Enterprise applications are the heart of an organization. They manage everything including operations, supply chain, human resources, and other crucial functions of the enterprise. Unfortunately, organizations face a number of challenges when building business-critical enterprise applications instead of choosing commercial off-the-shelf software.
1. Time Crunch
A 2015 study revealed that new enterprise applications are expected to be created in shorter periods of time with fewer or the same amount of resources. The same study discovered that 43 percent of respondents expected a 50 percent or greater increase in “technical complexity of web and mobile apps.”
For CIOs who attempt an enterprise application development project, whether they use an internal or outsourced development team, it can be frustrating to solidify the specs and business demands of the app.
However, a solid planning foundation does not always guarantee that an application will be built quickly and meet all of the expectations from the start. Even if the specs are determined and agreed to at the start, they can often change. Supposedly quick projects can easily spin out of control.
Many organizations underestimate just how much these changes can drive up the cost and development time. What appears to be a small functionality change might actually add months to the project.
Yes, we face this challenge!
SOLUTION: Reduce Modernization Project Length
Completely understand your system from the inside out. Perform legacy code analysis to see the crucial elements of your code that you’ll need to retain. Get rid of unused code to cut down on the amount of code you need to modernize, cutting down on project time.
Plan an incremental modernization that provides ROI at every step. Your roadmap should be easy for shareholders to understand, highlighting the ways that your project will save money or produce new revenue opportunities. They’re more likely to support a this type of project, decreasing the time it will take to complete.
2. Tight Budget
From employee and management costs, to consultation and directional planning, to tool and platform licences, to testing, enterprise applications aren’t always cheap.
Most CIOs have costs firmly in their mind. They have to be able to prove that the new enterprise application will provide the organization with great ROI. The new application must seek to improve efficiency, revenue, or other business-critical metrics.
CIOs know that this is a delicate balancing act. They need a legacy system modernization to reduce costs. But their long-term ROI must far outweigh the development costs to even have a chance of getting off the ground.
One big problem is that there’s not a hard and fast rule for how much an enterprise application will cost to create. Some important aspects of the application that determine final costs can be:
- Purpose of the app
- Chosen application platform
- Development approach
- Complexity, customizations, and functionality
- UI/UX, features and design
- Third party tools and integration
- QA and testing
- Hardware necessities and capabilities
Yes, we face this challenge!
SOLUTION: Incremental Modernization Saves Money
When you work incrementally on a legacy modernization project, you’ll reduce development costs and prioritize work based on your organization’s needs. Legacy code is gradually transformed into a modern system that delivers new functionality, allowing your business to grow without disruption to operations and revenue.
Incremental modernization protects your organization’s investment by using the complex business logic that you’ve built into your legacy systems over the years. You’re not simply rebuilding your system from the ground up; you’re preserving your investment and creating new, efficient processes that save time and money.
Not only does a legacy system modernization take place over time so that there is no disruption to your business, it also reduces costs and frees up capital that could be better spent elsewhere within your company. Start determining the ways that a modernization can save your organization money in the long run. The sooner you know the ways you’ll save, the sooner you can start seeing the benefits in action.
3. Lacking Expertise
Many organizations will attempt to create a whole new application or attempt a legacy application modernization project in-house.
The problem? Enterprise application development project is that it takes incredible expertise, skill and knowledge to ensure that the development process goes smoothly.
Because enterprise apps must integrate very closely with existing systems and processes, the entire development team must be accustomed to constantly refining their knowledge of the business processes and software infrastructure for their project. Keeping up with such a moving target requires a high level of baseline expertise.
Creating apps that consistently meet business needs takes the right combination of teamwork and a variety of different skills and expertise that many in-house teams simply do not possess. These skills can include frontend and backend development, user experience, development, and security, and optimization.
37% of IT professionals surveyed face a mobile app developer shortage.
Yes, we face this challenge!
SOLUTION: Choose the Right Partner
CIOs have to take a long, hard look at their internal teams. It’s okay to admit that their team can do some of the work but perhaps not all of it. Are you missing knowledgeable architects, for instance? Are your developers fresh out of college? A critical component to successful enterprise application development is using a team that has successfully finished these types of projects in the past.
Partner with an experienced outside team that will help plan your enterprise application from the beginning. This may head off unforeseen changes or problems along the way. Whether using a blended development approach or relying on a completely outside full-service development team.