However, a well-maintained product backlog doesn’t just happen by accident—it requires intentional management and prioritization. But how exactly does effective product backlog management translate to tangible sprint success?

Here, we explore how effective product backlog management drives sprint success, ensuring that your team delivers high-quality results on time and within scope.

Understanding Product Backlog Management

Before we explore the impact of effective management, it’s essential to understand what the product backlog is. In its simplest form, it’s an ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product.

This includes features, bug fixes, enhancements, technical tasks, and knowledge acquisition. The product owner is primarily responsible for maintaining and prioritizing the backlog, ensuring it aligns with the product vision and business objectives.

The product backlog is owned by the Product Owner, who is responsible for ensuring that it is well-organized, prioritized, and aligned with the product vision. However, the entire team plays a role in refining and maintaining it.

The Role of Product Backlog Management in Sprint Success

A sprint is a time-boxed iteration in Agile development, typically lasting 1-4 weeks, during which the team works to complete a set of tasks from the product backlog.

The success of a sprint depends heavily on the quality of the product backlog. Here’s how effective backlog management contributes to sprint success:

1. Clear Prioritization Ensures Focus

One of the most critical aspects of backlog management is prioritization. Without clear priorities, teams can waste time working on low-value tasks or features that don’t align with the product’s goals.

Effective backlog management ensures that the most important and high-impact items are at the top of the list, allowing the team to focus on what truly matters during the sprint.

A well-managed backlog ensures that the most valuable items are at the top, allowing the development team to focus on what matters most for customers.

How to Prioritize Effectively: Use frameworks like MoSCoW (Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, Won’t-have) or the Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) method to rank items based on their value, urgency, and effort.

2. Improved Sprint Planning

Sprint planning is the process of selecting items from the product backlog to work on during the upcoming sprint. A well-managed backlog makes this process smoother and more efficient.

When the backlog is clear, detailed, and prioritized, the team can quickly identify which items to include in the sprint, estimate effort accurately, and set realistic goals.

The team can quickly select the highest-priority items that fit within the sprint’s capacity, leading to more accurate estimations and realistic sprint goals.

Detailed stories mean that the team can start working on the sprint items with less questions and more understanding.

Break down large user stories into smaller, actionable tasks during backlog refinement sessions. This makes it easier to estimate and plan during sprint planning.

3. Enhanced Team Collaboration

A well-maintained backlog fosters collaboration between the Product Owner, development team, and stakeholders.

Regular backlog refinement sessions (also known as backlog grooming) provide an opportunity for the team to discuss and clarify requirements, ask questions, and provide input.

It ensures everyone has a clear understanding of the product’s direction and priorities, minimizing misunderstandings and ensuring alignment during the sprint.

Schedule regular backlog refinement sessions, ideally once per sprint, to keep the backlog up-to-date and actionable.

4. Reduced Scope Creep

Scope creep occurs when new tasks or requirements are added to the sprint without proper evaluation, leading to delays and missed deadlines.

Effective backlog management helps prevent scope creep by ensuring that all items are thoroughly reviewed and prioritized before being added to the sprint.

This discipline ensures that the team stays focused on the agreed-upon goals and delivers on time.

Establish a clear process for adding new items to the backlog and ensure that they are evaluated and prioritized before being included in a sprint to avoid scope creep.

5. Increased Transparency and Predictability

A well-managed backlog provides transparency into the team’s workload, progress, and priorities. This visibility allows stakeholders to understand what’s being worked on, why it’s important, and when it’s expected to be delivered.

Predictability is also improved, as the team can more accurately forecast what can be achieved in future sprints based on the backlog’s state.

Use Agile project management tools like Jira, Trello, or Asana to visualize and track the backlog, making it easier to maintain transparency.

6. Faster Delivery of Value

The ultimate goal of any Agile team is to deliver value to customers as quickly as possible. Effective backlog management ensures that the team is always working on the highest-value items, enabling faster delivery of features and improvements.

This not only satisfies customers but also provides opportunities for early feedback, which can be used to refine the product further.

Focus on delivering a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in the early sprints to gather feedback and iterate quickly.

7. Product Quality

A well-managed backlog allows for easy adaptation to these changes, enabling the product owner to reprioritize items and incorporate new requirements as needed.

By focusing on the most valuable items, teams can deliver higher-quality features that meet user needs and business objectives.

A refined backlog minimizes the risk of technical debt and ensures that the product is built on a solid foundation. Well defined acceptance criteria leads to less defects to ensure great user experience.

8. AI Enhances Product Backlog Management

AI brings automation, predictive insights, and precision to backlog management, addressing common challenges like prioritization ambiguity, overloaded backlogs, and scope creep.

Automated prioritization and backlog management is possible with AI. It can can analyze historical data, customer feedback, and market trends to suggest priority rankings for backlog items.

AI tools can use predictive analytics to simulate the impact of features on customer satisfaction or business metrics, helping product owners focus on high-value tasks.

Behavioral analytics platforms can identify underused features or friction points, ensuring backlog items align with real user needs.

Best Practices for Effective Product Backlog Management

To maximize the impact of your product backlog on sprint success, follow these best practices:

1. Keep the Backlog Lean and Manageable

A bloated backlog can overwhelm the team and make prioritization difficult. Regularly review and remove outdated, redundant, or low-priority items to keep the backlog lean and focused.

Constantly reassess priorities based on changing market conditions and feedback.

2. User Story Mapping

Each item in the backlog should be described as a user story that clearly defines the who, what, and why. Include acceptance criteria to provide clarity and ensure that the team understands what “done” looks like.

Use user story mapping to visualize the user journey and identify key features and functionalities. This technique helps ensure that the backlog is comprehensive and covers all aspects of the product.

This helps to understand the big picture.

3. Involve the Entire Team in Backlog Refinement

Backlog refinement shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of the Product Owner. Involve the development team, QA testers, and other stakeholders to gather diverse perspectives and ensure that all items are well-understood.

Define clear and measurable acceptance criteria for each user story.

This ensures that everyone understands when a story is considered complete and meets the required standards.

4. Prioritize Continuously

Priorities can change as new information emerges or market conditions shift. Continuously review and adjust the backlog to reflect the latest priorities and ensure that the team is always working on the most valuable tasks.

Focus on delivering the highest value to the customer and the business. Constantly reassess priorities based on changing market conditions and feedback.

5. Use Metrics to Guide Decisions

Leverage metrics like velocity, cycle time, and burndown charts to assess the team’s performance and identify areas for improvement. These insights can inform backlog prioritization and sprint planning.

6. Communicate with Stakeholders

Keep stakeholders informed about the backlog’s status, priorities, and any changes. Regular communication builds trust and ensures that everyone is aligned with the product’s direction.

Common Challenges in Product Backlog Management

While effective backlog management is crucial for sprint success, it’s not without its challenges. Here are some common issues and how to address them:

1. Lack of Direction

An overloaded backlog can lead to confusion and inefficiency. To address this, regularly review and prune the backlog, removing items that are no longer relevant or feasible.

2. Lack of Clarity

Unclear or poorly defined user stories can lead to misunderstandings and rework. Ensure that each item in the backlog is well-documented and includes clear acceptance criteria.

3. Changing Priorities

Frequent changes in priorities can disrupt the team’s focus and momentum. While some changes are inevitable, establish a process for evaluating and communicating priority shifts to minimize disruption.

