The ever-developing world of IT shows no sign of slowing down. On the contrary, this drives the emergence of many web hosting services in Indonesia from software house (s) in Jakarta, to Yogyakarta, to even Bali! With the help of the thriving growth of IT, web hosting services can serve their clients anywhere at any time.
In this new era of globalization, businessmen to government institutions must follow suit with the trend of having a website or web-based apps to advertise their products or services. Partnering up with software developers is essential in creating a website and a commitment to meet the needs of the directors, investors, and customers.
Benefits of Owning a Website
Owning a website is as crucial as owning a physical store, a building, or a phone line. Researchers suggest that 6 out of 10 customers are expecting a brand or a company to have online contents about their business.
Looking through the scope of a business, there are 3 main benefits of owning a website:
1. 24/7 Availability
Owning a website means ease-of-access for your customers. Your customers can pop up from anywhere and at any time. The website will always generate clients or potential customers for you, even outside of working hours. Customers and clients can easily gain information about your business whenever and wherever they like. As such, owning a user-friendly website is definitely going to impact your business on a whole nother level.
2. Cost-Efficiency
As easy as it is to post the information about your business online, your website also brings your services or products straight to the customer’s end. In many cases, companies will no longer need to worry about the high operational cost. Companies will be able to have competitively priced products and services in the market.
3. Market Expansion
By having a website, your company is highly accessible to people all around the world. Say goodbye to geographical boundaries. People worldwide will be able to look up and find your company online as a customer, and even a potential investor at the same time.
Many software houses are able to create premium-quality websites that will significantly benefit the business, as these premium-quality websites will be able to increase the credibility of the company, and as a result, the spike in the sale.
“But my business doesn’t have an IT team that can handle all of this,” I hear you say. Worry no more, software houses are ready to partner up with you and get your business rolling in no time.
In need of a trustworthy team to turn your dream software into reality? Click here for a free consultation.
The truth is there is also quite a lot of cases of web-based applications that end up in failure:
75% of the business and IT executives expect their software project to fail. Only about a third of their projects are finished on time and within the budget within the last year.
33% of the failure of projects are caused by the lack of involvement of the senior management team.
The failure of an IT project would not only affect the financial side of the company, but would also directly impact the customers’ satisfactory rating which will bring down the competitive advantage of the company.
Greyhound Lines Inc., a US transportation company, developed a computerized reservation system known as “Trips” in the early 90s which cost them at least US$ 6 Million. “Trips”, however, then failed when they were advertised in 1993, even after they had offered this system for half its original price.
Greyhound ticketing agents were forced to write the tickets manually which caused the customers to wait in line for a prolonged period of time–some customers even missed their bus. The rate of people traveling by bus went down by 12% in just one month. A few weeks after the initial implementation of “Trips”, Greyhound was forced to deactivate this system so they could investigate what went wrong.
This catastrophe resulted in US$61.4 million loss for the first semester of 1994. This also resulted in the CEO and CFO of Greyhound having to step down. “Trips” was finally able to be successfully implemented, but Greyhound is never seen the same way they were ever since.
In addition, this research essentially shows that failures are often the result of projects that have high complexity but are done in such a short time.
4 Main Reasons Your IT Projects Fail
Not one institution can be guaranteed to be free from the clutch of “failure”. Failures can affect the privately-owned ones, the government, and even the military. Failure in an IT project is the result of technical issues, social issues, and the attitude of the stakeholders of the project.
In light of this, below are the 4 main things that need to be avoided when developing web-based applications:
1. Partnering up with the wrong software house
One of the main culprits that can be most commonly pointed out is partnering up with the wrong software house. Software houses are companies that dwell in software development and give solutions to issues identified by the clients in the world of IT.
Most businesses rely on outsourcing companies that provide web-hosting services. (Read this article to learn more about the ups and downs of working with outsourcing companies that provide web-hosting services.)
Even huge companies like IBM are not invulnerable from conflicts with the clients.
In November 2012, Avantor Performance Materials, a manufacturer of chemical products, sued IBM, stating that IBM had committed a fraud about the SAP-based software that was developed for Avantor. The system, which was called Express Life Sciences Solution, was apparently incompatible with Avantor and the software resulted in the company having to almost shut the whole operation down.
