We live in a world that operates at the hand of our devices, and where apps and machines rule, maintenance translates as a non-negotiable demand. Consumers want ease and convenience, which means brands need to have strategic maintenance and support protocols in place to stay ahead of any potential problems.
To alleviate the workload of support infrastructure, consider the way Orchestrate Technologies approach the topic, and the best practices they recommend.
“It is a general perception around that application maintenance is aimed towards bug-fixing or implemented only when there is a need for some sort of remedial action. But in reality what maintenance accomplishes is improving software performance making it highly agile, adapting it to a changing environment and of course troubleshooting it when the need arises.
The software maintenance best practices include ensuring the personnel overseeing the maintenance are well-trained in the first place. There should be a well-documented, systematic and process oriented strategy, creating a scenario to test the results and to include the end user in the process of execution of the software application. All this ensures the software is of top-notch quality with bare minimum bugs.
In the business world there always has to be a rigorous planning and preparation in order to get things rolling. Some applications might need continuous improvement while others would have to be updated at regular intervals. All the possible errors and user needs have to be tracked and documented to give a boost to your business.
The software maintenance and support work starts once the delivery of the software product is done. Maintenance is considered as part of the software development life cycle.“
Orchestrate breaks down the type of maintenance applications typically need by identifying these four categories: Correction, Adaptation, Perfection, and Prevention. Understanding the scope of these needs will help you set a purposeful and intentional tone for how to implement the necessary solution, and will ultimately optimize the way you support and serve your audience.
Correction: It includes the whole host of work done in order to troubleshoot and fix the bugs that were discovered either by the users or the reports related to errors.
Adaptation: This is to keep the software relevant at all times achieved through modifying and updating software.
Perfection: It is the maintenance done keeping in mind the long-term goals.
Prevention: Ensuring that bugs and glitch do not crop up anytime in the future and so taking preventive actions now in this regard.
Once you’ve developed the expertise to know how to approach potential assignments, you’ll want to begin to integrate the following practices in to your regimen. According to Orchestrate, these four tips will help you establish a sense of consistency, as well as preparation, to ensure you’re giving customers the best maintenance resources you have to offer.
- Staying abreast of the regulations, policies and practices in order to ensure the software application is in sync with the latest requirements
- Staying on top of client requirements and when the needs change there has to be newer processes, functionalities and improvements in the software
- Every time there is a change of hardware, OS or supporting platforms then the application has to adapt to the new reality
- It is imperative that software systems have to change as per changes in organizational structure, market dynamics, business realities and evolving economic conditions.