Software solutions are one of the most important foundations of the modern business world. The term is a little fuzzy and hard to perfectly define. But in general, a software or business solution leverages a specific piece of code to solve a specific problem. However, time has changed the way people look at this concept.
It’s quite common for software solutions to end up highlighting the problem known as feature creep. Feature creep refers to a tendency for simple programs to have feature after feature lumped on top of them. This might not seem like a problem at first. After all, more features should simply add more value for one’s dollar. But the problem comes from the fact that features also adds complexity to both the program and the user experience. It usually increases hardware requirements to use the software solutions too. The end result is that software suites often become increasingly unstable and bloated over time.
Of course, any business will find itself desiring new features. But the caveat there is that every business wants a different set of features. Adding everything just leads to feature creep. Adding nothing is just another name for stagnation. Just learning to live with software limitations is fine for someone’s home computing environment. But if a company can’t grow and change with the times than it loses the ability to properly compete within a competitive marketplace.
The best way around this problem is to use smaller and highly targeted software that one can personally build upon. For example, consider how companies handle internal communication with employees. Some companies use elaborate software suites to communicate with their employees. But this is usually overkill and can even limit overall efficiency to a degree. This makes it a good example to show how a company can build upon pre-existing software packages to get the best results.
In this instance we can compare a complex communication suite to any business sms service. We’ve considered how the more complex suite includes a huge amount of resource intensive functionality that the business won’t use. But what about features that the company does need? This is where the idea of using software solutions as a foundation to build upon comes in.
First, one should consider the fact that SMS is basically the same type of texting used by phones. However, it’s also one of the earlier standards. This means that even low power feature phones can support it. In turn, being able to interface with office communication using feature phones will vastly improve overall ability to remain in touch on the road.
But internally one can reach more employees by tying in some simple scripts. One could basically just use multiple modular components to hook together functionality related to internal communication. For example, text could be mirrored between SMS and email. The important point here is that the additional functionality comes about because of internal demand. The resources used and added on will only center around what a company will actually use. This keeps the system lean, responsive and holds off on any need to upgrade hardware.