4. Insufficient Stakeholder Involvement

Stakeholders play a critical role in shaping the backlog. Ensure that they are actively involved in backlog refinement and prioritization to align the backlog with business goals.

Conclusion: The Link Between Backlog Management and Sprint Success

Effective product backlog management is a cornerstone of Agile success. By prioritizing tasks, improving sprint planning, fostering collaboration, and delivering value faster, a well-managed backlog sets the stage for successful sprints.

It ensures that the team remains focused, aligned, and productive, ultimately leading to a higher-quality product and satisfied customers.

Whether you’re a Product Owner, Scrum Master, or team member, the effort you put into backlog management will pay dividends in the form of smoother sprints, happier teams, and more successful projects.

Kreyon Systems delivers cutting edge product development and management, from concept to launch. Streamline your processes, accelerate your growth. If you have queries, please contact us.

The post How Effective Product Backlog Management Drives Sprint Success appeared first on Kreyon Systems | Blog | Software Company | Software Development | Software Design.

Understanding the Product Launch Spectrum

The product launch journey can be likened to a spectrum, with multiple stages that demand unique strategies and considerations. It begins with the conceptualization of the product and extends all the way to its introduction in the market. Each phase plays a crucial role in determining the product’s fate.

Idea Generation and Validation

The first step in the product launch journey is to come up with a new product idea. The journey commences with idea generation, a process that involves brainstorming, market research, and identification of pain points your product aims to address.

Once you have a few ideas, you need to screen them to determine which ones are the most promising. Idea validation follows, where you assess the viability and potential demand for your product through surveys, focus groups, and prototype testing. This phase sets the foundation for the entire launch process.

When screening product ideas, you need to consider a number of factors, including:
The size of the market
The level of competition
The product’s unique value proposition
The product’s feasibility
The product’s potential for profitability

A good product launch requires a strong business case, understanding of the market and the customer.

Product Development and Testing

Once you have screened your product ideas, you need to develop a concept for the most promising one. This involves creating a detailed description of the product, including its features, benefits, and pricing. You should also test the concept with potential customers to get their feedback.

Once your idea is validated, you move into the development stage. This involves designing, engineering, and manufacturing the product.

Rigorous testing is crucial to ensure the product meets quality standards and addresses consumer needs. This phase requires close collaboration between cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, and quality assurance.

Start with a minimum functional product that serves a customer need or alleviates their pain in some way. Create a todo list for the project. Prioritize the deliverables from the highest value to the lowest value for the customers. Skip everything else.

Product Market Fit

Customers know it when you have something of value for them. You have limited time to impact your customers, create things that deliver massive value for them.

The difference between what you are building and what customers want is known as market feedback. Value it and build something that resonates with your audience.

Developers go through endless iterations to build software products. But your product market fit is never completed unless you build something that is desired by your customers:

Are you building the product desired by your customers?
Do you have a viable and profitable market for it?
Is your product feasible with respect to technology?

You establish product market fit only when you can answer things above in the affirmative.

Building Anticipation

Creating anticipation and buzz around your upcoming product is a key aspect of the launch journey. Teasers, sneak peeks, and engaging content across various marketing channels can pique interest and cultivate curiosity among your target audience.

Social media platforms, email marketing, and influencer partnerships can be harnessed effectively during this stage.

This involves identifying your target market, understanding your customer profiles, setting your pricing strategy, and developing a marketing plan. You should also conduct a financial analysis to determine the profitability of your product.

Crafting a Compelling Story

Storytelling is a powerful tool that helps differentiate your product from competitors. Develop a compelling narrative that highlights the product’s origin, purpose, and unique features.

A well-crafted story creates an emotional connection, resonating with consumers and driving them to engage with your brand. Before you create your story, try answering some of these questions:

Why you are building what you are building?
What is in it for the customers?
Can you picture your customers achieving their key outcomes?
Is there a compelling reason for you to succeed?
Why should customers care about your product or your journey?

Effective Go-To-Market Plan
Choosing the appropriate launch strategy depends on factors such as your product’s nature, target market, and competitive landscape. Options range from a soft launch to a grand event, each with its own advantages and considerations. Consider factors such as timing, location, and the resources required for a successful launch.

Key Considerations for a Successful Product Launch:

Market Research: A deep understanding of your target market, including demographics, preferences, and pain points, is crucial for tailoring your product and messaging.
Competitive Analysis: Study your competitors’ offerings to identify gaps in the market and differentiate your product effectively.
Clear Messaging: Develop clear and concise messaging that highlights the product’s value proposition and resonates with your target audience.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Effective communication and collaboration between departments, such as marketing, sales, and development, are essential for a smooth launch.
Agile Adaptation: Be prepared to adjust your strategies based on market feedback and evolving trends to ensure your product remains relevant.

A well-defined go-to-market (GTM) plan is essential for a successful product launch. Outline the distribution channels, pricing strategy, and promotional activities that will drive initial customer engagement. Collaborate with sales and marketing teams to ensure a coordinated effort that maximizes visibility and impact.

Post-Launch Analysis and Optimization

Following the launch, it’s vital to gather feedback, monitor sales performance, and assess customer satisfaction. Use data analytics to gain insights into consumer behavior and identify areas for improvement. Continuous optimization based on real-world feedback is a hallmark of successful product launches.

The product launch process should encourage an iterative approach to problem-solving. By testing & learning from early prototypes, teams can make informed decisions and refine their product ideas in line with customer expectations.

Conclusion

Embarking on the product launch journey is an exciting endeavor that demands meticulous planning, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of consumer needs. From the initial concept to the final market introduction, every phase plays a pivotal role in shaping the success of your product.

By navigating each stage with precision and leveraging key considerations, you can position your product for a successful and impactful launch that resonates with your target audience and drives lasting success in the market.

Kreyon Systems offers comprehensive software product development expertise with the latest technologies collaborating with wide range of companies. If you are looking for building a software product, please reach out to us.

The post From Concept to Market: Navigating the Product Launch Journey appeared first on Kreyon Systems | Blog | Software Company | Software Development | Software Design.

One of the key elements in achieving product reliability is thorough and efficient software testing. While manual testing plays a vital role, leveraging software testing automation can significantly enhance the testing process, improve accuracy, and expedite product delivery.

It can also ensure that product meets quality and performance metrics consistently. In this article, we will explore the benefits of software testing automation and provide practical tips on how to leverage it effectively for building reliable software products.

Understanding Software Testing Automation

Software testing automation involves using specialized tools & scripts to automate the execution of test cases and verification of expected outcomes. It helps streamline the testing process, reduce human error, and increase the test coverage.

When any new feature or development is done for a product, testing automation can prevent regressions and manage key performance aspects.

Software Testing Automation for Product Development

Increases Efficiency:

Automation allows for faster test execution, enabling more frequent testing cycles and quicker feedback. It saves time and effort compared to manual testing, allowing teams to focus on other critical tasks. Test driven development allows use cases to be built into the code itself, it allows quick testing of key deliverables.

Improved Test Coverage:

With automation, it becomes feasible to execute a larger number of test cases, covering various scenarios and combinations that may be impractical to test manually. This leads to more comprehensive test coverage and reduces the risk of undiscovered defects. The test cases are built into the product leading to improved testing for each scenario.

Consistency and Accuracy:

Automated tests consistently perform the same steps with precision, eliminating human errors and inconsistencies. Testing automation leads to improved communication between developers and testing teams. This ensures that the software behaves predictably across multiple test runs and environments.

