Why Flexibility Is a Necessity in Modern Applications

In business nothing stays the same for long.

Markets, technology, and the needs of your customers are always evolving. As a result the ability to adapt is essential to the success of your business.

An adaptable company must be able to change its focus, alter its offering, and update its tools with relative ease.

Such a high level of flexibility is important, but it’s not always easy to attain. You might be limited due to financial constraints, capacity, or even your company structure.

One thing that shouldn’t hold you back, though, is your software.

The Problem with Rigid Software

Often, software is designed to meet specific requirements that are relevant at the time of its development. Initially, this type of software solves the needs of its users. Uptake is good and a community of users quickly develops.

As time moves on, though, the story changes. The needs of users are no longer the same, and more suitable alternatives become available. If your software does not have the flexibility to adapt, and it fails to meet the new needs of your customers, its usage will slowly decline, and your business will be left with an outdated application and a diminishing customer base.

Avoiding this challenging situation begins with the initial development of your software.

Built with Flexibility in Mind

Making sure your software stays relevant as the world changes doesn’t mean you have to see into the future. In fact, it isn’t essential for you to predict anything. It is, however, important for your vision for the software to stretch beyond its first iteration. We say “first iteration” because flexible software never has just one version.

Your software needs a solid foundation; an architecture from which features and functionality can be added. As the needs of your users change the architecture should facilitate updates to those features that improve your software’s usability and relevance to its users.

With flexibility in mind the program’s features should also, as far as practicable, function independently of each other. If one component is reliant upon another even the smallest of changes can result in a knock-on effect that leaves your software unable to function and requiring major structural changes.

Making Quantum a Flexible Application

In 2018, we began working with Class Legal, experts in publishing legal resources. Their flagship software, Quantum, has revolutionised the way legal firms draft and manage court orders and forms. But, with the world of law changing almost every day, Quantum’s rigidity risked it becoming outdated.

The Isotoma team recognised just how important it was for the Quantum application to be flexible and capable of reflecting legal changes quickly and easily. In the process of converting Quantum from a desktop app to a web-based program we improved its flexibility with a selection of new features and functionality. 

As a result Class Legal now has the confidence that Quantum will be able to grow and adapt to the ever-changing legal landscape long into the future.

Preparing Your Software for the Future

Nobody knows what the future holds, but that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for it. Whether you’ve found your software is becoming outdated and it needs to be refreshed or you’re looking for a new application that is flexible by its nature, we’d love to get involved.

The Isotoma team excels in developing bespoke software that not only meets the needs of existing users, but is also flexible to accommodate changes to their requirements. To discuss how your company can benefit from flexible software, get in touch with us today.