Technology Selection

Even though most businesses want to build software products such as mobile apps, due to the fast pace of change, there is no consensus on technology.

Never let the technology dictate business strategy. Always seek an objective view and shortlist of the most appropriate technologies for any particular business requirement. Being technology agnostic is difficult but essential to be able to select the most appropriate technology for each requirement.

Take independent advice

“Seek advice from multiple independent experts to get an objective view and shortlist of the most appropriate technologies that could support your business requirements.”

Developers invest significant time and expense in initial and ongoing training but the technology itself is constantly changing and suitable technologies are often overlooked because a single firm of developers can never have all of the required skills. To get this right you must research, review and compare tech options based on a range of criteria, including total cost of ownership and resource availability.

Seek Diverse Opinions

You could do this by gathering a wide range of proposals, with the focus on technology options, from multiple experts, development teams and agencies. The opinions of diverse development teams, with recent experience of various technologies, is more valuable than an outdated and detached expert opinion.

Trends Come and Go

“Don’t be overly influenced by industry trends as the most sought after technology changes quickly.”

First determine the evaluation criteria that you will use. At the most basic level you must determine your preferences and needs (open source or not, on premise, cloud, etc), security needs, your preferred financing and payment method if any (for example, subscription, pay as you go). In all cases, you must consider the wider ecosystem and support base that is currently available and that might be available in future, vendor reputation, roadmap, financial strength and ability to continue to deliver your requirements and additional needs in future.

Focus on Your Criteria

Next, price, value for money and any ongoing costs. Specifically, you need to calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO) of any technology and include investigations into the ecosystem, including scarcity or ready availability and relative costs of developers and other necessary resources, both now and for the expected life of your software product. By way of example, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs ) can now replicate nearly all of the functionality and benefits commonly associated with Native Apps, at significantly lower cost. They also offer businesses lower customer discovery and acquisition costs through search engines. In addition, businesses avoid the 30% commission imposed by the App Store. To summarise, PWAs provide similar benefits to Native Apps but cost less to develop, deploy, promote, sell and maintain. These are just some of the criteria that a business should use to select the right technology.