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Today, businesses of all sizes and ventures have been using technology as much as possible in order to improve their productivity and better their business approach. Most importantly, to sustain themselves in such a competitive market. When it comes to the realm of software, speed is of the essence and this has been realized by every company out there.
Some of the most thriving companies in the market whether fintech (Finance+ Technology) based organizations or e-commerce whose business entirely depends on their software performance, deploy software regularly. Well, doing this is far more difficult than it may look. In order to achieve this level of efficiency and productivity for your business, you need to come up with an impeccable strategy where you will be able to manage your software development task from the very start to its retirement.
Well, this is where Application Lifecycle Management comes into play. Mostly popular with its acronym, ALM basically helps the business in better managing their software and gives them enough room to implement a strategy that can be used to manage the software more efficiently. Now, before we jump to the part where ALM benefits business, let us first understand about it in a more detailed way.
What Exactly is Application Lifecycle Management?
In plain and simple words, ALM is the process of managing the life of a software product from the stage when it’s only in the concept to the phase of its retirement. It has some relevancy to Software Development Lifecycle but is vaster than SDLC as it only involves the stages of development. On the other hand, ALM consists of governance, development, maintenance, and even the retirement stage of the software.
Further, ALM will fall under two categories depending on the process that you choose for the software development. Otherwise, just like DevOps, it can also be integrated into a consistent delivery process. In the most basic level, Application Lifecycle Management is broken down into three major components i.e. governance, development, and operations.
Difference Between the ALM and Other Software Management Approach?
Well, there is quite a difference between ALM and other software management approach. Generally, the traditional software management technique is applied in between the stage of planning to the implementation. Well, other methodologies stop at the very moment after the operations get started. But things are quite different with ALM as it focuses on the bigger picture where it checks the daily routine of the product up to its deployment. This help immensely in providing a more precise and accurate data in operational and management task of an application until it is declared completed from the project management side. It is also used to determine the entire lifespan of an application to the very last day of the retirement of the application. Well, this is indeed the most effective and elaborative approach to determine the value of the application and the resources utilized over time.
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What Are the Benefits of ALM?
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It Provides a Better and Guided Direction
One of the biggest benefits of ALM is that it helps in providing a proper direction to the app even when it is in the designing phase. Due to this, the organizations can create a more effective business case, utilize their resources in an efficient way and determine the lifespan of the application before the development stage has begun. Overall, it ensures minimum mistakes during the application process that helps tremendously in saving lots of time and money for the organization.
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It Gives Speed and Agility to the Application Process
Well, in this competitive market where speed is of the essence, being slow and tardy is not going to help you sustain. Application Lifecycle Management basically gives the development team momentum and agility that is very much needed in order to maintain the lead in this market. Overall, it provides a platform for an integrated system which gives much more efficient result than the use of unconnected tools and different processes across multiple teams. Integration reduces the communication gap between the other teams and this way the application is designed by keeping the software objectives and business goals sidewise.
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Help in Making Better Decisions
ALM uses multiple enhanced tools during the operation. Other than that, it is also packed with some incredible features like version control and real-time planning that helps the team in developing their applications quickly. It also pins down the future of the app. These help a lot when the company is involved in the project of multiple application development. Thus, making it a lot more useful than any other software management approach out there in the market.
The Future of ALM
With the plethora of benefits that ALM provides, it has become the key element of the software developing organizations. Not only it helps in providing the right direction but also helps in making the development process more agile and productive. Well, by seeing the current scenario it can be easily deduced that Application Lifecycle Management is going to play a far more important role now than in the future.
Nowadays, technology is being used by all sorts of businesses in order to improve their productivity and business approach. These technologies also help businesses to sustain themselves in this highly competitive market. In the software realm, speed is of utmost importance.
Benefits of using ALM in businesses:
1. Better & Guided Direction – ALM helps in providing the right direction to the application even when it is going through the designing phase. Based on this, organizations are able to create an effective business case, efficiently utilize their resources, and also determine the application lifespan prior to its development.
2. Provides Speed & Agility – “Slow and steady wins the race”, this doesn’t work in today’s world. Speed is of the essence in this competitive world. ALM provides the development team with the much-needed agility and momentum in order to keep up the lead in the fluctuating market. It further provides an integrated platform to enable transparency in communication among all the teams and departments.
3. Help Make Better Decisions – ALM offers multiple tools during the operation. It is also loaded with superb features like a version-control system, real-time planning, and more. These features help speed up the team and its potential.
ALM can be done “manually” but soon, one will find the limits of doing it with no tool or technology. Visure Solutions is one flexible tool that will help you throughout your whole life on your systems.
We have been providing various ALM-related services as we understand how important it is in today’s world. Go ahead and check them out on our Visure ALM platforms.
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