Your agency for software development and digital product development

Software has become paramount to every company. The same goes for marketing. Without data and the right software, the development, implementation and success control of measures are inconceivable.

In short, whoever has the better data and the better software can secure valuable competitive advantages. And this is precisely where an experienced software development agency or software development consultancy for digital product development comes in.

Most business applications such as ERP, DMS or CRM systems cannot be used without customisation, as they most often do not reflect a company’s processes and specific circumstances.

Software also supports a company in many different ways. From marketing and sales to production and logistics to bookkeeping, financial accounting and controlling. Software makes companies more productive, more profitable and more competitive.

This is exactly where digital product development that ‘thinks and works with agility’ is needed. One that knows how to proceed iteratively and understands how to give work processes a clearly defined structure with Scrum and the like. We at the Ruess Group have been successfully providing this expertise for many years.

Only a customised software solution can meet all of a company’s requirements 100 percent. Be it for production, maintenance and quality assurance solutions or business applications for the control and optimisation of processes.

The advantage of a specially developed software is that a company can determine what the priorities are, what range of functions the software should have, how it should look, how it is operated and used, etc.

This ensures that it can provide the full scope of possibilities without the restrictions that come with standard software. And that the software integrates perfectly into the existing infrastructure and perfectly supports the company’s processes.

Since customised software only includes the functions that are really needed in the company, it also requires less training and familiarisation for the employees. With the great advantage that it can be used more quickly and efficiently.

The idea for a digital product always originates in the mind. But in spite of all the creativity required, it is important to ask yourself: What problem does the idea solve in practice? How big is the benefit of the innovation? And which and how many customers actually have this problem?

The prerequisite for such a digital product development is that it creates a real benefit that also means a business advantage for the commissioning company and its agency.

This can result from the fact that a large number of potential customers benefit from the product and are therefore willing to pay a suitable price for the solution.

Or the product idea helps the company so much that the resulting savings are greater than the investment in its development. For example, if the company uses it to simplify or even automate its internal processes.

The eight cornerstones of software strategy:

• Target group
• Needs
• USPs
• Business goals
• Competition
• Monetisation
• Cost factors
• Channels

A digital product that overlooks the needs of the target group doesn’t have much chance of success. Accordingly, these needs have to be openly identified and taken into account in the run-up to the launch.

Once questions about goals, target groups and economic viability have been answered, the conception phase can begin. A rough idea develops into a detailed plan – from the perspective of user guidance and technical implementation.

Now the functional scope of version 1.0 is defined and its technical infrastructure is determined. Furthermore, the challenges that the software can solve in addition to its core task are determined to increase its usefulness.

This concept can initially be written or drawn up in the form of mind maps. Individual functions and areas of the application are linked with each other so that the software development agency is given a holistic impression.

In the next step, increasingly detailed sketches of the application are produced based on the concept. The individual screens are drawn and headlines, buttons and other elements are defined.

They depict how the user is guided through the software. With a prototype that becomes more and more detailed as development progresses until it shows the later appearance of the digital product – screen by screen, clickable by the user.

This creates a first, real impression of the application and its benefits without having to develop and deploy the entire technical infrastructure. The aim is to generate initial feedback from the target group and to assess market opportunities.

Instead of developing and designing a digital product in detail, it is advisable to develop a so-called a so-called Minimum Viable Product (MVP) – that has exactly the scope it needs to be useful.

In this respect, the MVP is limited to the core functionality, for which only the most important functions are developed and programmed. Any additional applications, gimmicks and extras are not considered for the time being. With several advantages:

• The time and financial outlay for software development is significantly reduced.
• Initial tests to see how the product performs in the market require less cost and less time.
• It is possible to respond at an early stage in the event of negative feedback.
• Feedback from the target group can also be incorporated into further product development.
• The digital product is essentially developed together with the market and adapts to its needs.

So instead of immediately developing the product 100 percent and incurring 100 percent of the costs, the focus is first on solving the original issue. This allows users to test the software as early as possible.

Another advantage is that the testers become agile co-developers whose feedback and feature requests flow into the process from the very beginning. This also ensures that customer needs are considered throughout the entire software development process.

An interdisciplinary team is needed to develop a digital product from the initial idea to market maturity. One that is made up of experts who bring a wide range of skills to the table.

A venture manager, business development manager and marketing manager who lay the strategic foundation for the digital product and ask the right questions. To determine the goals and target groups and match them with the product idea.

Also important are visual designers who, with their expertise in the areas of user experience and user interface design, determine, question and optimise the software’s user guidance. To ensure that the application is easy to use, looks good and meets the preferences of the target group.

Then the technical infrastructure is set up by the developers and the functionality of the digital product is defined.

There are also special positions in software development consulting: from the agile coach, who accompanies the team with agile methods to increase the value provided for the stakeholders, to software testers, copywriters and data analysts.

After all, the components of a digital product can only be further optimised with the right specialised skills. Therefore, a generalist is always superior to a software development agency consisting only of technicians and software specialists.

Software has been one of the most important assets of a company since long before the beginning of the new millennium. Simply because it makes its processes and procedures faster and more efficient.

Software represents a competitive advantage that also helps with marketing in the individual channels. Those who reach their target group faster and more effectively are a big step ahead. Software makes winners.

It can also make products better or become a product itself. Gaining and maintaining a lead here is no simple task. In this respect, it calls for an agile software development agency that has been doing this for many years. With specialists and generalists who don’t see software in isolation, but who understand how the individual sub-areas work so that they can be made better with software.

And not just programmers, but also specialists in e-commerce, content, media or marketing. We at the Ruess Group have all these specialists and software developers on board and many well-known clients, mainly from the B2B sector, who have come to appreciate us for this very reason.