Pivot Point: A Critical Moment in the Software Lifecycle
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Harnessing the Modernization Mindset
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Source: Zinnov and Persistent. No part of this whitepaper/report may be quoted, reproduced or circulated without the explicit written approval from Zinnov or Persistent.
Today’s users expect the software they interact with to be useful, intuitive, friendly, stable, human-centric, secure, free from bugs, and continually (and unobtrusively) refreshed so it’s always current.
While the cloud and Software-as-a-Service models have enabled—and even accelerated—these customer expectations, it doesn’t mean software products can continue to improve and add value progressively and linearly to the horizon. At some point, it becomes a struggle to further evolve a mature product so it can continue to be competitive against newer competition.
The Pivot Point—the moment when a software product transitions from growth into maturity—offers a unique opportunity in the product lifecycle. As the product enters the “sustain” part of the curve, can a targeted investment be made to modernize the product and spur another growth cycle or position it for a bigger market? Or do you choose to simply sustain a product until you move users to newer product lines?
Modernization offers an opportunity to maximize and even revitalize the revenues of an existing product as it matures, to:
Timing is critical. Pivoting too early could mean lower ROI on whatever investment you have made initially in the product lifecycle. If you make the pivot too late, customers may have already abandoned the product.
The time for planning modernization is when you are still on the growth curve, but the curve is flattening. If you can begin modernizing precisely when you know that a given product is about to hit maturity, you will have made most of the initial investment back.
Divide and Thrive with Bimodal Product Development
Software product modernization requires significant investment and business focus. A cost-benefit analysis allows you to look at the situation from two perspectives, the pros and cons of:
6 minute read
Timing is critical. Pivoting too early could mean lower ROI on whatever investment you have made initially in the product lifecycle. If you make the pivot too late, customers may have already abandoned the product.
The time for planning modernization is when you are still on the growth curve, but the curve is flattening. If you can begin modernizing precisely when you know that a given product is about to hit maturity, you will have made most of the initial investment back.
Divide and Thrive with Bimodal Product Development
Software product modernization requires significant investment and business focus. A cost-benefit analysis allows you to look at the situation from two perspectives, the pros and cons of:
1. Simply maintaining and sustaining the existing architecture with minimal operational investment, or
2. Migrating to a new, modernized architecture that is built for longer-term sustainability, but will require significant capital investment.
While the modernization discussion revolves around systems development for future growth, in practice the process is bimodal: You are modernizing behind the scenes, but you are also sustaining to retain. Sustaining the mature product enables you retain and dovetail loyal customers gradually to new and modernized product lines rather than lose them to competition.
Consider a legacy software product like QuickBooks. Intuit launched the small business accounting software in 1983, before the Internet existed in commercial form. QuickBooks is still available as shrink-wrapped software today, and Intuit continues to refresh the locally installed version every few years based on market research and demand.
Rather that watch its market share steadily erode to more modern, cloud-based alternatives, Intuit also developed and launched QuickBooks Online for businesses that want to tap into the cloud and the SaaS model for the benefits those offer. The value proposition of modernization is this: You can sustain an existing revenue stream— making sure that existing customers remain engaged for a longer time—while investing in the long-term business benefits and higher revenue potential of modernizing and creating microservices.
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All software products have a lifecycle, from launch and growth through maturity and into obsolescence, along a wide range of timescales. Along the lifecycle curve, user expectations, market externalities and the competitive landscape are constantly changing, requiring software developers and engineers to nimbly respond.
Deliver a superior end-user experience, including multiple different types of UI
Enable business capability as a service, which breaks down unnecessary silos between departments
Harness hybrid/multi-cloud provisioning, which offers hyper-scalability and more flexibility than a traditional on-premise install, as well as distributed, pay-per-use elastic computing
Create “platformized” products, which are far more responsive to product lifecycle needs.
While the modernization discussion revolves around systems development for future growth, in practice the process is bimodal: You are modernizing behind the scenes, but you are also sustaining to retain. Sustaining the mature product enables you retain and dovetail loyal customers gradually to new and modernized product lines rather than lose them to competition.
Consider a legacy software product like QuickBooks. Intuit launched the small business accounting software in 1983, before the Internet existed in commercial form. QuickBooks is still available as shrink-wrapped software today, and Intuit continues to refresh the locally installed version every few years based on market research and demand.
Rather that watch its market share steadily erode to more modern, cloud-based alternatives, Intuit also developed and launched QuickBooks Online for businesses that want to tap into the cloud and the SaaS model for the benefits those offer. The value proposition of modernization is this: You can sustain an existing revenue stream— making sure that existing customers remain engaged for a longer time—while investing in the long-term business benefits and higher revenue potential of modernizing and creating microservices.
Simply maintaining and sustaining the existing architecture with minimal operational investment, or
Migrating to a new, modernized architecture that is built for longer-term sustainability, but will require significant capital investment.
All software products have a lifecycle, from launch and growth through maturity and into obsolescence, along a wide range of timescales. Along the lifecycle curve, user expectations, market externalities and the competitive landscape are constantly changing, requiring software developers and engineers to nimbly respond.
Enable business capability as a service, which breaks down unnecessary silos between departments
Deliver a superior end-user experience, including multiple different types of UI
Harness hybrid/multi-cloud provisioning, which offers hyper-scalability and more flexibility than a traditional on-premise install, as well as distributed, pay-per-use elastic computing
Create “platformized” products, which are far more responsive to product lifecycle needs.
Next steps
Re-imagine software products
Leverage our expertise in next-gen MACH software architectures to modernize your software products quickly.
Learn More
Rejuvenate mature products
Focus on improving revenue, efficiency and customer delight with our intelligent sustenance engineering framework.
Learn More
Re-group with our experts
Schedule a discussion with our modernization and sustenance experts who can help you chart a path forward.
Contact Us
Next steps
Re-imagine software products
Leverage our expertise in next-gen MACH software architectures to modernize your software products quickly.
Learn More
Rejuvenate mature products
Focus on improving revenue, efficiency and customer delight with our intelligent sustenance engineering framework.
Learn More
Re-group with our experts
Schedule a discussion with our modernization and sustenance experts who can help you chart a path forward.
Contact Us