How to kill software

Make it or break it – keeping up with the times and ahead of the competition

Today, the market is saturated with high tech companies. Staying ahead of the competition (or not) can make (or break) your business.

Now more than ever, businesses must stay at the cutting edge of technology – not only to stay relevant but also to meet and exceed the expectations of their customers.   Modern businesses are evolving and adapting with the technological evolution…and that includes their products.

To illustrate how important it is to keep your business technology and software offerings up to date, let’s take a quick look at the evolution of digital marketing.

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The 90’s called, and they want their catch phrase back

Remember the catchphrase “set it and forget it” from the infamous infomercial for showtimes rotisserie appliance?  The ultimate selling point for consumers regarding this appliance was the ease of turning the machine on, then loading it and forgetting it.  This is the way many businesses first approached digital marketing and their digital website presence.  Companies knew they had to have a website for consumers to find their business, so they diligently created their sites – many just ‘setting them and forgetting them’.  If Google has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t simply set up a website and wait for the customers to line up. The website will go stale and be forgotten, along with your product / business.

We’ve all had to learn that modern marketing requires tactical and consistent maintenance. This maintenance requires businesses to stay on the cutting edge of modern marketing tactics.  Potential customers no longer wait for the phone to ring or to receive the latest marketing pamphlet in the mail, but engage in online research, content consumption and actively participate on social media platforms and discussions to find the people with whom they want to do business. Businesses cannot simply set up a website as their sole marketing presence and expect modern potential customers to find them, engage or stay engaged.

The same evolving dynamics that businesses face with digital marketing are ever-present for the software companies that offer SaaS or packaged products, as well.  Our very own Rodney Muras best describes it (software development) by saying it is “not a process, a series of steps or linear.  Software is not a thing you do one time.  You don’t build software – you create and manage software.”

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The shelf – where software goes to die

As we discussed earlier, if you set up a website and never update the content, it will go stale.  Worse yet, websites that go stale die a quick death in organic search results.  As the saying goes, the best place to hide a dead body is on page 2 of Google.  Marketers know that the key to staying relevant and ahead of the competition is to continually produce “fresh”, relevant content that engages customers.

The same goes for software development.  You can’t just build the software, set the product on the shelf and expect it to print money.  That is not the way modern software businesses are successful. As Eureka’s own Rodney Muras says,

“Software is never done.  Software that is no longer managed or updated is software that dies.”

Remember what the purpose of a software product really is – address the customer’s needs.  If your product no longer solves a market need, or worse yet, a competitor builds a product that is a more efficient (read: easier to use), the perceived value of your product diminishes and your customers will leave.

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Software resurrection and growth

A successful software business continues building and scaling their product(s), year after year, so that they stay relevant in the market and ahead of the competition.  As your business and the way you conduct business changes, the technology and software must keep up.

Not only is it important to keep your business technology and/or software “fresh”, but to also exceed the expectations of your customers. In the words of one of Eureka’s awesome team members, “ Software product development is an expensive and time-consuming process, so make the extra effort to make a good product great. After all, if you’re not satisfying your customer (or customer’s customer), then why are you building a product in the first place?”