5 New Ways To Save Budget On Software Development in 2024

Software development costs can be one of the main challenges for software product companies. They need to satisfy end users and cover all the demands. That is why companies need to develop exclusive trending solutions. Moreover, even the smallest and simplest software with high-quality basic features can cost a solid price for a company.

Good news for those who have already been disappointed with the high cost of software development. You can save money on software development without using such classic measures as:

– reducing the size of the team;

– refusing feature ideas;

– using low-quality services. 

We suggest you save your budget using optimization, trending solutions, and approaches that are must-haves in 2023.

Check these 5 ways of cutting the cost of software development and implement them as soon as possible if you haven’t done it yet. 

1. Create a thorough plan and clear the project’s requirements

When it comes to software development, there are many processes involved. To maintain them properly and make the software development process smooth and productive, plan them thoroughly. It increases your chance of success significantly. 

The first step is to outline the main goals and objectives of the software product. This will help you prioritize your tasks and identify your users and their needs, identify who your users are, what their needs are, and how they will interact with your product. You need it to create more user-friendly and useful features people want to use! Remember to develop User Stories: short descriptions that detail how users will interact with each feature of your product. You can use these stories as requirements for building out specific features or guidelines.

The second step is defining what you would like the software to be. Create an exact list of features you want your software to have, how they will function, and how they should look in terms of design. 

The third step is to decide which resources the software development process demands and how much time each part of the process requires. It’s essential to estimate how much time each task will take as you can approximately estimate the budget you need for the development team. After completing planning, you get precisely what you need for your software development plan to succeed!

2. Choose offshore outsourcing

For a startup or a small business that wants to develop its software product cheaper and avoid quality sacrifice, offshore outsourcing is the most reliable and time-proven way to do it. If you compare onshore, nearshore, and offshore outsourcing, you will see that the last one is the most beneficial. Experienced offshore outsourcing software development companies have a high level of English, adjusted communication channels, and solid experience working on different projects. It means all the possible challenges of offshoring outsourcing are solved, and you have nothing to worry about.

Modern markets offer you different specialists and types of collaboration with them. The most common choice and challenge simultaneously you can face is the decision of whom to hire: freelancers or a software development company.

Here are some points to consider when deciding whether to go with freelancers or a software development company:

– freelancers may be cheaper in terms of price, but on the other hand, they can require more time to learn the project, align development processes and start working productively.

– creating a team of freelancers from different countries creates communication issues amongst team members, which negatively affects the software development process;

– outsourcing software development company can provide you with a team that has the expertise, experience working together, and has a high- quality communication channels;

– a lower price for a software development company’s services than maintaining an in-house team, but the same or even higher quality of services.

3. Implement early testing

Anything in our world is perfect, and the code is not an exception. Testing is an inseparable and irreplaceable part of the software development process. Moreover, testing is more than just finding and fixing bugs, as many people think. It also can be a preventative measure to avert the emergence of most bugs. Why prevent bugs instead of finding them all and just fixing them? Look at the picture below.

The sooner you find the issues and bugs in the product, the easier it is to fix them and avoid big-budget expenses.  

4. Create a clear RFP (Request For Proposal)

Before searching for a software development team, prepare a Request For Proposal. This is a common practice in the IT business.

RFP is the process from planning to project delivery. But it’s a good idea to start with an RFP document which usually includes the following:

• consistent info for future technology partners;
• the ballpark figures of costs for development;
• deadlines;
• business needs;
• other basic requirements.

Let’s review essential points from this list:

• Concept

Description of your project idea.

• Business Case

Add a case with financial info pitching your project.

• Research

This can be both a market and feasibility research data section.

• Functional Requirements

User Stories, for instance.

• Non-functional Requirements

Appearance, reliability, usability, etc.

• Prioritization

Features will be implemented first and will go to the backlog.

• Project Development
• Purpose and Background

Explain business needs.

• Scope of Work

Describe what to do in Phase 1.

• Deliverables

List the expected deliverables, like algorithms, quality control, etc.

• Estimated Timing and Budget.

5. Create MVP with the essential features

A short explanation of MVP. It is a minimal valuable product with the core functions of your product. The benefit of MVP is that you can deploy the product and gather feedback from the target audience. 

How can it help you save money? Using real audience feedback, you can implement changes to the product to develop features that real customers need. Thanks to that, you will release a product that has high-demand functionality based on real people’s opinions. 

Project budget estimation by ASD team

Project budget estimation is conducted based on:

• team composition the project requires to reach all the goals;
• specific roles that are involved in the development;
• the type of service (product development from scratch or integration).

Our company can estimate your project for free! Just follow the link to get a free estimation.