September 06, 2019

Why businesses need to adopt application maintenance & support services?

Posted by: IMCS Category:Application Development

Let’s assume that you have outsourced the best in-business IT company to develop an application. And, later when it’s done, you are planning to implement your promotional tactics to grab intended eyeballs.

But does it mean you can stop worrying about the application functionalities altogether?

• What about technical glitches and managerial shortcomings?
• How do you address them?
• How do you maintain and support complex software applications?

With information technology driving the world today, some extra care is always needed, which naturally puts tremendous amounts of pressure on software maintenance and support.

According to a report by the multinational professional services conglomerate – Deloitte, 60% of outsourcers prefer to hire application maintenance & support services.

Get the importance now?

What is application maintenance?

As the term suggests, application maintenance is taking care of any application after its development. It is about constantly updating, modifying and re-assessing the application to find glitches and correcting them; as well as improving its performance.

“Unlike popular belief, application maintenance is not always about fixing bugs.

Application maintenance does not always have to be about fixing defects. Instead, it has a lot to do with making your website or application look visually appealing. Some major role of application maintenance includes:

1. Correction: It includes all the work required to troubleshoot and fix issues found at the user end or through error reports.
2. Adaptation: Work in progress to modify the software and keep it updated and relevant depending on current trends.
3. Perfection: All the maintenance work needed to accomplish long-term goals.
4. Prevention: Taking preventive measures to ensure that no bugs or glitches appear in the future.

Why do you need application maintenance?

Why are companies largely depending upon application maintenance? Here’s an example.

Try thinking of it this way. After building your dream house, will you just forget about it? Or will you set aside a specific budget for repairs and renovations that will be required in the future?

Of course, the latter! Right?

The same concept stands true for applications as well. Any project you are dealing with will need a certain amount of maintenance to survive.  And by maintenance, we don’t just mean maintaining. It has a lot to do with improving and evolving gradually.

Remember: In the world of information technology, you don’t stand still – you either move forward or fall back. With user expectations and requirements changing now and then, you need a regular maintenance strategy in place. Application maintenance services can help!

What does the maintenance process look like?

Here it is.

So far, so good? Now, let’s dig in the benefits of application maintenance.

8 Benefits of application maintenance you should know about

1. Bug Fixation

When it comes to maintenance management, bug fixation tops the list. You need to get rid of glitches to keep your application or website running smoothly.

The issue can occur in any part of the application – be it hardware, software, or the operating system. Your maintenance expert will search for errors in the code and fix them without disturbing any element of the existing software.

2. Capability Enhancement

The software market is an ever-changing platform. To keep up with the competition, you need to make certain changes in the features and functions of your solution from time to time.

It includes enhancing the software platform, changing work patterns, upgrading hardware, tweaking compilers and other aspects that may affect workflow. Hence, you need maintenance services to sustain in the loop.

3. Getting rid of outdated functionalities

Needless-to-say, any obsolete or unwanted feature in the software is useless. All it does is occupy space and hinder its efficiency.

Application management removes such elements in the root (UI and coding) and suggests new developments based on trending tools and technologies.

4. Performance Improvement

While in the testing phase, developers detect issues and resolve them. It is done to improve system performance.

Likewise, data and coding restrictions and reengineering are a crucial part of software maintenance. It prevents solution from vulnerabilities and harmful activities like hacking.

5. Scalability and security

Next, let’s talk about scalability and security. Timely maintenance can not only keep your application secure from external threats but also make it more scalable. This allows the system to sustain larger workloads while maintaining acceptable levels of performance at the same time.

6. Cost-saving

It is simply illogical to buy new software or develop the solution from scratch, every time it crashes or gets disturbed by a bug. Instead, invest in maintenance regularly for a lifetime to curb future costs.

7. Customer satisfaction

All in all, application maintenance can improve the overall quality, online presence and response time of applications. So, when this happens, improved customer satisfaction becomes a thing.

8. Peace of Mind

Lastly, application maintenance brings peace of mind. How – you ask?

Well, when you are confident that your application is in safe hands, you don’t need to be worrying about any bug for upcoming years. Your mind will automatically be at peace.

Moving on…

Now that you are clear about the benefits of hiring a team for application maintenance, let’s bring in application support to the picture.

What is application support and why do you need one?

Simply put, application support is service.

Confused? Let’s get to the depth.

Not long ago (say, three to four decades back), complex business processes were meant for a close-knit group who had been with the company for a long time. But times have changed. Today, they can be easily supported on a computer.

Just as people can make mistakes, so can computers. And to make sure business applications are running successfully, every company requires an application support organization.

From the outside, most people are of the perception that an application support team only fixes errors and does nothing much.

So, no, they are not someone who will put their fingers in a hole only when a leak springs up. A support staff offers several additional services and responsibilities to make sure a solution is up and running.

So, when we say services, following are a few we are referring to.

1. Responding to emergencies like application down and substantial logic error. Application down happens when a process has crashed. Substantial logic error is difficult to perceive as a problem may occur even while the app is up.
2. Fixing errors includes fixing normal bugs and glitches that keep occurring from time to time. Its severity level is not high though.
3. Assisting as support staff. This includes answering questions about how an application works to new and existing users alike.
4. Responding to environment changes. For example, your client-server application runs on Windows NT. But now, you want to migrate to Windows XP. You will need to run multiple tests to ensure all processes are running post-transition correctly. A support time will offer the final call about the accuracy and stability of your application.
5. Documentation updates. An application support team complies with documentation updates (from minor to major) too.

Tips to choose the perfect Application Maintenance and Support company 

To land with a cost-effective maintenance and support team is easy. Here are a few useful tips that can be of help:

• Be clear about your requirements.
• Research the development company in and out that you wish to partner with.
• Evaluate different platforms and choose the one that fits you best.
• Embed processes and works on continuous improvements, iterations and bug fixation.

Summing up

New age businesses use a combination of commercial and off-the-shelf software to deal with the rapidly changing consumer needs.

Application maintenance and support services can help an organization take care of the software product development process from designing to coding to debugging of software in the best matter expected.

So, don’t hold back. Go for it!