5 effective strategies to reduce custom software development costs

Cost projection is, of course, one of the most delicate issues when deciding whether to use an outsourcing provider to build an app. Every product owner searches for methods to lower software development prices without compromising quality. A diligent and competent vendor will offer these solutions at reasonable rates.

Having amassed a huge experience in delivering software, we decided to take a look into the process during one of our projects and share our price reduction tips.

The Touchlane experience

To estimate software development costs for a new project, the Touchlane team usually employs a personalized approach, taking into account specific requirements of each customer. This approach proved effective, as seen in our partnership with a major beverage manufacturer. 

We were tasked with creating an administration panel for handling the applications and developing the iOS and Android apps for advertising promo campaigns in their entirety. The project required a significant investment in technological solutions, and our customer expected us to offer strategies for streamlining processes and reducing costs.

Below we offer advice and real-world examples of creative solutions we came up with as part of our partnership to lower the development project’s cost.

Tip 1: Prioritize essential features and adopt the MVP approach

The first thing you should consider as a business owner is what kind of problem you are planning to solve or if there’s a killer feature you’d like to offer to the users. At this point, suppress your urge to follow trends and focus on analyzing the value you want to offer your customers. Try to determine what fundamental elements will enable you to do so without adding too many purposeless functions. Once you’ve done the analysis, you’ll have a clear decision on the software your firm actually requires.

! A killer feature is a unique functionality created to make your application stand out among the competition. The feature solves a specific issue or addresses a particular task. It captures user interest, especially in an entertainment app.

Tip 2: Utilize in-memory systems to enhance the backend

From this perspective, we want to emphasize how crucial it is to take careful consideration when selecting the backend architecture. Aside from ensuring system stability, it will also drastically lower project expenses.

For example, we look back to our project. The customer chose to integrate with Firebase, a cloud-hosted service that charges for each data transfer and has a high operating cost. Our backend experts had to figure out how to make the flow as efficient as possible.

The Touchlane team elaborated on the interaction between the in-memory platform Hazelcast and the Realtime Database and came up with a novel solution to this problem. Rather than sending thousands of paid queries to the Realtime Database directly, this technique allowed us to send a single request and save all the necessary data in the distributed cache. This approach contributed to monthly savings of several thousand dollars.

Tip 3: Determine the best integration set

Your application may have some functionality that requires specific connections with third-party services. You shouldn’t approach this question lightly; instead, you should delegate service selection to experts who can choose the best connectors for your app and estimate the costs ahead of time.

Several significant integrations were needed for our project. The Touchlane team selected the most affordable services that would improve user experience. In terms of map navigation, we decided to implement Mapbox. In addition, we integrated the Scandit SDK to accomplish barcode scanning. Both solutions guarantee perfect in-app operation for both iOS and Android versions, as well as offer the largest free tier among comparable services.

Tip 4: Make application management simpler

Competent suppliers are aware that it’s crucial to account for post-release support in the initial budgetary planning stages of software projects. Thus, here’s an additional way to save expenses without sacrificing quality: simplify app administration.

The task scope of our project included creating an intelligent administrative panel to facilitate the launch and management of all in-app promotional programs. This comprised incorporating new locations onto the map, expediting user searches, and streamlining prize administration.

We worked hard on the user experience (UX) to make the admin panel as dynamic and user-friendly as possible. On this point, the goal was to save time. Instead of the three originally anticipated administrators, our developers removed the need for multiperson app management, allowing the client to conduct all processes through an admin panel with just one.

Tip 5: Include the QA team right away

We usually advise against neglecting quality assurance testing early in the development lifecycle. Given that errors occur naturally during any development process, they may stockpile throughout the workflow and raise the expense of additional debugging. In turn, QA testing might stop the problem in its tracks and save costs and time.

Conclusion

Enlisting the services of a reliable vendor that can perform thorough estimation and identify the best technological solutions might significantly lower the cost to build software. In the specific case covered in this article, our team’s solutions allowed for a 35% reduction in costs over the original budget. 

We sincerely hope that this article was instructive and useful. If you would like expert advice on cutting your software project costs now, get in touch with the Touchlane team.