absence of code writing
also frees up software developers to focus on
other more crit- ical development tasks or even
to focus on improvements to products or new
products alto- gether driving potential
revenue. Cross-Platform Compatibility Custom
applications largely developed through
traditional methods are built for one platform
or another, e.g. Android or iOS. Such platforms
have limitations owing to the costs involved in
developing two different platforms. Certain
Low-Code/No-Code development is cross-platform
and can be deployed across multiple devices, but
these are limited. Cost-Reduction Low-Code/No-Cod
e serves as an enabler for building more
applications/platforms in less time, which helps
organizations reduce development costs. They also
eliminate the need for hiring more software
developers, thus helping keep a tight rein on
staf?ng costs and improving pro-
ductivity. Lower Maintenance Burden Software
maintenance is a big responsibility for
organizations. Low-Code reduces the software
maintenance burden by reducing the plumbing work
from day-to-day development. Since Low-Code
ensures components are standardized, pretested
and ready-made, organizations have to deal with
fewer bugs and integration issues than in the
past. It also ensures software developers spend
less time on maintenance.
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No Need for Training In-House Talent Organizations
can leverage Low-Code/No-Code to reduce time and
effort in training their work- force. Such
platforms do not need organizations to have
developers trained in different pro- gramming
languages. Often basic HTML knowledge is more
than enough, which paves the way for
organizations to deploy in-house IT professionals
to execute their software development solutions.
(3) DevOps
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Elevated Customer Experience
Shorter Software Release Cycles
Silos A Thing of the Past
Accelerated Collaboration
Faster Deployment
Accelerating operational ef?ciencies is a prime
focus area for software development organiza-
tions. And this is where DevOps can play a
pivotal role in helping organizations deliver
software products with greater speed and
ef?ciency by combining the principles of
development and operations. DevOps uni?es three
key aspects people, process, and technology to
deliver cus- tomer value. It enables formerly
siloed rolesdevelopment, IT operations, quality
engineering, and security to coordinate and
collaborate to produce better, reliable
products. The increasing digitization of
organizations to automate business processes,
rising adoption of cloud technologies, rapid
adoption of agile frameworks, and the pressing
need for enhanced collaboration across IT teams
will drive the popularity of DevOps in the coming
times. According to a study conducted by Grand
View Research Inc., the global DevOps market size
is expected to reach 12.85 billion by 2025,
posting an 18.60 CAGR during the forecast
period. Key Steps to Implementing DevOps Prepare
for a Cultural Shift Organizations must realize
that cultural shift is the backbone of DevOps as
it integrates people, processes, and tools. The
DevOps movement must start with top management
and run through even entry-level staff
development and operation teams must be made
aware of the value each brings to the
organization. This cultural shift can be
expedited by identifying people who can motivate
team members and ensure a smooth transition to
DevOps. Create a Vision Organizations adopting a
DevOps strategy got to ensure their DevOps vision
is aligned with their business vision and people
are empowered to act on the vision. Some aspects
of the vision such as reduced process
complexities etc must be ingrained into the
organizational culture
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Build a Continuous Integration Delivery
Platform In a DevOps setup, it is imperative for
organizations to provide accurate, up-to-date
information about the production environment to
development teams for appropriate deployment
plan- ning. This enables developers to adopt a
coordinated build and run approach, wherein the
developer who builds a product or service owns
that product or service till the production
stage. This ownership can be extended for a set
period to address any major bugs before the
handoff. Further, the DevOps team will touch all
points of the service lifecycle, right from
requirements to planning, deployment, and
maintenance. This team will also troubleshoot
problems that traditionally fall on ops. Create
a Continuous Testing Environment Unlike the
traditional software development process which is
time-consuming and less reliable, testing is an
integral part of development in DevOps, wherein
Quality Assurance people are part of the DevOps
team. Testing (be it manual or automated) is
performed continually throughout the delivery
pipeline. In fact, every change is treated as a
potential release candidate, and the objective
is to ensure the time between check-in and
release is as short as possible. Build a
Continuous Deployment System Forming a continuous
deployment system can help organizations quickly
deliver new features and updates while
proactively making product changes. A
well-designed delivery pipeline ensures
organizations dont have to sweat over losing
control over the code in production. Continuous
deployment should be backed by continuous
monitoring and feedback. With prompt feedback,
developers are aware of what features are useful
to end-users, which helps them focus on the
features that matter most, thus saving time and
effort. Challenges in Implementing
DevOps Although DevOps promises a lot for the
software industry, implementing it has its share
of challenges. The biggest challenge lies in
getting the development and operations teams on
the same page both teams have their own goals
and priorities to focus on and adopting DevOps
means that both teams have to focus on a common
goal, which is never a smooth exercise. Another
challenge is in coping with increasing
complexities and security require- ments owing
to various technologies being leveraged across
businesses - integrating DevOps tools from
different domains as well as working with
outdated systems are some other chal- lenges
associated with adopting DevOps. Although DevOps
promises a lot for the software industry, its
business bene?ts are yet to be fully reaped by
organizations, which means the peak of DevOps
implementation is yet to arrive.
