Approaches and Types of Software Support and Maintenance Services

The majority of the organizations are faced with maintaining their software to ensure optimal performance and maximum usage. In this cut-throat technology-powered world, no enterprise can afford to lag in using the latest technology, platform, or tools. Software support and maintenance service is focused on keeping a watch on the performance and usability of software release of application to ensure its dynamicity to competitive market.

Significance of Professional Support and Maintenance Services

Software is used as an integral component by organizations of all sizes, be it a small business with an essential website or an international retail brand managing a giant warehouse. Any of these organizations are required to take the help of software for the smooth flow of their daily operations.

If you want to reduce the total cost of ownership as well as avail the benefit of having useful improvements and optimization in the product, hire professional software support and maintenance services providers.

Having a dedicated unit to take care of support and maintenance helps in immediate bug fixing for critical issues and even permanent resolution for high-level optimization. When the product is up-to-date and serves the exact purpose, it delivers higher customer satisfaction at reduced costs. Organizations cut the cost of maintaining an older version of the software product with a new release.

Software maintenance is understood to mean all activities that ensure the availability and usability of a software system after its introduction or that extend the life of the software. You add the total effort that arises after the handover or presentation of the software. However, time and cost aspects lead to keeping the effort of a maintenance process low. As a result, change requests may only be partially implemented, and further errors arise, which can have an impact on maintainability.

This reduces the time and effort invested in handling issues of obsolete systems. Professional support and maintenance services help in focusing more on enhancing the software product and introducing some innovative elements that could add value to its core purpose of creation.

Different Types of Software Support and Maintenance Services Approaches

Depending on the requirement of your software product, the approach of software product support and maintenance service may vary:

Perfective Maintenance

This approach helps in re-engineering, enhancing, and customizing the software product or application to resolve issues that affect the system’s performance and functionality.

Adaptive Maintenance

The adaptive maintenance approach is best suited when software and hardware are expected to work in a dynamic, new and altered environment.

Scheduled Maintenance

Scheduled maintenance is the best approach for stable software products or applications that requires regular updates and release management so that it stays in line with the latest technology ahead of the competition.

The range of functions

Depending on the service level agreement with the service provider, a software maintenance contract usually includes the provision of so-called software updates or upgrades. If the software is used in a slightly individualized manner, these can be imported independently by the user in connection with previous data backups. To what extent the software products are updated are connected to the network operating system environment through entries in the operating system registry or database processes.

It is often necessary to test the software customer configuration in the run-up to the software update process with the changed software functions to ensure largely error-free functionality after the update process.

Otherwise, software updates connected with prior testing in a test environment and data backup by qualified specialist personnel should be installed to avoid problems resulting from operational failure. The resulting costs are usually not covered by the software maintenance contract with the manufacturer and are either calculated according to expenditure or regulated via a service level agreement.

Software as a dynamic product

This aspect of the future is often neglected. The popular opinion is that maintenance is secondary. This is based on an outdated, static understanding of software. Providers can no longer operate according to the motto “write once, then sell vigorously”. Maintenance and further development take up more than two-thirds of the budgets that providers invest in software today.

IT solutions are dynamic products that need to be maintained. One reason for this is the rapid technological and social change. Besides, the answers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and individual. Above all, however, their functioning has an entirely different scope than before: IT is now a critical factor for success.

The range of functions

Depending on the service level agreement with the service provider, a software maintenance contract usually includes the provision of so-called software updates or upgrades. If the software is used in a slightly individualized manner, these can be imported independently by the user in connection with previous data backups. To what extent the software products are updated are connected to the network operating system environment through entries in the operating system registry or database processes.

It is often necessary to test the software customer configuration in the run-up to the software update process with the changed software functions to ensure largely error-free functionality after the update process.

Otherwise, software updates connected with prior testing in a test environment and data backup by qualified specialist personnel should be installed to avoid problems resulting from operational failure. The resulting costs are usually not covered by the software maintenance contract with the manufacturer and are either calculated according to expenditure or regulated via a service level agreement.

Software as a dynamic product

This aspect of the future is often neglected. The popular opinion is that maintenance is secondary. This is based on an outdated, static understanding of software. Providers can no longer operate according to the motto “write once, then sell vigorously”. Maintenance and further development take up more than two-thirds of the budgets that providers invest in software today.

IT solutions are dynamic products that need to be maintained. One reason for this is the rapid technological and social change. Besides, the answers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and individual. Above all, however, their functioning has an entirely different scope than before: IT is now a critical factor for success.

Comprehensive Software Support and Maintenance Services

Let’s understand different types of services covered under software product support and maintenance:

Software Maintenance

Under software support and maintenance service, clients can expect different levels of support services to help in troubleshooting, addressing complexities and providing bug fixing for security audit and application enhancement. Monitoring of system data, IT infrastructure support, monitoring of system setup and application code optimization comes under this type of maintenance.

Application Maintenance

Reduce the overhead of maintaining the application by handing over the responsibility to a professional service provider. Application support and maintenance service provider provides consultation on choosing the most appropriate IT infrastructure and hosting options considering the long term scalability options.

Apart from hosting and setting up the perfect environment for application launch, it also conducts security audits, manages server and checks for backup storage setup, control performance and checks for application licenses. Application support service provider also helps in migration to cloud, if required.

Product Enhancement & Maintenance

Under this category of service, software product is examined and analyzed to find out all defects, bugs and malfunctioning. Based on the analysis reports generated, product maintenance and support service provider suggest possible changes for enhancing the product and improving its overall market value and usefulness.

Pre-support Audit

As a part of support and maintenance of software product or solution, it is vital to conduct timely audit to understand its proper functioning. Such detailed audit report helps in detecting areas that need improvement and enhancement through maintenance services.

Studies that dealt with software maintenance showed that maintenance measures take up a higher proportion of the IT budget than new software developments. A large part of the maintenance costs are incurred for adapting the system to new requirements or changing environmental conditions. The actual distribution varies depending on the company and application.

On a Concluding Note…

Low requirements and automation generate small acquisition and follow-up costs; however, they often mean increased staffing and associated additional personnel costs. Flexible software solutions are company-oriented, future-oriented, offer more functions, and create automatisms for comparing data and require increased maintenance and expenses..

Any support and maintenance service can utilize the software, solution, and product to the core. Hidden Brains is a reputed enterprise IT software and consulting company helping organizations by offering reliable support and maintenance services as per their requirement. Choose from different product maintenance approaches based on your specifications for the best handling of the software product.

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Albert Smith

Albert Smith, Marketing Manager at Hidden Brains, drives brand growth with innovative strategies in web, mobile app, and software development.