Regression Testing:

Regression testing, which involves retesting previously tested functionalities after modifications, can be efficiently handled through automation. It helps identify any unintended side effects or regressions resulting from changes made during the development process.

For large scale products with many features and users, there is always a possibility of breaking existing functionality. With automation, test cases are written for all existing features, new code is deployed only when everything works in sync & performs upto expected standards.

Scalability:

As software products evolve and grow, automated tests can be easily scaled to accommodate new features, data, integrations, or increased user loads. Automation allows for faster and more efficient testing of complex systems. It makes it easier to add functionality quickly on the go and scale the product.

Implementing Software Testing Automation:

Test Strategy and Planning:

Define a clear testing strategy and identify areas where automation can provide the most significant benefits. Prioritize test cases based on critical functionalities, complexity, and regression testing needs. Involve users of the product to help your team write better test cases.

Identify the key outcomes, for e.g. bank reconciliation should generate financial reports correctly. So, test cases check the input data formats, mapping with chart of accounts, import functionality & ultimately financial reports generation.

Tool Selection:

Research and select suitable automation testing tools that align with your project requirements and technology stack. Popular tools include Selenium, Appium, JUnit, TestComplete, and Cypress. Testing automation can also use programming language support for e.g. C# provides testing frameworks supporting TDD like NUnit, xUnit, and MSTest.

Test Case Design:

Design test cases that are suitable for automation, focusing on modular and reusable test scripts. Break down complex scenarios into smaller, manageable units that can be automated effectively. The test cases are written prior to writing the code, it improves collaboration between developers and testing teams too.

Test Data Management:

Plan for managing test data effectively by involving users early. Consider creating test data sets that cover different scenarios and edge cases for product usage. Automation allows for easily maintaining and manipulating test data to simulate real user loads and goals etc.

Continuous Integration and Test Automation:

The cloud based products are updated often with incremental developments. By integrating automated tests into your continuous integration and delivery pipeline. Automate the execution of tests triggered by code changes, ensuring regular and comprehensive testing throughout the development process. This is particularly useful when new developments & updates are done frequently to the product.

Maintenance and Refinement:

Regularly review and update automated test scripts to accommodate changes in the software. Automation testing can improve code quality, maintainability and readability too.

In situations when there is a need for refactoring the code, automation ensures that existing tests cases still pass after refactoring. Maintain a balance between maintaining existing tests and adding new tests to keep up with evolving requirements.

Best Practices for Software Testing Automation:

Start Small:

Even if you have a complex product or use case. Begin by automating simple and repetitive tests, gradually expanding to more complex scenarios. This helps establish a solid product foundation and gain confidence in the automation process. The product eventually creates integrated test cases for complete functionality of the product.

Collaboration:

Foster collaboration between developers, testers, users and automation engineers to ensure alignment in testing efforts. Early involvement of automation engineers & end users of the product during the development phase can help identify automation opportunities and design testable features.

Data & Security:

Security testing is a pivotal aspect of cloud based products, software testing automation can identify vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and potential risks in an application’s security. It aims to ensure that the software system is resilient against malicious attacks and protects sensitive information.

Security testing evaluates how sensitive data is stored, transmitted, and shared within the application. It exposes potential vulnerabilities in the product for mitigation before being exposed to real world users.

Test Reporting and Analysis:

Utilize test reporting and analysis tools to track test results, identify patterns, and monitor trends. The product’s scalability can be tested with analytics by gradually increasing the workload to determine its ability to handle increased user load and growing data volumes.

This helps in identifying areas for improvement and optimizing test suites for maximum efficiency. By stayin updated with the latest automation testing techniques, frameworks, and best practices, you can keep your product upto date with changing times.

Software testing automation aims to improve code quality, maintainability, and design by fostering a test-first mindset throughout the development process.

Testing automation ensures that code is driven by the desired behavior specified by the test cases. This helps maintain a customer-centric focus, ensuring that the software product meets the expected requirements, built to scale and serves user needs.

Kreyon Systems develops innovative software products for clients globally. If you have any queries or need assistance for implementation of SaaS products, please get in touch with us.

The post How to Leverage Software Testing Automation for Building Reliable Software Products appeared first on Kreyon Systems | Blog | Software Company | Software Development | Software Design.

With our expert insights and actionable tips, you’ll be able to create a comprehensive and effective launch plan that will take your product to new heights. Whether you’re a startup or an established company, this guide will provide you with the tools and techniques you need to succeed. So, let’s dive in and unlock the secrets to a successful product launch!

Understanding Your Target Audience

One of the most important steps in developing a successful product launch strategy is understanding your target audience. Who are they? What are their pain points? What motivates them to purchase software products? Answering these questions will help you create a launch plan that resonates with your target audience.

To better understand your audience, start by creating buyer personas. These are fictional representations of your ideal customers, based on real data and insights. Buyer personas should include demographic information, such as age, gender, and location, as well as psychographic information, such as interests, values, and behaviors.

Additionally, consider conducting surveys or focus groups to gather more information about your target audience. Use this data to inform your product development and launch strategy. By understanding your audience, you’ll be able to create messaging and promotional materials that resonate with them.

Conducting Market Research to Inform Your Strategy

In addition to understanding your target audience, it’s important to conduct market research to inform your launch strategy. This involves analyzing the competitive landscape, identifying market trends, and understanding your product’s unique value proposition.

Start by researching your competitors. What products do they offer? How are they marketing their products? What are their strengths and weaknesses? This information will help you position your product in the market and differentiate it from competitors.

Next, analyze market trends. What are the current trends in your industry? What are customers looking for in software products? This information will help you create a launch plan that meets the needs of your target audience.

Finally, clearly define your product’s unique value proposition. What makes your product different from others on the market? How will it benefit your target audience? Use this information to create messaging and promotional materials that highlight your product’s unique features and benefits.

Developing your Product Launch Plan

Once you’ve conducted market research and understand your target audience, it’s time to develop your product launch plan. This plan should outline the steps you’ll take to prepare for and execute a successful launch.

Start by setting clear launch goals. What do you hope to achieve with your product launch? These goals could include increasing sales, generating buzz, or building a community of loyal customers.

Next, create a timeline for your launch. This should include key milestones, such as when you’ll begin promoting the product and when you’ll release it to the public. Be sure to build in time for unexpected delays or issues that may arise.

Finally, develop a budget for your launch. This should include all costs associated with the launch, such as advertising, promotional materials, and any events or activities you plan to host.

Pre-launch Preparation and Promotion

Before you launch your product, it’s important to build anticipation and generate buzz. This can be done through a variety of pre-launch activities, such as teasers, product demos, and social media campaigns.

Teasers are a great way to build anticipation for your product launch. These can be short videos or images that hint at what your product does or what it looks like. Teasers should be designed to pique the interest of your target audience and encourage them to learn more about your product.

Product demos are another effective way to promote your product before launch. These can be in-person demonstrations or online videos that show your product in action. Product demos allow potential customers to see the benefits of your product firsthand and can help build excitement for the launch.

Finally, social media campaigns are a great way to build buzz and engage your target audience before launch. Use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to share teasers, product demos, and other promotional materials. Encourage your followers to share your posts and generate buzz among their own networks.

Building Anticipation through Teasers and Product Demos

As mentioned earlier, teasers and product demos are great ways to build anticipation for your product launch. In this section, we’ll explore these strategies in more detail.

