Software maintenance is the process of updating and modifying software
applications to deliver improved performance, adapting the product to suit changing
environments, and correcting any defects or errors that may arise. The purpose
of software maintenance is to ensure that the value of the software is
preserved over time by enhancing its capabilities and features, expanding its
user base, removing obsolete functions, and incorporating newer technologies so
that it remains competitive in the overall software applications ecosystem. In
fact, by investing in offshore software development in India, you effectively
are able to better maintain and update your software so that its performance is
improved, and its operational capacities are enhanced.
What Are the Different Types of
Software Maintenance Available?
Software maintenance can be broadly categorized into 4 types, which will
be touched upon briefly below.
Preventative
Maintenance
This type of maintenance helps with protecting the system from any
upcoming vulnerabilities or unforeseen threats to ensure that all losses are
prevented.
Adaptive Maintenance
This maintenance involves modifying the software components so that the
system remains compatible with rapidly changing environments and stays relevant
in its software ecosystem.
Corrective Maintenance
This type of maintenance is important for detecting errors and other
bugs in the existing system and fixing them promptly so that the software
continues to work efficiently.
Perfective Maintenance
This type of maintenance helps fine tune all the functionalities,
elements, and features of the system so that system performance is enhanced and
adequately optimized.
Why Is
Software Maintenance Necessary?
The main aim of software
maintenance is to update and modify the software application after delivery to
fix bugs and improve the overall performance of the system itself. It is
important to invest heavily in maintenance and outsource software development
to India or any other country that is known for high-quality software
development and maintenance. This is because your solution needs to be kept
healthy, so that it can easily adapt to changing business and technical
environments. Usually, as much as 60% of the software maintenance costs are
used for enhancing the solution that is developed. Software application
optimization involves meticulously identifying, isolating, and addressing
errors, eliminating obsolete functionalities, and applying cutting-edge
development.
Why Is
Software Maintenance Difficult to Handle?
Software maintenance can be
difficult to address as it is costly. Other reasons why maintenance is
difficult include:
1.
The
processes and stages of the development of the original software cannot be
easily traced.
2.
All
the changes made along the way have not been adequately documented.
3. Every
change that is incorporated into the software produces ripple effects on its
other functionalities, many of which can not be known until the users’ flag
them.
4.
Post-delivery
programs and activities have not been designed keeping software maintenance in
mind at the outset of its development.
Why Is
Software Maintenance Important?
When you decide to invest in offshore software development in India,
you can benefit from enhanced system performance and reduced errors and bugs.
You can also modify the environments that your software runs in to stay
competitive or duly incorporate any updates or changes that are requested to
better meet your users’ needs.
So why is software maintenance
important? Because without it, your system will never evolve over time and will
continue to be riddled with all the defects, bugs, and inefficiencies it
suffered from when it was first deployed. It is important to remember that
software never “wears out”. However, it does become less useful as it ages, and
issues will arise within the software itself, making it impossible to use more
than a few months down the line. Software maintenance costs will usually make
up anywhere from 50% - 75% of the total cost of ownership (TCO), which means
that most of the software will only perform according to the requirements
outlined at the beginning after the deployment stage. This is because as it is
continually developed and optimized for greater efficiency, it begins running
better in all environments.
Why Invest in
Offshore Software Development in India?
Software maintenance is an
on-going activity that can take anywhere from 15 – 20 years, while software
development itself can take only 1 – 2 years to build. If you decide to invest
in offshore software development in India, you are effectively investing in
enhancing your application’s capabilities, optimizing its many processes and
features, deleting unnecessary functionalities, and continually correcting
errors and bugs as they are discovered. Change is inevitable, so mechanisms
need to be developed to evaluate, control, improve, and modify your software
application if you are looking to stay in business long term.
The purpose of software
maintenance will always be to preserve the value of your software application
over time. Its value can be enhanced in many ways from meeting additional
requirements, and becoming more efficient, to becoming easier to use, growing
your customer base, and incorporating newer technology to enhance its existing
performance.
Choose to invest in offshore
software development in India if you are looking to truly shake up your users’
world and keep your software application vibrant and healthy for the
foreseeable future.
