According to the stats, 90 percent of people prefer to use the mobile app over a website. Considering these stats, entrepreneurs are coming up with unique software development ideas ( App and Website ) and they want to convert their ideas into reality.
Despite going with full-fledged functional apps at an early stage, it’s better to build an MVP model as it will not only help to get feedback from customers and acquire initial users, but it’s always worth saving hard-earned money and time.
We know that you understand the importance of MVP. That’s the reason you are looking for tips to reduce the custom software development costs of your MVP model.
And this article will definitely help you.
Let’s have a overview of
What is an MVP?
Minimum Viable Product is a version of a software product that is launched with essential features to validate from users and receive the feedback from them. Based on the feedback, entrepreneurs decide whether the app is worth investing or not. Launching MVP at an early stage with minimum essential features can be cost efficient and time-saving.
Here are 5 mistakes a start-up makes when building an MVP
Ever wondered how companies like Facebook and Spotify successfully launched MVP?
They didn’t spend much time and money on building unnecessary features. They stuck to essential features to get feedback from customers before proceeding to develop full-fledged apps.
Features That Affect The Cost Of Mobile App:
1. The complexity of app
If an IT business company develops a mobile app that is complex, then there would be fewer ways to reduce the cost.
Hence, it’s essential for business owners to pre-define the requirements before getting started with the development process.
External and internal integration also help to determine the complexity of an app. Also, the newness of an app becomes a barrier to reducing the software development cost.
2. Top feature of app
It’s a simple equation: the more features in an app, the higher its software development cost.
Include the features that you think are important or beneficial for the app. You can prioritize the features based on the user flow. Some features can be basic, while some will require the latest technology.
For example, e-commerce apps involve basic features such as add to cart and payment features, while if you look at apps with advanced tech features like AI and MI, such as Google Assistant and Alexa, you need to add the latest tech features, which will add to the cost.
Know in detail about MVP and how much does it cost to build
3. Size of the team
The size of the team can become a roadblock in reducing the software development costs. The bigger the team, the higher the development cost. Building an in-house team can cost you more than outsourcing the team.
The cost of MVP development highly depends on the number of developers you have in your software development team. Besides the developers, the expense of designers, testers, and other experts will add more to the cost.
Also, if there’s a lack of communication within the team, it can cause an increase in cost.
Hence, IT business owners must hire the right software developers.
4. Consulting and Planning
Consulting an agency can help you connect with business experts who have worked on similar projects and have 5-10 years of experience. Top software development companies can give you the right assistance and advice in the MVP development process.
Planning and managing MVP development processes is time-consuming, complex, and requires intense research.
Here is a Guide to choose the right software development partner
Hence, consulting a good software development company can also help you design a complete project plan and will recommend the right technology for development.
If you’re looking for a software development company to ease out your work, then GraffersID is the perfect company to help you with planning development projects and recommending the right technologies and platforms to help your company grow.
5. Product Engineering
A research study was conducted by Failory, which found out that 90% of startups or IT business companies fail due to poor product engineering.
Hiring the right domain enterprise is important for product design. They can design and develop existing or new products.
Poor planning can increase the cost of software development. Hence, effective software development planning is important.
Top ways to develop MP in cost-effective way:
Here are top ways to develop MVP in cost-efficient way:
1. Cross platform development can be a great choice
If you want to expand your company with the least amount of development cost, then cross-platform development works the best.
You can use tools such as Xamarin and React Native to reduce the cost of software development.
These cross-platform tools will work seamlessly on both Android and iOS and will also create different codebases for each operating system.
2. Use Continuous Deployment (CD) and Continuous Integration (CI)
The CD and CI models are best for reducing costs efficiently while maintaining the quality of the product.
The models run two operations simultaneously or at the same time. It includes test code changes and pushes the main codebase into the product.
Often, this model is used to enhance the quality of the product. It also assists developers to find errors and bugs. There’s also rapid code updates, where codes are updated rapidly, which automates the process of testing, deploying, and building the app.
Want to know how to develop the best flower delivery app like Proflowers
The company can deliver the product at a faster pace when following the standard protocol of the CD/CI process.