Teasers should be short, engaging, and designed to capture the attention of your target audience. They can be videos, images, or even text-based messages that hint at what your product does or what it looks like. Ideally, teasers should be shared on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to reach a wider audience.

Product demos, on the other hand, are more in-depth and provide a closer look at your product’s features and benefits. These can be in-person demonstrations or online videos that show your product in action. Product demos should highlight the unique value proposition of your product and show potential customers how it can help them solve their problems.

Both teasers and product demos can be powerful tools for building anticipation and generating buzz before launch. Use them strategically to engage your target audience and encourage them to learn more about your product.

Product Launch: Tips for a successful launch

On launch day, it’s important to have a plan in place to ensure a successful launch. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your launch day:

Start Early: Begin promoting your product early in the day to maximize exposure.
Use Multiple Channels: Promote your launch on social media, your website, and through email marketing to reach a wider audience.
Offer Incentives: Consider offering a special discount or bonus to customers who purchase your product on launch day.
Monitor Feedback: Keep an eye on social media and other channels for feedback from customers. Address any issues or concerns promptly to ensure a positive launch experience for everyone.

By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to a successful product launch.

Post-launch Follow-up and Community Building

After your product launch, it’s important to continue engaging with your customers and building your community. This can be done through a variety of post-launch activities, such as follow-up emails, social media engagement, and customer feedback surveys.

Follow-up emails are a great way to thank your customers for their support and remind them of the benefits of your product. Use these emails to offer additional support or guidance, and encourage customers to share their feedback with you.

Engaging with your customers on social media is another effective way to build your community. This can be done through regular posts, responding to comments and messages, and hosting online events or contests. Use social media to keep your customers engaged and excited about your product.

Finally, consider conducting customer feedback surveys to gather insights into how your product is performing and how you can improve it. Use this feedback to make improvements to your product and your launch strategy for future releases.

Measuring Success and Adjusting your Strategy

To determine the success of your product launch, it’s important to measure key performance indicators (KPIs). These could include sales, website traffic, social media engagement, and customer feedback.

Use these metrics to evaluate the success of your launch and make adjustments to your strategy as needed. For example, if sales are lower than expected, you may need to re-evaluate your messaging or promotional materials. Or, if customers are providing negative feedback, you may need to make improvements to your product.

By measuring your success and adjusting your strategy accordingly, you’ll be able to improve your product launch strategy over time and achieve even greater success in the future.

Common Mistakes to Avoid during a Product Launch

While there are many things you can do to ensure a successful product launch, there are also common mistakes that can derail your efforts. Here are a few mistakes to avoid:

Lack of preparation: Failing to adequately prepare for your product launch can lead to delays, poor execution, and missed opportunities.
Poor messaging: Unclear or ineffective messaging can confuse potential customers and prevent them from purchasing your product.
Overpromising: Setting unrealistic expectations can lead to disappointment and negative feedback from customers.
Lack of follow-up: Failing to engage with your customers after the launch can prevent you from building a loyal community and gathering important feedback.

By avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll be well on your way to a successful product launch.

Case Studies of Successful Product Launches

To provide inspiration and guidance, let’s take a look at a few case studies of successful product launches:

Slack: Slack is a messaging app that launched in 2013. Before the launch, the company built anticipation through a private beta test and a waiting list. They also offered incentives for early adopters, such as free credits and special features. The launch was a success, with over 8,000 signups in the first 24 hours.

Dropbox: Dropbox is a file hosting service that launched in 2008. Before the launch, the company created a viral video that demonstrated the benefits of the product. They also offered incentives for referrals, such as extra storage space. The launch was a success, with over 75,000 signups in the first week.

Apple iPhone: The launch of the iPhone in 2007 was one of the most successful product launches in history. Apple built anticipation through a series of teasers and product demos, and partnered with AT&T to offer exclusive access to the product. The launch was a huge success, with over 1 million iPhones sold in the first 74 days.

By studying these successful product launches, you can learn valuable lessons and apply them to your own launch strategy.

Conclusion

Launching a new software product can be a challenging and complex process. However, with the right strategy and preparation, you can achieve great success. By understanding your target audience, conducting market research, and developing a comprehensive launch plan, you’ll be well on your way to a successful launch.

Remember to build anticipation through teasers and product demos, and engage with your customers before and after launch to build a loyal community. Finally, measure your success and adjust your strategy as needed to continue improving your launch strategy over time.

Kreyon Systems is the trusted partner of enterprise clients for SaaS product development. We help clients from ideation to launch & scaling up products. If you have any queries, please get in touch with us.

The post A Guide to Successful Product Launch Strategies for Software Development Teams appeared first on Kreyon Systems | Blog | Software Company | Software Development | Software Design.

As a product development services provider, our main goal is to help businesses bring their ideas to life. From conceptualization to prototyping, to testing and launching, we work hard to ensure that the products we develop meet the needs of our clients and their customers. However, it is not enough to simply develop a product and launch it into the market.

Measuring success is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the product development process and identify areas for improvement. In this article, we will discuss the key metrics to track when working with product development services.

Introduction to Product Development Services

Product development services are the services provided to businesses to assist them in bringing their product ideas to life. These services can include design, prototyping, testing, and manufacturing.

Product development services are important because they help businesses to create products that meet the needs of their customers and are competitive in the market. Product development services can be provided by a range of organizations, from small design firms to large manufacturing companies.

Importance of Measuring Success

Measuring success is important in product development services because it allows businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of the product development process.

Measuring success can help businesses to identify areas for improvement and make changes to the product development process to ensure that future products are more successful. Measuring success can also help businesses to identify areas where they are excelling and to build on those successes to create even better products.

Key Metrics to Track for Product Development Services

There are several key metrics that businesses should track when working with product development services. These metrics include customer satisfaction metrics, time to market metrics, sales metrics, cost metrics, quality metrics, and innovation metrics.

Customer Satisfaction Metrics

Customer satisfaction metrics are important because they help businesses to understand how well their products are meeting the needs of their customers. Metrics such as customer satisfaction scores and Net Promoter Score (NPS) can help businesses to understand how satisfied their customers are with their products and how likely they are to recommend them to others.

Time to Market Metrics

Time to market metrics are important because they help businesses to understand how quickly they are bringing their products to market.

Metrics such as time to prototype, time to manufacturing, and time to launch can help businesses to identify areas where they can speed up the product development process and get their products to market faster. In the fast paced world of technology, launching products quickly and building features iteratively is critical.

Sales Metrics

Sales metrics are important because they help businesses to understand how well their products are selling. Metrics such as sales volume, revenue, and market share can help businesses to understand the success of their products in the market and identify areas where they need to improve.

Companies with indepth expertise of development, marketing and sales cycles develop products inline with user expectations.

Cost Metrics

Cost metrics are important because they help businesses to understand the cost of developing and manufacturing their products. Metrics such as development cost, manufacturing cost, and total cost can help businesses to identify areas where they can reduce costs and improve profitability.

Teams that have expertise in building MVP understand what it takes to build iteratively in a cost effective manner and add value for their customers.

Quality Metrics

Quality metrics are important because they help businesses to understand how well their products are meeting the quality standards of their customers.

Metrics such as defect rate, customer complaints, customer churn rate, and warranty claims can help businesses to identify areas where they need to improve the quality of their products. You cannot force the users to love your product, unless there is a compelling value proposition and stickiness to your product.

