On average, respondents manage $200 million in projects each year, of which approximately 37 percent are “at risk.”A study by project management consulting company, PM Solutions, identifies top causes of IT failure:

Requirements: Unclear, lack of agreement, lack of priority, contradictory, ambiguous, imprecise.

Resources: Lack of resources, resource conflicts, turnover of key resources, poor planning.

Schedules: Too tight, unrealistic, and overly optimistic.

Planning: Based on insufficient data, missing items, insufficient details, and poor estimates.

Risks: Unidentified or assumed, not managed.

The graph below demonstrates how SunNet’s project management methodology, APDA, which is based on Agile Software Development can help reduce your custom project’s developmental failure risk. For over 11 years, SunNet has incorporated APDA on over 100 custom projects.

“AGILE software development is an innovative and practical framework for software engineering that promotes an iteration process throughout the life-cycle of an IT project

APDA Benefits

Cost Control– APDA allows for measurable timescales and evolving requirements which enables fixed budget per iteration- meaning the scope of the product and its features are the variables, rather than the cost.

Product Quality– APDA uses iterations with testing integrated throughout the lifecycle enabling regular verification of the working product as it is developed, with regular releases. Through client collaboration ensuring that expectations are met, product quality is a given.

Risk Management– APDA development helps identify issues early, making it easier to respond to change. The flexibility of APDA anticipates changes as requirements emerge and through prioritization keeps the project on target. Because APDA allows for requirements to emerge and evolve, the emphasis stays on building the right product for the customer.

Customer Satisfaction– During the kick-off meeting, we make it a priority to understand your business to ensure our system architect and mockup designs are in line with your business process. During the coding, we hold weekly user acceptance reviews and testing to ensure we are on the right track. Bi-weekly customer meetings are also held throughout the course of your project to ensure your satisfaction.

What would you like SunNet Solutions to build for your business?

Submit a request at the left hand side of this page to get started today.
Contact us if you have any questions.

Thinking about building a mobile app to showcase your latest idea? Want a mobile app to complement your website? Continue reading to find out the 5 steps you need to take before building a mobile application.

So you’ve decided to take the leap and acquire software for your business. The next question you should be asking yourself if: Should you invest in custom software or go with commercial?

Here are 4 points that will help you make your “buy vs. build” decision.

1. Does your business have a set number of users?

Although, cuѕtоm software may cost more upfront, in the long run, it will be the most cost-effective solution. Many licensed software companies charge a per user fee. This works out great if you have only a handful of users and expect that to be the case for several years to come. However, if your business has a large number of users or are expecting to grow significantly, the fees you’ll pay over a few years will cost you more over time. Some proprietary software also have ranging fees depending on the user role. With custom software you can incorporate all user roles up front, while assigning an admin to customize as many users as your business needs.

2. Does your business have specialized needs?

If your business has specialized needs that cannot be accurately met by out-of-the-box software then you should go with a customized solution. Trying to fit your business’ day-to-day processes into a fixed software solution will lead to inefficiencies that will stall your business’s growth. Through реrѕоnаlіzеd аррlісаtіоnѕ, a соmраnу gains ѕtер-bу-ѕtер соntrоl оvеr thе dеvеlорmеnt рrосеѕѕ. Thіѕ mеаnѕ thаt you can mаkе any important сhаngеѕ or аdd еѕѕеntіаl соmроnеntѕ durіng dеvеlорmеnt phase.

3. Does your business rely on accessing multiple applications?

If you rely on accessing two or more software applications to run your business, off-the-shelf may not work for you. The majority of proprietary solutions are not compatible with other programs so you’ll need to constantly work with multiple applications to get full and accurate information. An example of a business accessible multiple applications would be a business that has a membership database and a separate meeting registration database. Not having centralized information can affect data integrity which will in turn affect any queries and reporting you may be doing, resulting in incorrect business decisions.

4.  Do you expect your business to grow by 50% in the next few years?

Especially for a startup, starting with packaged software may look like a smarter, more economical choice even if not all the features you need or want are readily available. After all, a low upfront cost and a minimal monthly subscription fee may work best with your limited budget. You may even be able to get away with using an inadequate software for your business for a few years, but eventually it will catch up to your growing business. As your business evolves, the inadequacies you were once ok finding workarounds for will become more pronounced and more challenging to handle. You might find yourself having to manually track information outside your application in order for your information to correlate. An example is tracking information with an excel sheet aside from the software you’re currently using. Not only does this become a hassle, it’s inefficient and your queries may not reflect actual information for when you need critical business decisions. Custom software is scalable meaning that it’s designed to handle modifications, enhancements and additions to accommodate your business’s growth. A growing business doesn’t have the time to deal with software transition downtime, which can vary from weeks to months, depending on the complexity of the software.