What DevOps Can Do? 24x Reduce downtime
200x Improve deployment frequency
3x Lower change failure rates
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Bene?ts Elevated Customer Experience DevOps can
propel customer experience to the next level by
helping organizations improve their deployment
frequency by 200x, reduce downtime by 24x, and
lower change failure rates by 3x. DevOps can
help organizations automate their entire delivery
pipeline, which ensures the reliability and
stability of an application after every new
release and eliminates the time-con- suming,
cumbersome as well as error-prone manual
processes. The ?awless performance of any
application enables organizations to deliver a
great customer experience, which will only serve
to improve revenue and pro?ts. Silos A Thing
of the Past The changing market dynamics are
creating a need for development teams to break
down their inter-departmental silos. DevOps will
ensure the siloed approach of earlier times is a
thing of the past as it facilitates increased
interaction across teams comprising developers
and operations guys, thus driving a signi?cant
amount of transparency across teams. DevOps can
breach the typical IT barriers and eliminate old
linear processes while driving the newer more
organized processes. It has been generally
observed that working in silos can cause a great
deal of resentment as well as misunderstanding
across different teams with little trans-
parency on either side. DevOps addresses such
concerns and drives swift execution of projects
through an agile process and reduces
bottlenecks. Faster Deployment Taking the DevOps
route can help organizations drive a faster and
more ef?cient software devel- opment process by
its principles of automation, continuous
delivery, and prompt feedback. It drives faster
deployment because organizations can put new
processes, systems, and applica- tions at a
rapid pace. DevOps enables organizations to
deliver desired results as employees require
lesser development and deployment time to
complete when they are working together. Acceler
ated Collaboration Another exciting feature of
DevOps is that it drives a collaborative culture
of fast-paced, continu- ous feedback that
ensures timely resolution of any technical
issues. DevOps drives mutual collaboration,
communication, and integration across globally
distributed teams that go a long way in
improving business agility. It empowers different
teams such as development and opera- tions to
understand each others work?ow. At the end of
the day, all team members are collec- tively
responsible for meeting the quality and
timeliness of deliverables. Shorter Software
Release Cycles Adopting a DevOps-based approach
can go a long way in assisting organizations to
drive shorter software release cycles. Shorter
software release cycles help organizations
effectively manage the planning and risk
management as the progress is incremental, which
also reduc- es the impact on system stability as
well as helps in responding to evolving customer
needs.
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Impact Delivered
94 Defect Removal Ef?ciency (DRE) across
engineering services
12 Reduction in average call time
30 Reduction in the product development cycle
94 Defect Reduction across Engineering Services
by Leveraging a Cloud Platform for a US-based
NEMT Service Provider A NEMT Service Provider was
leveraging a legacy application that had inherent
challenges. Innover helped the customer by
shifting the legacy platform to the cloud by
linking APIs with different ecosystem
applications such as call center applications,
vehicle provider applications, etc. Our solution
resulted in a 94 defect reduction across
engineering services as well as a sub- stantial
reduction in the product development cycle and
average call time.
67 Faster Implementation Deployment
2.8x Improvement in NPS
Reduced IT costs and Lower Setup Time
67 Faster Implementation Deployment for an
Omni-Channel Contact Center Integration
Provider An omni-channel contact center
integration provider was facing challenges in
changing and updating Applications and
Integrations in a timely and cost-effective
manner. The customer needed to integrate its
messaging hubs and real-time stream analytics
with business process management ecosystem tools
of the end-client. Innover stepped in and
deployed its Low-Code rapid development framework
that helped the client reduce its implementation
and deployment time by 67 as well as integrate
with numerous messaging platforms that led to a
substantial improvement in its NPS. Our solution
helped the customer reduce IT costs as well as
setup time.
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Accelerate Sales in North America and the
European market
Expedited Go-to-Market Strategy with new product
launch
Signi?cantly increased revenue growth with its
existing customers
Accelerated Revenue Growth for a Canadian Media
Conglomerate A Canada-based direct, indirect
corporate tax software services provider was
bogged down by operational challenges. The
client needed to enable a ?exible integration
with business systems (ERP and commerce system)
including support of multiple data exchange
protocols as well as customize its data process
scheduling, which would pave the way for
time-sensitive execution of tasks. The client
also wanted to align its data, which modi?es
source data to ?t tax engine data requirements as
well as enables seamless integration with tax
engines. Innover listened to its client concerns
and implemented middleware development and
middle- ware updates. Our solution helped the
client sell products in North America and the
European market, expedited its GTM strategy with
a new product launch, and signi?cantly
accelerated revenue growth with its existing
customers.
Conclusion The As-a-Service model is the future
of the software industry as organizations
increasingly focus on Digital Transformation.
Today, no organization wants to fall behind and
truly under- stand the importance of being agile
and ?exible two key attributes cloud offers.
The evolving market dynamics effectively mean
that there will be no place for legacy systems
that cant change fast enough to keep with
growing customer demands. Having huge
development teams wont be the right approach to
adopt for organizations going forward. The need
of the hour is for organizations to put in place
an agile setup, wherein they can identify and
trust third-party partners and work effectively
together. Adopting an open-ended approach with
their partners will help organizations ?nd new
ways to develop the best product in the
market. If you would like to know more about our
Software Engineering services, please reach out
to our team. Wed love to help.
Carroll McIntire Senior Vice President - Client
Partner Innover carroll.mcintire_at_innoverdigital.co
m https//www.linkedin.com/in/carroll-mcintire-975
3956/
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