Avantor added that the employees of IBM even stated that it was the worst project they had ever participated in. Another accusation made against IBM, which is also most commonly used in many allegations for the failure of ERP, involves the hiring of incompetent and careless employees working on the project.
IBM had also used shortcuts to push it to go live early; the step that led to this disaster. IBM argued that Avantor’s allegations are overly dramatic and stated that they would prepare a more solid defense against these allegations.
This is why choosing the right software house to partner up with is the most crucial step that will greatly affect the success of your company’s web-based applications.
Imagine all the losses that you will have to deal with!
Take a real close look when taking this very first step. Thoroughly research the software house and the people in said software house that you will be partnering up with. This will put you at the better end of the bargain.
Read this article for more information on how to choose the best possible software house.
2. Unrealistic budget and expectation
Setting up unrealistic expectations is never ideal, however, this is something that is easier said than done. A client tried to get the best deal by pitching the lowest possible cost for the best possible quality of work; as the software house did not want to disappoint their clients, they agreed to the client’s demands. They even agreed that this would be delivered within 24 hours.
Boom! You’ve just got a recipe for disaster.
Setting up unrealistic expectations like this is a disastrous business practice.
The most common reason for the failure of web development projects is the client’s unrealistically low budget.
Why would they promise something that was out of their reach?
It is likely that they did not have enough experience in correctly calculating the financial projection of the budget or they were that desperate for some cash.
What lie in every good and lasting relationship is confidence and honesty. When you make promises that you can’t keep, projects get delayed, and clients will most definitely get upset. There is nothing worse than breaking a client’s trust.
A good software house will always communicate and give the clients a sound reasoning, the required specifications of the project, and the layout of what can be achieved with the budget.
3. Technical debts in the development
Another reason that sets up the failure of web-based apps is Technical Debts. Technical debts in software development include lack of automation tests, lack of automation deployment, lack of documentation, dirty, or otherwise tightly coupled code, defects, bad design decisions, and all the issues that arise because the developers are taking shortcuts to cheat their way out to fulfill the deadline.
What does this all mean?
Technical debts are just like any other debts. Let’s compare this to buying a property. Most people do not have millions of cash ready to be spent immediately on a property. So, they resort to mortgages. The purchaser must pay it back within 15 to 30 years with an increased interest rate. If they fail to pay back the mortgage, they automatically lose their property.
This is also true to Technical Debts. This technique enables the software house to push the software to live early, but the development of the said software will suffer.
Technical debt is a variable that can result in the unpredictability of software delivery. The company will essentially be forced to spend more time than necessary.
Technical debts can occur when the higher-ups only care about short-term victories. They force their developers to work overtime to fulfill the deadline.
Technical debts will haunt the developers and their productivity suffers, which will ultimately slow down the progress of the software’s development.
Want to know more about Tech Debts? Watch the video below:
4. No expenses spent on marketing
Branding is a very broad term that comprises multiple aspects. In short, a “brand” is the mission, the value, and the experience of a company.
It takes years of hard work for a company to gain a positive image and even longer years of even harder work to maintain it. Many companies start with well-thought-out design decisions. The logo, the colour, and the graphics are essentially the way for your company to basically “shake hands” with the customers or clients. We all know how important it is to make the best first impression.
In order to create the best possible first impression, the designers must understand the business, the goal, the mission, and the end-user of the company. The image of the logo and the design go side-by-side in creating the best first impression. The customers must be able to identify and familiarize themselves with just a glimpse of the logo.
Think of your app as a car – someone can immediately identify a “Mercedes” by simply looking at the logo.
In the development of an application software, most people will talk about the technical aspects of it – the layout of the plan, the quality of the codebase, as well as the continuing support and maintenance of the program. Though these are essential points for the success of a project, they cannot be fully maximized without the constant support of the lesser-technical elements – such as the contents, the UX, and the UI design.
As such, other than investing in the software development, the development of a web app will need to involve a seasoned UI and UX team.
