Software Dev Challenges for SMBs and How We Solve Them

Key highlights
1️⃣ Developing ‌software can scale your business and boost brand value. But it can pose some business and technical challenges.

2️⃣ Technical challenges may include selecting the right tech stack and underestimating QA testing. At Builder.ai, we provide SMBs with an optimal technology stack which is easy to scale and automated testing‌.

3️⃣ Business challenges, like non-transparent project timelines, inefficient market research and a lack of vision from stakeholders, can derail your project.

Have you tried creating software for your SMB? Or maybe you’re still exploring the idea of creating software for your SMB? Either way, creating ‌ ‌software can feel like navigating through a digital ocean. For SMBs, software development isn’t just a technical challenge, there are also business-level barriers.

With limited resources, no in-house tech team‌ and the pressure to get it right the first time, can even make a simple project become overwhelming. However, once you overcome these hurdles, the potential for scaling your business and boosting profits becomes immense.

In this blog, we’ll break down the 2 major categories of challenges SMBs face when developing software:

🔧 Technical hurdles – from unclear tech stacks to cybersecurity issues 💼 Business-level barriers – like scoping, budgeting‌ and finding the right partnersPlus, as a bonus, we'll also talk about how Builder.ai helps you solve each of these challenges to make your dream project with zero frustration.

Let’s begin.

What are the technical challenges of software development?

Let’s look at some of the technical challenges ‌you might face when building ‌software for your business. 👇

Choosing the right tech stack

The market is flooded with vendors offering similar technologies. This makes it challenging to select the right technology stack, languages and frameworks for your product, which is secure, scalable‌ and future-ready.

Most SMB owners will scratch their heads with questions like: Should we go with React or Angular? Node.js or Python? Native apps or cross-platform? Even one wrong choice can make it expensive to keep up or hard to scale later. Plus, hesitation or impatience to keep up with competitors can lead to choosing the wrong tech stack, negatively impacting your entire workflow and user experience.Our Solution: at Builder.ai, we have already selected an optimal technology stack to be scalable for businesses. This tech stack seamlessly integrates with your workflow and ensures a user-friendly experience. We use ReactJS for web front-end development, React Native for mobile front-end development and Ruby on Rails for back-end development. Plus, we have a clear 'no vendor lock-in' policy, ensuring that 100% of your code remains with you once your payment is complete.

Cybersecurity issues

A report shows that 32% of new mobile apps have security loopholes, rising to 70% by age 5. And only 14% of SMBs are prepared for cyber attacks, highlighting the need for protocols and regular audits. Plus, with in-app transactions on the rise, neglecting security can lead to data leaks, financial risks‌ and reputational damage.

Our solution: Builder.ai offers a robust, cloud-based security infrastructure. These could be Microsoft Azure, AWS (Amazon Web Services) or any of the client cloud services that ensure high availability, scalability ‌ and reliability for our services. We’re committed to protecting the privacy of customer data and adhere to relevant data protection regulations such as GDPR and CCPA‌ (where applicable).

Underestimating QA testing

QA or software testing can be ‌a boring and laborious task. But it makes sure that your software features and functionality match what users want and need and hence should never be overlooked. For example, when a customer interacts with a software that functions well, it leads to higher satisfaction and a positive overall user experience (UX).

Our solution: at Builder.ai we offer both manual and automated testing, where our software developers test at every stage of software development to make sure that your software gives a seamless user experience and runs without a bug or crash.

Software maintenance

According to reports, 60% of product lifecycle costs go into maintaining software. Maintenance is an ongoing challenge in development, requiring continuous updates and bug fixes. It can be resource-intensive and costly, especially as the app evolves and faces competition in the market. So, regular software maintenance to keep up with new technologies and security threats is essential for it to remain stable and perform well over time.

Our solution: When you partner with Builder.ai, you don’t just get ‌software; we also provide you ‌ access to Studio One, which includes software maintenance and bug fixes. This helps you update and improve the app you’re building with us, to maximise your investment. You don't need to be afraid after we complete developing your software. You can continue to enrol in Studio One and we'll continue providing maintenance services.

What are the organisational or business-related challenges of software development?