Innovation Metrics

Innovation metrics are important because they help businesses to understand how innovative their products are compared to their competitors.

Metrics such as patents filed, new product launches, and research and development investment can help businesses to identify areas where they need to improve innovation and stay ahead of the competition. What’s your secret sauce? Is it the features, user experience or indepth understanding of customer journey to make your product stand out?

How to Measure these Metrics Effectively

Measuring these metrics effectively requires businesses to have a clear understanding of their goals and objectives. It is important to define what success looks like for each metric and set targets for each metric. Businesses should also ensure that they are collecting accurate data and analyzing it effectively to gain insights into the success of their products.

Tools for Tracking Metrics

There are several tools available to businesses for tracking these metrics. For example, customer satisfaction surveys can be conducted using tools like SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics.

Sales metrics can be tracked using tools like Salesforce or HubSpot. Quality metrics can be tracked using inbuilt tools like helpdesk support integrated into your product. Innovation metrics can be tracked using tools like PatentVue or Innovation Cloud.

Conclusion on Measuring Success with Product Development Services

Measuring success is important in product development services because it allows businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of the product development process and identify areas for improvement.

By tracking metrics such as customer satisfaction, time to market, sales, cost, quality, and innovation, businesses can gain valuable insights into the success of their products.

To measure these metrics effectively, businesses should set clear goals and targets and use tools to collect and analyze data. By measuring product metrics, businesses can improve their product development process and create even better products.

Kreyon Systems builds innovative SaaS products for companies to improve onboarding, maximize user delight and make customer success your organisational goal. If you need any help with SaaS Product development services or have queries, please contact us.

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SaaS product value can be achieved by companies who have a deep appreciation of their customer goals, activities, tasks, jobs to be done, desired outcomes and company goals. When companies understand the context of their customers, they can help them achieve quick wins with their product. 

The only way your customers are convinced about your product is by getting value out of it with minimal efforts on their part. Here’s a look at how companies can help their customers achieve greater value with their SaaS product.

 1. Understand What Your Product Replaces

If your marketing team is unable to position the product correctly, the customers wouldn’t be interested in trying your product. The positioning of the product can be best established by understanding what your product replaces. For e.g. an appointment scheduler like Calendly replaces the need for manual steps for setting up appointments. It replaces your back and forth email exchanges for appointments.

Every product makes the users more efficient, productive and fast. But specially where does your product fit in your customer’s environment? Your accounting software could be replacing their book-keeper or the need for a CPA, your reports can eliminate their need for hiring a tax preparer etc. Your product context is best understood by the services it performs for your customers. 

2. Jobs Your Product is Hired For

Do you understand the job functions for your product? A useful product helps companies with the jobs they are hired for. Take an e.g. of the AI based HR software, it helps companies with the due diligence on employees, their skills, background and project fit. Essentially it performs the job of the HR manager with a data driven approach. It helps to iron out biases in hiring.

When companies are using your product, they’re using it to do their job and functions. A payroll product is hired for preparing the payroll for employees and managing the compliance work for the organisation. It’s job is to generate the payroll at specified frequencies with all deductions, reports and functions as per the law of the land.

Asking new signups what they’re trying to achieve with your product can be very useful. When you know what users want from your product, you can guide them to achieve those things in an easier way. The tasks or activities that are being carried out using the product need to be understood well to design a good product.

3. Most Important Customer Outcomes 

Digital tools and services have rendered customer driven obsolete, customers need an outcome driven approach today. It means customers are more focused on achieving tangible outcomes for achieving their goals not just use your product.

What are the desired outcomes your customers are looking to achieve?

Is your product better at helping customer achieve those outcomes than your competitors? How?
Does the customer outcome score high on priority for them?

Customer outcomes are metrics used by customers to measure something. For e.g. implementation of an ERP could help them reduce their overall manufacturing costs by 10% and use of marketing tools can help them increase revenue by 20%. 

Companies need to understand how customers define success and how their product can assist them in reaching those outcomes. Your product cannot address all the desired outcomes, but if captures the most important desired outcomes of your customers, it can make a big difference.

When the desired customer outcomes are evaluated, it is important to understand what metrics customers are looking for to assess things. For e.g. when using a marketing software, companies don’t want more leads, but more revenue. The quality of customers, their locations and profiles are more important than the sheer numbers. A good marketing software will be designed to deliver the desired outcomes of their customers. 

The internal metrics defined for achieving the customer outcomes could be misleading. They could miss the context of the customer. But when the desired outcomes are spelt out with clarity by the customers, companies can see the exist gaps and build good products to address these.

4. What Your Product Cannot Do

One of the most elemental reasons for failure of SaaS products is the build trap to do everything. Most customers ask for features that your product does not have.

It is a polite way of telling you that we don’t need your product. However, some companies mistake this the customer need and start building the features to satisfy them.

But this loop is endless. Customers keep demanding endless features. And if there is no overlap in the needs of customers and the goals of your products, the resulting features will create more problems than they solve.

If 90% of your customers need something that is in line with your product roadmap, it could be a great addition to the product. You will save millions in research and development expenses. But when customers want features that are not aligned, relevant and useful for majority of the customers, you have to tread carefully.

In essence, it is equally important to draw the boundaries of what your product cannot do for the customers. For e.g. an accounting product that does not generate payroll compliance reports could simply integrate to a product like Gusto. It can offer that choice to its customers. Your customers will love your product more when it offers them fully functional integrations that can take care of their needs. Half baked and too many unrelated features will leave users frustrated.

When customers are signing up, know what they are looking to achieve from your product. If they want something that your product cannot offer at this stage, it is better not to sign up those customers. 

5. Time Spent Vs Goals Accomplished

Most products track the wrong metrics for understanding their product engagement. If you simply track the time since users signed up, it could give you misleading information. For e.g. if a user signs up and doesnt use your product for 2 weeks, time is inconsequential here. 

Good products track the progress of the users, their product interaction and help them achieve their goals proactively. When the user leaves the product, your emails will simply be marked spam. When the user is still active and willing to explore, communicating proactively makes the difference.

Understand goals of your customer for designing better products for them. For e.g. if your user is looking to generate all finance and accounting reports from your system, then tracking time spent by the user is not a good metric. You want your customer to do it as quickly as possible.

You can take link their accounts and provide them the reports they’re looking for the click of the button. Even have them sent to the users as per their needs like month end accounting reports etc.

Activity and goals that the customers achieved using your product are important. The usage metrics of your customer should help you customize your communication for them.

For e.g. if a user is looking to set-up automation of their financial reports, gets stuck and leaves the platform. Your email messages telling them that 7 days left for expiry of your product will make them mad. However, assisting them to set-up and complete financial reports will engage them and add value for them.

Kreyon Systems is a SaaS product company. If you have any queries for us or need help in building enterprise software products, please reach out to us.

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There has been a proliferation of IT applications and software for organisations since Covid-19. New software products are being conceived for businesses, governance and day to day lives of people around the world. Automation & software intelligence is being used for taking on administrative tasks, reducing manpower dependence and aid productivity for organisations. In such a scenario, the role of a software product manager is influential in shaping & building things for organisational success. 

