Is your business web application adaptable to all the rapidly evolving changes? Do you believe that the development of an intuitive and feature-rich web app is sufficient as it has to stay competitive in the coming days?
Sadly the answer is no!
Developers must not just stick to a fixed plan to create an effective web app. They have to make it future-ready also. In simple terms, developers need to prepare “future-proof” software for your business.
A thorough understanding of ‘future-proofing’ is necessary to develop a web app that is future-ready. So, ‘future-proof testing’ is required to determine if the application is ready for the future. Here we have highlighted everything about ‘future-proof’ software and its testing, so take a look.
Developers do have to fix certain issues and add vital functionalities even after the successful completion of a web app development process. This indicates that the software is certainly not future-ready. But the question is what are the possible reasons behind this?
Let’s find a proper answer to this before we start with the details of ‘future-proofing’.
Why rework is necessary despite the completion of software development?
Developing a software application is a complex process that includes various lines of code. However, developers need to complete their projects within tight deadlines and that’s why they may forget to add important features. Due to the limited period, the developers may have to stick to shortcut methods. The lack of detailed work and negligence due to shortcut methods may lead to the creation of defective applications. Besides, this may also lead to software becoming defunct in the future. Therefore, this kind of software will either have to be abandoned or need to be fixed. Such types of applications are problematic for the customers and as a result, rework is necessary.
To create a web app that is viable for the future a proper strategy is required from the beginning. Therefore, ‘future-proofing’ is necessary and let’s now see what exactly it is.
What is future-proofing?
Future-proofing is a method of preparing software for the coming years allowing it to adapt to the times. A future-proofing software can anticipate the changes that may take place and can come up with plans to prevent the effects. The lack of giving importance to future-proofing may lead to making difficult decisions when the software becomes obsolete.
The term future-proofing however does not mean developing software that will never have to be modified. In simple terms, it means developing software that can evolve properly with time. Therefore, with future-proofing software, it’s possible to make changes to meet the new needs of your customers. Most importantly, you won’t need to spend much to make modifications and also it’s not time-consuming.
Future-proofing methods
To develop future-proofing software there are a few points to keep in mind. So take a look at the following points that will help you understand the concept of developing future-proof software.
- Clean architecture: For every software developer this particular methodology is a perfect guideline who wants to build future-ready software. According to this concept, it’s necessary to reduce the external dependencies of the software. When aiming to achieve clean architecture objectives the developers should utilize concepts such as a proper application of automation. Besides, the designers will also have to be aware of the use of API-based architecture.
- Open-source development and the cloud: The application of open-source elements and cloud computing makes the development process faster. It also makes the process more flexible, more stable and less costly. With the cloud, the developers will get a powerful model of software development and distribution. With open-source elements, cloud-distributed software will be a helpful method to create well-architected software. This type of software evolves with time very quickly and easily and will make the software future-ready.
Points to consider for creating future proofing software
To create a web app relevant for the coming days there should be certain points that must be kept in mind. Take a look at the points below and see what to keep in mind to develop future-ready software.
Long-term prediction is not necessary:
Technology is changing very rapidly and that’s why having a long-term plan for developing a future-ready web app will not work. Generally, when it comes to making changes you need to keep in mind the changing needs of your customers. However, predicting the future demand of your clients is pointless as accurate prediction is not necessary. Thus chances are there that you may waste your money predicting trends that may never come. Rather, you must track, what the market demands with time and plan accordingly.
Continuous integration process:
Instead of making big changes, you must focus on small changes at a time. However, the integration process has to be continuous with minor updates each time. Certainly, this is an ideal approach in case you want to prepare a future-ready web application for your business. This way, you are upgrading your system as per the demand of your customers. Moreover, you are making your system relevant to the current market. Therefore, track what your customers are looking for or need at the present moment. In case you have included a feature that’s not in demand you may end up causing dissatisfaction.
Why is future-proof software important?
Let’s now see the advantages of future-proof software, so take a look at the following points.
- To keep up with industry standards: Staying competitive is necessary for your business and you need to stay updated with the industry standard. When you develop a web app that is ready to evolve with time you can stay relevant for a longer time. That’s why future-proofing is important for your business to keep up with the ever-evolving changes in the industry.
- Flexibility: Your entire business process must be reliant on a flexible system. A flexible system will always let you adapt to new changes without any problem. When you develop future-proof software you can easily add features that are new to your system. This way you can stay relevant and competitive in a market that keeps evolving.