Let’s look at some of the organisational challenges ‌you might face when building ‌software for your SMB. 👇

Inefficient research

Shallow research often leads to a lack of clarity when creating ‌software. And inefficient insights to the team regarding your customer demography and ‘why’ you’re building a particular product and what problems it solves will lead to the creation of an unaligned result, which doesn't serve the exact user problems.

Our solution: we assign you a Builder Solutions Architect, who helps you align your thought goals with the end software result. They take personal care to ensure your app will be exactly how you envision it. Afterwards, our app development team, made up of UI/UX designers, software developers‌ and QAs, create and test your ‌software to deploy a beautiful and functional app.

Lack of vision clarity

Without a clear and shared vision, team members may work at cross purposes, leading to inconsistent development and a disjointed final product. Ensuring that every stakeholder understands the project's goals, objectives‌ and desired outcomes is essential for cohesive and successful software development.

Our solution: the requirement, thought, end-user perspective and vision of your project should come from you. We blend your exact requirements with our features to create your dream software, which solves and serves your customer’s needs.

Cost

Software development costs often strain budgets for SMBs. These are also led by a lack of transparency and unexpected vendor fees at the end of a project. Hence, managing these costs while maintaining the quality of a software can be difficult for SMBs.

Our solution: when it comes to cost, the key differentiator of Builder.ai is that our platform provides guaranteed costs and operates on a pay-per-feature model. Unlike freelancers and dev agencies who penalise clients when projects overrun, any delays are on us and you won’t pay a penny extra.

Mismanaged project timelines

One of the most common issues with ‌software development is mismanaged timelines, leading to delays and budget overruns. Poor planning and communication can cause tasks to take longer than expected, resulting in missed market opportunities and frustrated stakeholders.Our solution: we provide you with access to our proprietary Builder Home software, allowing you to view the progress of your app, detailed feature notes, documented releases, billing and more. Plus, we provide collaboration and support tools, such as Builder Whiteboard, allowing us to function as an extension of your internal team and enabling real-time communication and idea generation‌.

Communication breakdown

When team members, stakeholders‌ and clients fail to communicate effectively, it can lead to misunderstandings, delays‌ and errors. Misaligned expectations and unclear requirements can result in features that don't meet user needs or business goals, ultimately affecting the project's success.

Our solution: At Builder.ai, we maintain clear communications with stakeholders during the entire software development process. With us, you need zero technical knowledge to carry out your business goals. Plus, we’re a customer-first organisation, where fulfilling the customer vision with quality software solutions is our foremost purpose.

Racing to launch

Software development tends to take longer than you think. Much time can be spent ‌ researching users, designing, adding features, test‌ing and more. And if you become impatient at any stage, the result might be skipping on ‌quality. So, it’s understandable that when you’ve invested time, money and energy into a new software idea, it’s tempting to hit ‘go’ as soon as possible.

Our solution: at Builder.ai we balance speed with quality. We take the vision from you, build your software ensure you have fun describing your dream while we sort the tech complexities from beginning through launch.

Summing up

Software development presents several challenges for SMBs, but these obstacles can easily be overcome. By having a clear understanding of your customers and a well-defined vision of what you want to build, you can navigate through all the challenges easily. Builder.ai is a composable software dev platform that helps you streamline your software development process and achieve your goals with greater ease and efficiency. We:

✅ Assign you a dedicated project manager, who keeps all stakeholders on your software project aligned and on track‌ —‌ and you never need to speak to a software developer or write a single line of code

✅ Speed up development time by giving you access to a comprehensive library of reusable features, fitted together by AI

✅ Give you upfront costs and competitive timelines so your project stays under control

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If that’s something you’d like to explore, please get in touch 👇

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FAQs

What are ‌some of the software development challenges?

There are many business and technical software development challenges. While, the business challenges can be - inefficient research, lack of vision clarity, non-transparent project timelines and more. Whereas, technical challenges can be - cybersecurity issues, software maintenance, difficulty in choosing the right technology stack and more.

What's the process of software development?

SDP or the software development process is a path to make software that meets specific business needs. The process is usually 7 steps long, which includes - planning, gathering project requirements, designing, coding, testing, deployment and maintenance of the software.

Why do companies build software for their business?

The primary purpose of developing software is to solve specific business requirements and customer needs. It enables companies to stay competitive, adapt to market changes‌ and scale their operations.