Surprisingly enough, the success of software development within South African organisations is not solely IT dependant.
So says Brian Harding, CEO of Airborne Consulting, who adds that it is very often factors outside the realm of technology that hinder software development within organisations, such as communication, key stakeholder involvement, user training, integration into the organisation, or project methodologies.
Harding believes software development projects need to be tackled holistically to successfully achieve their goals.
In order to raise awareness of the value of effective software development, ITWeb, in partnership with Airborne Consulting, has introduced the Software Development Survey, which will also reveal what other factors must be taken into account when an organisation is investing in software development.
Also, the survey aims to reveal whether South African organisations prefer to develop their own software, or to buy and customise products.
In addition, the survey will reveal the software development trends in SA, for example, what solutions organisations are using, what their implementation processes are, if any, and ultimately, how successful organisations are in their software development endeavours.
Harding explains: "The overall success of software development in South African organisations is improving. As an industry, there is more predicable delivery, but as a consulting company, we are finding some disastrous software development stories out there."
Organisations are often failing to measure their ROI, as many software development projects often run on indefinitely with no real measurable outcomes.
However, Harding argues that it is more effective for an organisation to develop software that has a perfect 'fit' for an organisation as it puts the key developers in control so that the software solution can be customised to suit the organisation's exact needs.
"It varies whether South African organisations prefer to develop their own software or buy off the shelf," says Harding, "but very often, it is better to develop your own software for many reasons, such as cost vs benefit."
He notes that the cloud and hosted services are starting to make an impact in South African organisations as opposed to traditional software ownership.
Click here to complete the survey.
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