When there’s acceleration in product delivery, then the company can focus on other aspects of their business objectives to increase profitability.
Every company wants to speed up their development process as it ensures enhanced software quality, massive cost reductions, and a speedy and early launch of products.
3. Early Testing of Software
Testing of software helps to detect, fix, and prevent vulnerabilities. Testing your software at early stages helps you to find and fix errors at an early stage, which becomes less expensive than discovering the defects at a later stage.
It reduces the development cost. You can also take the help of your QA team with MVP to enable testing.
Regular testing ensures an improvised software development process. It’s also less time-consuming, which ensures no delays in projects.
Early testing results in the successful delivery of products at a reduced cost of software development.
Know why is a quality assurance tester needed on a software development team
4. Choose a leading and reliable software development company
Choosing a leading and reliable software development company can result in significant savings on MVP development costs.
You can hire highly skilled software developers or developers with good experience from software development companies.
MVP development is a key aspect of custom software development and hiring wise developers for your project can save your budget while ensuring an enhanced quality product.
It’s always good to research a software development company before finalizing.
GraffersID is a multi award winning software development company. If you’re looking for highly skilled and experienced developers at an affordable pricing, then you can consult GraffersID to hire top-notch developers.
5. Include the essential features
Including all the essential features in MVP can be great for a reduction in development costs.
Listing down all the features based on the analysis and segmenting them is the best way to prioritize while launching the product.
You can segment the essential features based on the features that can deliver true value to your users.
Prioritizing features before launching can also help in reducing the software development costs while launching the product early in the market.
6. Outsourcing the MVP Development
If you’re looking for an affordable and inexpensive way to develop an MVP, outsourcing to an offshore software development company really helps.
An outsourcing company provides end-to-end development and builds the MVP software for you while you have to pay the developers just their hourly charges.
You pay the developer for what he’s compensated for, or sometimes you can pay one-time hiring fees as well.
Want to know why outsourcing software development to India is a success?
7. Select the best engagement model
A) Dedicated Team Development Model
This model is used when you work with your technology partner to increase your team by appointing either full-fledged offshore development centers or hiring a few remote specialists for software development.
If you’re looking for a long-term project, this model works the best.
However, before going with this model, you will have to consider three factors as it can have a direct impact on MVP development.
The first factor is the onshore development model, where you hire developers from nearby locations that are residing in the same country or city. You don’t have to face any communication challenges while working with onshore developers, and you have to pay the minimum wages based on the cost of living in that country.
The second factor is the hybrid development model, also known as a dual development model, which covers both onshore and offshore development.
Here, the operations are performed as per the requirements and the demand. You can keep the resources on your premises for a few weeks, and then they can be transferred back to the basic operation office. The time could be 3 months or more, based on the requirement.
This development model is quite flexible. Onshore involves architecture and design, while offshore involves backend operations. If you have a good budget then you can consider this model.
The third factor is the offshore development model. The offshore development model is ideal for companies with limited resources.
If you have a low budget and don’t want to compromise on the quality of the product, then this is the best model.
However, choosing offshore developers requires research. You will have to find developers for your startup who are updated with the latest technologies and have good experience.
This model is perfect to save development costs.
Here are benefits of hiring dedicated developers from India [ Key Points ]
B) Time and Material Engagement Model
Here, the cost of development is determined by the number of resources you hire and the amount of time it takes the company to build the project.
It’s a reliable way to build a professional relationship by assigning a task that will assess the quality and delivery of offshore agencies.
C) Fixed Price Engagement Model
It’s cost-effective and works best for short-term and long-term projects. In this model, you and your technology partner can agree on a time frame to complete a certain task with a pre-fixed budget to avoid any chaos in the future.
Here the vision of the task allotment, deliverable process, acceptance and development process is crystal clear.
Also, as the payment is pre-fixed, you’re bound to pay for what you’ve agreed on.
8. Leverage Design System
A design system is a collection of interrelated patterns, UI elements, code snippets, reusable components, and style guidelines to manage the design and develop products such as websites or apps.
A design system allows the team to focus on quality and innovation while reducing half the time required for designing, developing, and testing.
Conclusion
We hope these ways can help you reduce MVP development costs while maintaining the quality of your product.