- Scalability: As your business grows, you may need to add more and new features to your existing systems. With future-proof software, adding new features to your existing one is not difficult. Therefore, it’s necessary to invest in a system that scales can help serve better to all your customers.
What is essential to develop future-proof software?
Developing future-proof software requires you to take the necessary steps. Let’s now see the required steps any leading web app development services provider in India would suggest.
- Follow an established pattern: To develop your web app ready to adapt to new changes you must work with an established pattern. This gives you the advantage of extensive support and knowledge that is available virtually. Moreover, such established patterns have already built a community, making it simple to get support whenever needed. After all, developers must know and learn what they must do to prepare effective software.
- Choose the right framework and tool: To future-proof your software you must need to find out the right tool and framework. When you start looking for options, you will come across various names. But before you pick the right one, you need to find answers to many questions. Firstly, you must know who is using them and also if they are open source or closed source. Secondly, find out if people who are using them are facing any issues or not. Thus you will understand if you have found a reliable option or not for developing your web app.
- Testing is important: You need to conduct unit testing to know if the code is working as it should. Before you release any software you need to verify if all the functionalities are working as expected. Therefore, testing is a vital step that must not be skipped as you can solve possible bugs. In this way, you can extend the lifetime of the software.
- Reduce dependencies: To develop an effective web app, often developers rely on external libraries or systems. This is not a great practice as your web app will only keep working if those external supports are active. Therefore you need to reduce such external dependencies to stay active in the coming days.
- Laying out a workflow: You must design a workflow to prepare your software future proof. Therefore your software development process must include understanding the requirement and features, proper testing, peer reviewing, and automatic deployment. A certain workflow helps reduce many risks and provides proper documentation to future developers.
- Useful peer review: Developers need peer reviews to know if they are working in the right direction. Therefore, make sure the team members are reviewing each other’s codes and also suggesting changes wherever necessary. In this way, it becomes easy to develop an error-free and future-ready system.
- Proper maintenance: Once the software is ready and released, the experts still need to monitor its performance. This helps identify issues or bugs and fix them at the earliest. You can also identify if there is any need to add a new feature to keep it future-proof.
What is future-proof testing?
To determine if the software that you have developed is ready for coming changes rigorous testing is necessary. Take a look at the following points to know more about the tests.
- Consultative testing: To begin software testing, you should start with consultative testing. For such testing, the experts must prepare relevant tests based on potential user behaviour. As a result, the tests are more informative because the software’s usability and functionality can be evaluated using metrics. These tests assist the developers in understanding the end user. Besides, it also helps identify and resolve potential issues that a user may experience in the future.
- Maintainability testing: This type of testing is also necessary when you verify if you have successfully prepared future-ready software. You need to identify the bugs as fast as possible, and through this testing, you can understand such issues and keep upgrading whenever needed.
- Automated testing: To keep up with the pace and stay updated you need to rely on automated testing. Therefore, an automated test suite is important as it can help execute reliable component testing. Also, external tools and services can be very helpful to develop automated testing pipelines. But before you use them make sure that they will be regularly maintained and updated.
Why is future-proof testing necessary?
Today’s market demands advanced technology and features. Technology and trends are changing frequently at a fast pace. Therefore you need to verify whether you have built future-proof software and that’s why future-proof testing is necessary. Take a look at the points below to better understand the importance of ‘future-proof testing’.
- To ensure relevance: Building software based on today’s needs or what was on demand may soon make the software outdated. With a ‘future-proofing test’ you can easily determine the issues and fix them. Your business has to stay relevant and without future-proof software, it’s not possible.
- To stay competitive: You are already aware of how important it is to stay ahead of the game. A ‘future-proofing test’ can surely help you stay competitive as you can understand how to upgrade your existing system.
- For long-term success: For the growth of your business making plans that are helpful for long-term success is necessary. Now making major changes frequently is certainly not cost-effective. That’s why conduct this test to make frequent minor changes which may save you from making major changes in the future.
Conclusion
Although it is impossible to foresee trends accurately, it is possible to maintain your system prepared for future changes. That’s why you need to conduct proper ‘future-proof testing’. Also, you can consult with a reliable web app development company in India to conduct perfect ‘future-proof testing’ for your software.