#Content Preparation
There is no website that does not have content. As Bill Gates once said, “Content is King.” Having a web-based project is a commitment to also carry out Digital Marketing strategies to promote the website. A website with the most sophisticated features is essentially nothing without anyone noticing or accessing it.
Annual research from Content Marketing Institute shows that most marketers utilize Content Marketing. This technique is used by most well-known organizations all around the world – such as P&G, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and John Deere.
Content Marketing is also developed and run by medium-sized businesses and small shops all around the world. Why? Because it actually works!
One of the reasons for the failure of web projects is the lack of content. If the clients cannot provide any content, the development of the website will cease.
The best way to deal with this issue is by writing contents before ever starting development on the website. With that in mind, clients will have a much clearer picture of what to include on the website. Keep in mind that both the content and the sitemap must work to complement each other.
#UX and UI
A good web-based application project requires skillful software developers and equally talented UX designers. For those who are wondering, UX stands for User Experience. Understanding the equilibrium of these two is very important to set you up on the right foot with your clients. You can create the most technically advanced web-based applications, however, if the users are not able to explore the application seamlessly, it’s safe to say the project is a failure.
This is why having a good UX is important. In this day and age, users are expecting that they can seamlessly use the application in one go. One bad experience with the program is all it takes for the user to get rid of it. User Experience is not only important for application softwares, or a website, but also for each and every interaction made between the user and the company, as well as the products or services.
Harvard Business Review found that 23% of users that have a positive experience will share the experience with 10 or even more people about the experience. Research also suggests that users are also more likely to “condemn” a bad experience and will only give rewards to satisfactory experiences. This is the reason why your IT team must give extra attention to both UX and UI.
What are the differences between UX and UI?
UX (User Experience) design refers to the first-hand experience of the user, while UI is an abbreviation for “User Interface”; the design that the users see when they open the website or run the program. Despite their seemingly interlaced existence, UX and UI each have their own responsibilities and they refer to different design disciplines.
UX design is more technical and analytical, while UI design is closely related to what is commonly known as “Graphic Design”, though with much more complicated tasks and responsibilities. The key to a successful project is giving software solutions that are in line with the needs and the preferences of the users.
Spot on UX and UI design decisions will smooth out the experience and ease up the accessibility for the end-users. This will greatly help you in reaching your target market; the users. Moreover, UX and UI will efficiently save you money and time. Giving extra attention to UX and UI will save you from imminent failure.
Successful apps were never perfect the first time they were launched. Most successful products undergo huge changes in the development. They can look different, offer different products, and even completely change their target market! Let’s take a look into the success story of Facebook.
Failure of a project can be caused by one or several of these combinations; starting from the sudden increase in the expense, delayed delivery, poor quality, or the lack of experience in development.
Despite the involvement of developers since the planning stage, more often than not, they are the ones that will be held accountable for the success or the failure of the project as they are the ones who are directly involved in the development of the application. Though when it comes to pinning it down, definitive proof of the inadequacy of software developers can’t always be found.
At the end of the day, the best way to avoid the failure of a project is to be one step ahead of your own project. Make sure that the following points are well-informed and agreed upon before starting up a project:
– Target – inform the goals with great details and precision. Do not start a project before all stakeholders are set on the same objectives.
– Limitation – Understand the existing internal and external limitations.
– Prediction – Technically calculate the scale of the project, the budget, the deadline, the staff, as well as the sets and probabilities.
– Commitment – Business decisions are made by picking one possible scenario and determining the correct sources required to fulfill the target on one set limitation.
– Plan – A set of tasks and project activities will fulfill the commitment of the project’s scale, budget, deadline, staff, as well as sets and probabilities.
Having clearly defined standards on the above points will set your web-based app project on the right track, get you chasing realistic targets, and get you to the root cause of any obstacles.
One last note, but never the least, communication is a surefire way to avoid and save your projects from failure. Communication can be used as a means of clarification of the progress of the project, the target, and all the important decisions made throughout a project’s lifetime. With these clearly kept in mind, your web-based app project will be ready to overcome any obstacles that will inevitably arise.
These are just some of the more common reasons why most web-based app projects fail, but the list can go on forever. Do you have anything you’d like to add to the list? Feel free to list them down via the comment section down below!