A McKinsey study found that AI and deep learning couldadd as much as $3.5 trillion to $5.8 trillion in annual value for companies. Many companies are looking at automation and software applications for their business services. A recent study has revealed that on average, enterprises will develop and deploy 37 new applications in the next 12 months. This is an increase of 20.5% in the custom software applications than those deployed by enterprises today.

Companies of all sizes and industries are building custom software products and applications to navigate business challenges. They are using applications for managing their customers, business processes, finances, suppliers and employees. Software product managers will be at the help of affairs to build the right solutions to ace the organisational challenges. Here’s a look at some of the key skills required for a software product manager:

1. Understand Processes

To architect software applications and products, thorough understanding of business processes is extremely valuable. Product managers who lack understanding of the key business requirements often deliver software products that don’t meet the cut.

For building applications from the ground up, a good software product manager evaluates the difference between automation and manual efforts. It is often a good indicator of the value the product can bring for an organisation. If there is tangible improvement in the workflow, time and efficiency gains, product adoption becomes an automatic choice.

2. Technology Skills


You cannot build the products for the future with the skills of the past. The use of the right technology and tools to deliver software products is a must. The software product manager needs to understand the architectural aspects of building the product, business use cases, and overall technology landscape to address customer needs. 

The best software product managers have a know-how of the business needs and use technology to address those. They understand the context and the current technologies to address the business gaps. They are able to fulfill the needs of the customers using the right technology products.

3. Scope & Planning 

The scope of a software product is one of the key elements for its adoption. A lot of mediocre products have too much functionality that clients cannot use. A good software product manager understands customers, business use cases, resources available & builds things accordingly.

Great product managers eliminate features and nail the hard pressing needs of the customers. They are excellent at planning the scope, prioritising and dividing the large complex chunks into manageable milestones. They have the technical knowledge and the skills to manage the complexity of the projects, break down work, and make productive use of resources, most importantly development time.

4. Constructive Inputs
Good product managers understand the value of feedback and inputs for software product development. They engage with key stakeholders frequently and build feedback loops to address the product gaps. They are themselves tuned into the working of the product, analyse the other products in the market and are able to provide inputs to make the product significantly better than the existing ones.

Software product managers need to build strategic ways to communicate with customers using various channels. They need to be equipped with analytical abilities to understand market needs, features and customer priorities and communicate effectively with the teams.

5. Market & Competition Analysis 

You cannot build products in a silo. Good product managers understand the market and competition thoroughly. They know the competing products they are against and the customer choices. They position themselves favourably due to methodical and strategic execution.

The good product managers are able to find the gaps between what is available to customers and their needs. They address those needs. It could be simply superior or customised services, additional features or some new innovation. A top software product manager works with the marketing team to position the products and understands the core value proposition for the customers.  

6. Future Proof

One of the hardest things in technology is the need for constant reassessment, adaptation, rebuilding things and to stay relevant. Simply put, even if you have a great product that is loved by customers, you still need to keep an eye on the emerging technologies and trends.

Good software product managers understand the evolving needs to stay relevant and adapt fast. They are aligned to build things that are future proof, spot trends and enjoy longer shelf life than other products.

7. Product Ecosystem

To create a long term roadmap for a product, it needs to have a solid ecosystem. The product manager is responsible for measuring the KPIs for product performance in terms of retention rate of customers, product experience score, customer satisfaction score, design and intuitiveness, churn rate, conversion rate of customers, Net promoter score (Difference of Promoters and Detractors), feature usage, monthly active users etc.

Successful managers leverage technology to study and measure the most important KPIs for a product’s success. The key usage patterns and metrics are available with real time data. This data can be used for making decisions, building consensus and prioritising the roadmap for the product. A great product ecosystem and framework can mitigate risks, align teams and setup teams for success.

Kreyon Systems is helping companies with innovative software product development for their core business. If you need any assistance or have any queries, please reach out to us.

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There is growing reliance on digital technologies and software products like never before. Many companies are preparing for their digital transformation and looking at ways to use software for improving their business continuity and future.

As a result, they are looking to build and use software products for business automation. Organisations are looking to build software products for their day to day work.

They are exploring innovative ways to launch service models for their one time sales offerings, looking at online distribution forums and availing automation to manage their business.

Here we present an analytical approach for building software products that borrows insights from Six Thinking Hats by Edward Bono. The six thinking hats represents a strategic approach to decision making and can be used effectively for software product development:

1. White Hat Represents Data & Information

The white hat represents information, data and available facts. The white hat is analogous to teams sharing information with each other. Data availability, information and assimilation of inputs is the starting point for software product development.

Teams are empowered when they share available information for product development. It could be customer interviews, design mockups for product workflow or competitive analysis. When the team is empowered with shared information, it can move in the right direction.

The white hat thinking encourages team members to share their findings with each other. They can proactively bring data to the table and learn from each other. All the team members get to participate and contribute to the knowledge base.

2. Red Hat Represents Emotions, Passion & Intuition

The Red Hat thinking represents gut feeling. It is the emotions, passion and intuition about the things you are building. Every great product and project has this element of deep rooted feelings. Red hat thinking allows team members to express their feelings about their product. It could be something like adding new features or removing certain things.

Red Hat represents emotions, hunches and feelings that can be expressed without need for justification. It could be something like every tweet should be restricted to 280 characters. It’s a gut feeling and then we can do the research and analysis later.

The Red Hat brings out insane ideas from team members, which can make a great difference to the overall product. Ofcourse, not all these ideas are feasible or implementable, but eases people into disclosing their best ideas without needing to validate them.

3. Black Hat Represents Caution & Problems

The Black Hat Represents the problems areas or the negative aspects of things you’re doing. For e.g. what are the negative aspects of building a feature? The Black Hat thinking is used to bring out the cons of an event, issue or product. Once the negative aspects are listed out, the team can work out to eliminate them.

The Black Hat thinking is critical to effective understanding of problems, uncovering important issues and vigilance. Black Hat thinking could help teams list out issues like, how do you prevent security breaches?

What are the negative consequences of a product and what things can go wrong? Why will something not work? What are the situations that can cause failures? What are the potential pitfalls of a feature on performance of the product?

Black Hat thinking is good for critical evaluation and weighing the downsides to mitigate
Issues before they arise. It helps identify areas and potential weaknesses during product development.

4. Yellow Hat Represents Positive Aspects & Benefits

Yellow Hat is about values, benefits and optimism. It is used for figuring out the positive aspects of something. Yellow Hat represents sunlight and brings out the constructive aspects of something. For e.g. Intuitive UX Design can reduce the learning cycle for users. Cloud based approach provides better scalability options for the product.

The Yellow Hat thinking illustrates and reinforces the things that are done well. The team members are all asked to present their inputs on things that can add value & benefits of something. For e.g. Chatbot reduces the time and resources needed for manual interactions with customers. What are the benefits of adopting Devops approach for your product development?

Yellow Hat enforces the group to think about the solutions to the problems. It helps find opportunities that can unlock value from the product. The Yellow Hat represents positive aspects and a contrary approach to the Black Hat. It makes your product team focus on investing their time to derive great value.

5. Green Hat Represents Creativity & Ideas

The Green Hat is used for creativity, alternate ideas and ways of doing things. The Green Hat explores novel ways to solve problems for end users. It makes your product teams think about new ways of approaching things. It gets their creative ideas flowing and asks what is something that hasn’t been tried? Or how can I solve this problem to add more value for the users?

Is this approach better than the previous solution? Will this approach save time and efforts for the users? How can I integrate with other tools or APIs to migrate & automate data collection for customers?

