Developing software isn’t always easy, especially when today’s industry standards and technologies constantly evolve. 

Between a rapid pace of change and uncertain economic, political and social climates, many organizations find themselves having their work cut out for them. 

In this post, we’ll look at one of the biggest challenges in enterprise software development and how you can overcome them: 

1. Changing business requirements and environments

If business requirements are constantly changing depending on everyone’s whims, application development can certainly take a toll in terms of time and cost. 

When it’s enterprise software, this eventually becomes an issue because the business analyst has to consider the wishes and constraints of multiple stakeholders from various departments. 

That’s why having long, comprehensive discussions with stakeholders is essential. Stakeholders discuss important issues and then decide on one solid requirement agreed upon by all. Finally, a requirement document is drafted if all members agree to every point of the document. 

Although this method takes up some time up front, this ensures a more solid system that satisfies stakeholders. 

Moreover, adopting a more modular architecture helps overcome this challenge. Handy code modules ensure that anyone can change to a module that doesn’t affect others. 

2. Ensuring safety and security

Enterprise apps aren’t your typical generic apps that include crucial business data. More often than not, securing your app’s resources and user access control can be challenging. A lot of enterprises need to be extra cautious in terms of security. They also need to be a lookout for any forms of cyber attacks. 

The solution is periodic application vulnerability tests. This is to help check whether the app, back end service or server is secure. You also need to ensure user information and permissions. For enterprise app development, privacy protection needs to be a priority. 

3. Maintenance and support 

Businesses may also feel negative consequences if their enterprise apps experience crashes and unexpected bugs. The possibility of detecting and fixing issues is as important as the development quality. Thus, maintenance can be a particularly cumbersome task. 

The solution for you’re building an enterprise app for your company is to offer full implementation assistance and support to the product after its release. 

4. Integration with other systems

Integrating IT systems in various departments, functions, and application stages to streamline business processes can be equally challenging. System integration ensures that all vital information is viewed and updated in real-time.

Moreover, there are also still some enterprises that use monolithic systems. If one heavily depends on these systems, then integration can be challenging because of the sheer complexity and size of the application. You’ll need professional help from a software support company to assist you when working with a new system.

Coding and testing will need to cover the application and the entire integration test plan every time changes are pushed. Therefore, a standard data model is essential within an enterprise for systems to be integrated successfully. Thus it’s important to know the requirements of every department. That way, one could map the property to the standard data model. 

5. Data storage

Many enterprise apps tend to accumulate large sums of data. This raises the issue of having efficient storage and management. Moreover, most of these data are relatively unstructured and often challenging to use. 

Data storage needs a sophisticated infrastructure, which consumes time and money. Moreover, this can be quite challenging for companies, from small start-ups to big corporations.

The solution is storing data locally or using cloud services. Your final choice will, of course, depend on your company’s needs. But cloud services are one of the best solutions since they offer mobility, stability, and high operation speed. 

6. User interface and experience

In an enterprise application, functionality isn’t always everything. That’s because it only has a primary user interface, and employees might not typically enjoy using the software. 

So, if many consumer apps have sleek interfaces, does an enterprise application? 

The importance of having a comfortable and aesthetically designed user interface shouldn’t be underestimated. That’s because this can result in greater engagement, leading to more value from the same software. 

Adding tiny details to the application also makes accessibility and navigation easier. This can lead to more significant results regarding employee satisfaction and productivity. 

You can also set automatic form filling and create default settings. That way, your enterprise application can be both fast and friendly. 

7. AI and automation

AI-embedded software is a default from sales, and marketing technology, all the way to automated production lines and supply chain management. 

However, incorporating AI and automation does present numerous challenges. 

This includes: 

  • Knowing when to automate a process
  • How to effectively use human augmentation
  • Navigating the challenges of test automation
  • Making UI changes, script execution, multiple error handling, and so much more 

The automation process needs skilled resources. You don’t replace humans with robots. Instead, you focus on applying on areas that could potentially waste your employees’ time or leave them vulnerable to human error. 

You also need to pick the right tool for the job. Instead of focusing on automation as a comprehensive, multi-process effort, you must take it one step at a time. You also need to identify the right tools, and software support for your specific needs. 

8. Low ROI

As mentioned, enterprise application development requires expertise and detailed planning. This can be costly in the long run, and the costs don’t end there. Other expenditures and high maintenance costs like creating and sending regular updates. 

Thus, you must identify relevant key performance indicators concerning your goal when calculating your ROI. 

Most of these KPIs are tangible, such as the time saved on a particular process, frequency of use, etc. There are also intangible KPIs that enhance employee morale, etc. Although you can’t include these intangible KPIs in calculating ROI, you can have them in the performance review of your application. 

The Takeaway

So there you have it—those critical challenges in enterprise software and how you can overcome them.

Knowing the challenges of enterprise software development and how you can address them successfully is essential. Good luck!