In a rapidly evolving industry, you need to design your products with growth in mind. Software scalability is essential for your business’ longevity. Read on and find out how you can make your software scalable.
Technology is quickly advancing. In today’s fast-paced lifestyle, people’s preferences are quick to change. They can easily grow bored with your latest products or demand for new things to be added to it. And as a startup owner, you need to keep up with those needs to keep your business running.
This is where software scalability comes in. Your product should be able to serve its purpose years from now and can also adapt based on the market’s demand. In short, you need to build your product with growth in mind.
So why do you need to make software scalable? Let’s start by defining what software scalability is.
Defining software scalability
Software scalability is an attribute of a tool or a system to increase its capacity and functionalities based on its users’ demand. Scalable software can remain stable while adapting to changes, upgrades, overhauls, and resource reduction. To further understand this, here is an example.
Let’s say you have a basic anti-virus program, and it gained traction in the market. You can upgrade its security features and integrate other networks to increase its usability. With improved quality, you can sell it as a premium subscription and offer it to larger enterprises.
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Selling Software
Scalability matters when it comes to selling software. Your competitors are always after the next big thing, and you have to keep up with them. The more innovative you are with your product, the more people will patronize your brand.
By designing a scalable product, you’ll be able to cater to your market’s needs quickly and easily. Software scalability allows your business to remain stable and productive despite the volatile nature of the industry. Furthermore, you raise profit by selling the premium version of your products.
With a reliable product, you can easily hop on the latest trends and influx of demand. Likewise, your business also benefits in the long run, with lower maintenance costs, higher agility, and cheaper upgrade expenses.
However, scaling to meet the demand of consumers is still a challenging process. Building scalable software means you have to be more meticulous with the development details.
Scaling software agility
You need to repeatedly go through great lengths to ensure the quality, functionality, and durability of your product. Here are some of the basic things you should consider in building and designing it:
Functionality
Laying out your foundation is crucial. You have to plan out the kinds of functions you want to integrate into your product. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate plan, but you need to consider the factors of developing those features.
Ask yourself: do you have the resources to achieve those feature upgrades in the long run? Can you sustain the quality and functionality of the original features?
Keep in mind that you don’t have to build the software’s entire capability in the first version. Release a minimum viable product then increase capacity from there. However, you do need to design its framework and structure with enough flexibility for it to adjust to changes and upgrades.
Database
Choosing the type of database storage for your project data is crucial. A lot of the problems encountered in scaling software relates to the database.
To minimize and prevent future complications, you need to determine what type of database is suited for your project. You have to choose between the object store database and relational database, two solid data storage that has their tradeoffs.
Object store database is ideal if you need to make quick changes for a short time. It lets you scale your software without complicating the data. On the other hand, relational database gives you a lot of access to information with the tradeoff of row-level or table-level locking issues.
Code
Writing thoughtful and clean code is often neglected, but unbeknownst to most, it plays an essential role in scaling your software. A high-quality code input produces longer-lasting output. This means that when a code is well thought of, it will be easier to duplicate and test in the future. Clean code is simple and readable in the eyes of other programmers.
A well-written code makes it easy to implement future changes. Your new programmer won’t have to spend so much time analyzing the script and will focus on creating new ones instead.
With that in mind, this highlights the need for a good developer. You need a programmer that will not only do the job but will do it well.
Maintenance
Lastly, you need to ensure that your software is convenient for testing and maintenance. Once you decide to improve it, your software will undergo countless testing and deconstruction.
When you set it up for automated testing across functionality, bugs will efficiently illuminate in your system and will make the process much faster and more manageable. In short, you make it friendly for your QA specialists.
Upgrading your business
Managing a software startup can be difficult, especially if you’re not as well-versed in the latest technologies. Your software development team has to be prepared to take on drastic changes for your startup to grow.
This can be intimidating if you don’t have the proper guidance and mentorship in scaling up your startup. Additionally, you need the right resources to help you grow. So, when do you know you’re ready to scale up? What are your first steps?
Scale up with Full Scale
If you need mentors, Matt DeCoursey and Matt Watson are startup heroes that have helped several aspiring entrepreneurs succeed in their business. They are the brains behind the offshore software development company, Full Scale.
Full Scale helps early-stage businesses grow and succeed by giving them access to affordable talent and resources. The company caters to all your development needs, from highly skilled developers of any specialization, graphic designers, content writers, project managers, and successful entrepreneur leaders. Contact us and learn more about our services today!