Green Hat thinking represents the solution centric approach to customer problems. It captures the best ideas and approaches from everyone to build the right products that meet customers’ needs.

Very often the ideas and solutions that get implemented are prioritised based on customer feedback. A data driven approach to product and feature development eliminates guesswork. It helps build better products for customers.

6. Blue Hat Represents Goals & Decisions

The Blue Hat can be termed as the umpire or the decision maker. It manages the process for product execution. Once all the information is collected using the above five hats, the blue hat helps organisations prioritise and define the goals.

The Blue Hat thinking process uses timekeeping, moderating and creating ground rules for the team. For e.g. What problem does this feature solve for the customers & how quickly it can be implemented?

What are the goals and why we need them? The Blue Hat decides that the product feature needs to be implemented in two weeks & ideas that need to be discarded.

The Blue Hat organises and manages information for product development. It evaluates data and essentially performs the SWOT analysis for the product development process.

Kreyon Systems builds innovative software products for clients globally. If you have any queries or need assistance for building software products, please get in touch with us.

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According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, 60% of SMEs & SMBs that are hacked go out of business within 6 months. Running a business is a risky proposition. Developing and maintaining a successful business in the technology driven age can be quite difficult. When it comes to security, a data breach can quickly escalate into a devastating event that has the ability to completely ruin a brand.

IBM reported that the average total cost of a breach ranges from $2.2 million to $6.9 million, depending on the number of compromised records. The average loss rises to $6.9 million when the number of compromised records are 50,000. It is $2.2 million for less than 10,000 records.

Many companies, especially smaller ones, are not fully prepared for emerging data breach threats. Whether you are a business owner or an employee, there are preventative steps that can be taken to help keep your company’s private and sensitive data secure.

What is Considered to be Sensitive/Private Company Data?

All companies have insight to sensitive data that needs to be protected. The most vital information a company is privy to however, is the private and personal information of its customers. To keep loyal customers, businesses must first earn the trust of their customers.

Consumers want to ensure their phone numbers, account numbers and other sensitive information is kept confidential. Depending on the nature of your business, you may complete business deals that need to be kept confidential as well. Additional information you’re meant to keep protected is your employees’ personal information as well as other details of you clientele and business partners.   

Risks Associated With Not Protecting Company’s Sensitive Data

Legal Liabilities– In cases where company data is not appropriately protected, legal ramifications can be imposed. A company found guilty can face termination and monstrous fines. The legal implications involving employees is also high when sensitive data is shared or leaked.

Data Breaches– Without the protection of your company’s data, you will be susceptible to data breaches by hackers, thieves and possibly your competition. They may access your information and use it for identity theft or to sell your private business secrets to those who would benefit from them. 

Negative Brand Perception– Many consumers are paranoid about how businesses handle their secure and private information. Companies that are vulnerable to threats often end up with a brand that is perceived negatively by consumers. Lack of data protection puts a business’ reputation at major risk. 

The Cost of Data Breaches-  The average cost of a data breach in 2020 will exceed $150 million according to reports. It’s estimated that in the year of 2019 alone it will cost businesses over $2 trillion total. The cost of data breaches is increasing every year, not to mention the legal ramifications of it all.

How Common are Data Breaches Really?

Statistics show that there is a hacker attack every 39 seconds on the internet. A new report also shows that data security will need to be increased for 2019. There have been many advances in the cyber hacking world.

Security Magazine reports that there will be increased attacks on small businesses & individuals Digital transformation has shown that advanced security is no longer an option, it’s mandatory. Attacks will be spread out as a result small businesses and individuals will come under the radar of cybercriminals in 2019.

This is because it is easier to target small and mid-size companies simply because they might not have appropriate security measures in place to protect their company. Small companies more than likely need to reassess their security tactics and ensure that adequate measures and controls are implemented to safeguard against today’s cyber-attacks.

How To Protect Your Company’s Data

Protect Computer And Workspace

When you step away from a project at your desk, be sure to take precautions to protect any sensitive information that could be easily accessed at your computer. Lock up your computer before stepping away, even if for a few minutes.

Have a secure password that cannot be easily hacked. After meetings, be sure to clean up all of your materials and don’t leave printed materials laying around for anyone to find. All secure documents containing sensitive information should be kept in secure locations at all times. 

Stay Vigilant Of Phishing Schemes

Many people fall prey to phishing schemes because they are always evolving. To keep your company’s data protected, be sure you regularly promote awareness with your employees.

Hackers and criminals who are able to breach your company data can use the sensitive information they obtain to gain control of your work computers, sell private information to thieves and competitors, access private company secrets and commit identity fraud. 

Phishing scheme emails often look like they are from trusted sources and can include attachments to download containing viruses. Teach your employees to delete any unknown or suspicious emails and not to open them or download attachments. Companies can benefit from adding extra security measures working with security experts like One Identity. 

Strong Passwords Are Key

Protecting your company’s sensitive information can be as simple as making sure your employees use strong passwords. A strong password should contain a good mix of letters, numbers and symbols. Long, unique passwords are harder for hackers to figure out. All passwords should be changed at least every few months.

Employee Compliance & Accessibility

Companies should also enforce strict compliance, legal non disclosure of agreements with employees and personnel involved in confidential information. The access to key information should be restricted with secured information sharing systems.

The client data and information requires careful and diligent handling. All employees should be made aware of the way they are needed to handle information at all levels. The policy with respect to personal storage and devices should be defined with clarity so that no data breaches are possible. Employees should also be informed about the legal issues concerning data.

Kreyon Systems is the preferred partner of enterprise clients for business process automation and software product development. If you have any concerns or questions, please get in touch with us.

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Software development is driving the world with everything from mobile to aircrafts depending on it. Whether it is mission critical applications or popular games on your mobile devices, software programming plays a part in it.

The evolution of programming languages is quite fascinating and dates back to 1940s and 50s. The first high level programming language was Plankalkül developed by Konrad Zuse between 1942 and 1945. It was the first language designed for engineering purposes.

The first commercial available language was FORTRAN developed in 1956 at IBM.

FORTRAN provided a way of porting code from one computer to the others. The early days of programming were all about machine codes, assembly languages and low level machine details for programmers.

Today the programming languages are geared towards internet driven technologies, mobility, distribution, scalability and performance. There are myriads options for programmers today and wide availability of tutorials to learn exciting things.

The PYPL index or popularity of programming language index is created by looking at Google search trends for language tutorials. Here we look at the most popular programming languages in the world today.

1. Python

Python grabs the top spot with more than 26.42% search queries. It has grown the most in the last 5 years by 16.2%. It is the most soughted programming language in the world. Python was first launched in 1991 and grown with the popularity of internet. Python showed an increase of over 5% from last year.

2. Java

Java is ranked the second most popular language. It is searched by 21.3% people; every fifth query related to languages searched Java.  The popularity of java has been on a slight decline over the years. There was a decrease of 1.3% people who searched java compared to last year. Java was developed by Sun Microsystems in 1995, now owned by Oracle.

3. JavaScript

JavaScript is the third most popular language with roughly 8.21% searches. It is one of the core technologies of the web for making interactive websites and web applications. All major web browsers support it and even have a JS engine to execute javascript code. JavaScript was first launched in 1995 and supported by major international companies. JavaScript promotes open web standards, its APIs & standards are well documented in W3C.