We hope these 4 points will help guide you towards the decision that best fits your business strategy and goals. Packaged software may work for some but not for all. If your business meets any of the points listed above, contact us and we’ll work with you on designing the best software to meet your needs.

What would you like SunNet Solutions to build for your business?

Submit a request at the left hand side of this page to get started today.
Contact us if you have any questions.

We have all been in a situation where we stayed up working late hours on a project– numerous files and documents saved– only to come back to discover the files are now missing. Maybe they were accidentally deleted, your hard drive crashed, or your laptop was stolen. If your business is utilizing cloud-computing for backups, then this situation is an easy stress-free fix. If you are not utilizing cloud backups, your hard work is now potentially lost forever.

Cloud computing is aimed at providing a convenient on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable resources such as: networks, servers, applications, storage, and services that can be quickly provisioned and released with minimal management effort.

Cloud computing has increased in popularity in these past few years and with good reason. Let’s discuss the top 5 reasons your business needs to move to the cloud.

• Cost Savings

  Businesses save money by not having to pay for its own corporate data center and the staff and overhead costs that are involved with such a setup. With cloud computing, you never pay for more than what you use and is easily scalable. Also, because cloud computing is a rapid-deployment model, businesses have minimal project start-up costs and predictable ongoing operating expenses. According to SiliconANGLE.com, “82% of companies reported saved money by moving to the cloud”.

• Disaster Recovery

  Every business needs a plan for disasters—hurricanes, fires, theft, hardware failure. With cloud computing you have the ideal solution. Cloud products are often housed in redundant, secure data centers. All you need to access your data in the Cloud is an Internet connection. In the event you have to evacuate, this also allows you to continue working on projects from wherever you need to.

  In addition, being on the cloud means very little down time in such a situation, providing your clients with the comfort of knowing they are still being taken care of regardless of what is going on.

• Collaboration and Productivity Enhancement

  Businesses that utilize cloud computing will see an increase in both of these areas. Cloud computing system mobility boosts staff efficiency through easy collaboration within the team, or teams, wherever they are based. Such collaboration results in up-to-date information that enables rapid and reliable decision making and allows for quick response to ever-changing business conditions and needs.

  With the cloud, all files are stored centrally meaning that if you are working on a project with multiple people, you can all work on the same document and the latest version will always be accessible. In many cases, you can collaborate on the same document at the same time.

  “80% of cloud adopters saw improvements within 6 months of moving to the cloud”(SiliconANGLE).

• Easy Integration

  Cloud services integrate easily with many other services. Cloud solutions tend to use industry standards for data interchange and generally integrate better with different systems than non-cloud based solutions.

• Long-Term Investment

  With cloud computing you have a much more predictable monthly and annual budget for IT. Maintenance and upgrades of the cloud computing systems are not the responsibility of your business, but of the cloud provider, thus giving you the ability to keep your focus solely on your product and services.

As a business owner, it is hard to ignore the benefits of moving your data to the cloud. Your business will need to research and make decisions based on a few factors.

These factors are:

• The different cloud computing options available- which one is best for the size and goals of your company.
• Determine if you should fully or partially move to the cloud.
• What is your budget is going to be?

How can NOT being on the cloud affect your business?

• 70% of businesses that experience a major data loss are out of business within one year (DTI/ PricewaterhouseCoopers)
• 94% of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss do not survive (University of Texas)
• 30% of small businesses will experience a natural disaster (NFIB)
• 10% of small businesses will experience a major data loss as result of human error (NFIB)

Restoring data costs for your business:

According to the National Computer Security Association, without adequate backup it takes:

• 19 days and $17,000 to recreate just 20 MB of lost sales/marketing data
• 21 days and $19,000 to recreate just 20 MB of lost accounting data
• 42 days and $98,000 to recreate just 20 MB of lost engineering data.

Going all in on the cloud is an economic advantage for many businesses, but it can also prove to be a viable one — helping attract a new demographic of employee or customer, while driving business results. What are you waiting for?

What would you like SunNet Solutions to build for your business?

Submit a request at the left hand side of this page to get started today.
Contact us if you have any questions.