4. C#

C# is the fourth most popular language. The C# tutorials were searched by 7.57% persons, a decline of 0.5% since last year. C# remains one of the most popular enterprise software languages developed by Microsoft. The C sharp language was developed and launched by Microsoft around 2000.

5. PHP

Closed behind C# is PHP on number five. It was searched by 7.34% of all users. Compared to last year, there was a drop of 1.2% in search queries related to PHP. Infact, in the last 5 years, PHP has lost the most with a decline of 5.6%. PHP was first launched by Zend technologies in 1995 and has been one of the widely used web programming languages.

6. C & C++

C & C++ are next on the list. These were searched by 6.23% people down 0.3% since last year. The C and C++ languages are used for system programming, application programs, embedded systems and super computers among others. The C language was developed in 1972 and is used for writing the kernel or the central part of unix operating system. C++ was earlier known as “C with Classes,” and was launched in 1985. Both C and C++ are used for various mission critical applications and make interaction with machines possible through programming.

7. R

R is the seventh most popular language. It is a programming language for statistics, computing and graphics. R is used by researchers, statisticians, data miners and data scientists. It’s a free programming language and was first launched in 1993. R was searched by 4.13% users. The language has gained more traction and acceptance from users in recent years due to data mining and analytics drive applications.

8. Objective C

Objective C is the eight on this list of most searched programming languages. The objective C is a general purpose programming language. It was developed by Apple in the 1980s.The language was searched by 3.04% of the users, down 0.8% from last year. It was the language used for the MacOS and iOS operating systems. The language was launched in 1984. It was also used for NEXT for its operating system. The Mac and iOS were derived from this operating system.

9. Swift

Swift is a general purpose language developed by Apple for iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, Linux and z/OS. It works with Apple’s touch frameworks like Cocoa. Swift is an extension and is designed to support Objective C for many of Apple’s existing products. Swift tutorials were searched by 2.56% users, down 0.6% from the previous year.

10. Matlab

Matlab is the tenth most searched programming language on Google. Matlab is widely used for simulations, statistics, plotting of functions, data analysis and visualisation etc. The PYPL index shows that Matlab was searched by 1.98% users, down 0.4% from last year. Matlab was launched by MathWorks, an American computing software company in 1984.

Conclusion:

Software companies and technology are playing an increasingly dominant role in shaping industries, governance and our day to day lives.  There are plenty of programming languages with rich features and functionality that enable programmers to build platforms to build incredible things. If you need any assistance for software product development or business process automation, please get in touch with us.

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The shared economy has taken the world by storm. Ever since the launch of ridesharing apps, room sharing portals, peer to peer lending platforms, the  shared economy revolution keeps growing. We are witnessing an enormous demand for establishing and managing marketplaces. Here we explore how to build an online marketplace to create a value proposition for end users by mapping supply & demand.

An online marketplace could be an ecommerce portal where multiple vendors can sell or rent their goods or services to customers. Some very common examples of online marketplace are Amazon, Alibaba, Airbnb, Uber, and eBay. These online stores are considered to be online marketplaces because there are many suppliers who can sell their products or services to the customers who demand them.

According to sharing economy leader Robin Chase, the purpose of any marketplace platform is “to liberate the value hidden in excess capacity by engaging others: their assets, time, expertise and creativity.”

The online marketplace promotes sharing economy. Building a successful marketplace business takes diligent planning, good business model and great execution. Coming up with an idea and launching the portal is the first step.

While it is not very advisable to buy inventory for setting up the marketplace, you still need suppliers on the platform and users to generate the demand. Whom do you bring first, the suppliers or the users? This is commonly known as the chicken and egg problem.

Leah Busque, founder of TaskRabbit, one of the most successful online marketplaces shared her experience & suggests setting up the supply side of things. In other words, when you start an online marketplace, it is important to get the suppliers on board, say initial 50 or 100. Once they are done, you can then start to work on the user or the demand generation aspect for your marketplace.

An online marketplace is a bridge between online and offline worlds. It helps achieve value for users and suppliers through the use of digital technology.

If you are building an online marketplace, you could benefit from some of these tips to help you generate initial traction and scale up your idea to a bigger level. Here we go:

1. Sustainable Business Model :

The sharing economy platforms need to generate viable revenues for sustainability. It’s about working out a realistic value proposition which delivers great returns in the long run.

Your online platform needs to connect users and suppliers, generate revenue, provide seamless service and create a sustainable value proposition.

How will the users benefit from your platform? Will they be able to save money and discounts on services or products? What will be the benefit to the suppliers, will they generate more profits from the online platform? Will the technology help the suppliers scale up their operations? How would you be able to generate revenue from the platform? These are some of the questions that need to be addressed.

There are intriguing trends where even power and energy companies are trying to leverage SaaS based models to provide energy as a service to clients. The clients can lease energy services and equipments from these companies.

2. Engage & Create Value for Users :

Great user experience generates engagement with end users. Creating an online marketplace requires carefully crafting a pleasant experience for end users where they feel part of the sharing ecosystem.

Users should be able to use your online marketplace with ease and convenience to get what they want, else they will go away. For e.g. an online marketplace that personalises preferences of users before creating an automated match for the suppliers.

The goal of  an online marketplace should be to promote economic model of acquiring, providing or sharing products and services through the platform without any friction.

3. Evaluate the Market Size :

Evaluate the market size for your marketplace. The sharing economy is growing exponentially. Uber and AirBnB have proven that sharing economy can scale enormously. As of 2018, Uber is valued at $68 billion and AirBnb at $38 billion. Infact, Uber has received proposals valuing the ride sharing company for $120 billion from Wall Street banks for its IPO scheduled in 2019.

In a study published by Harper Collins, the peer to peer rental market is pegged at $26 billion. The new marketplace models & platforms are emerging to take advantage of the sharing economy and its vast potential.

When you launch your marketplace, understand the core elements that affect your market reach. Build a minimum viable product to gauge the product/market fit. When you build a marketplace that provides solution to a real problem for the customers, you have every chance for building a scalable solution.

4. Build Trust with Reviews & Identity Verifications :

The success of an online marketplace revolves around the trust it builds among its users. The online communities prosper with trust. Imagine living in a stranger’s house in a remote location that you’ve never seen before, but room sharing platforms have made this possible by building trust among the members.

Customer reviews help all these platforms to add credibility. With online reviews and identity verifications for all users and service providers, it makes things transparent, increases reliability and trust.

Customer reviews are generally unbiased and make the marketplace more authentic. For growing your brand, you need to encourage members to give feedback and reviews. Verified members also make people comfortable to do online dealings and transactions.   

5. Pricing & Commissions :

How can the marketplace or the sharing economy be monetised is one of the most important things that you need to consider. The right pricing or commission can be the difference between success and failure.

How much will you charge for the transactions? What will your revenue share for every booking on the platform? How to converge to the right pricing strategy for optimal growth? These are some of the basic things you need to address when you launch your marketplace.

Platforms like Uber, Airbnb, Postmates etc. charge upto 20% of the transaction amount from service providers. Some of the online marketplaces deduct amount from both the service providers and the users who book the services through the portal. In any case, the pricing and commissions should be calculated to cover the operational costs & excellent customer service for the users.

Kreyon Systems provides software product development services for building scalable online marketplaces that serve millions of users. If you need any assistance to build and launch your ideas, please get in touch with us.

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