News

Conquering the Value of IT: Quality, Efficiency and Cost

06 February, 2024 | reading 4 min.

Image of a mountain with a flag with the letters IT on top of it.

Have you ever wondered what IT value really means? Is it something that is measured by the number of lines of code, by the delivery time, by the allocated budget? Or is it something deeper and more strategic?  

 If you are reading these lines, you have probably asked yourself this question at some point, or just reading this headline has made you wonder. And today we want to help you discover that value and how you can conquer it.  

 At LedaMC we believe that the value of IT is the result of a vision, of an attitude. And we say it is conquered because it is a conscious and deliberate act. It is not something that comes as a given, nor is it something that others do for you. You must say it explicitly, you must want to achieve it, and you must strive for it. You will have to make it your responsibility to want better software: better quality, done more efficiently, at a lower cost.  

 But how do you conquer IT value, how do you get software that brings value and satisfaction to your customers and your organisation? You will have to go step by step, each one trying to bring you a little closer to your goal, the achievement of better management, control, and optimisation of your software projects, from estimation to delivery. 

Estimation, the beginning of the journey towards conquering IT value 

Every journey has a beginning, and you know the importance of a good start, as the saying goes, “well begun is half done” And what do we have at the start of a software project? Project estimation, where we define the scope, time, cost, and resources needed, considering the expectations and requirements of your clients or users, as well as the risks and uncertainties that may arise. 

If we estimate well, with a reliable ISO/IEC standard methodology that allows you to measure the functional size of the software such as function points, we will obtain the amount of software product we need to develop, and therefore, we can calculate the effort and cost involved. And if you have a tool like Quanter that incorporates artificial intelligence to do the estimation, you will get this data quickly and easily, with a couple of clicks. This allows us to better plan and manage the project, avoiding delays, overruns, and conflicts. Additionally, you can establish performance and quality indicators to measure the degree of achievement of your objectives. 

Continuous monitoring to stay on track towards the goal: the Value of IT 

You are already underway, and now what? How do you stay on the right track to reach that goal? Monitor the project’s progress: supervise and control the processes and activities related to development, team productivity, and ensure that quality standards and established best practices are met. 

If we have set productivity and quality indicators for the project, it will be easy to monitor compliance. Are we delivering the established amount of software product in the set time? How many test cases have we performed? And how many defects have been found? 

To carry out this continuous control, it is not only important to have clear from the beginning the problems we want to solve but also to know how to reflect the evolution of costs, efficiency, and quality of the project visually and simply in a Dashboard. And it will be even easier to interpret that data, make predictions, discover errors, and even obtain viable solutions if artificial intelligence assists the Dashboard. 

Is information power? Absolutely! And having it clearly and continuously gives us the power to react quickly and correct whatever is necessary to get back on track. 

We see the destination, what now? 

We are nearing the end of the project, and there is little left to have our product ready to put into production. It is time to carry out user acceptance testing if they have not already started in earlier phases too. Does the business have time and knowledge to carry out these tests in the best, viable way? Let us not forget that these are the definitive tests, the ones that verify that the software meets the defined criteria and that it works correctly in the real usage environment. 

A correct definition and execution of these tests and the subsequent management of the incidents found will prevent overruns in later stages. And we will deliver a higher quality and reliable software product that meets the expectations and needs of the end user. We have a product that brings satisfaction and value to its users, reflected in greater confidence towards the organisation = VALUE. 

We have managed to launch a product efficiently, at the lowest possible cost, and of high quality. Have we already conquered IT value? It depends… We can always draw up plans for continuous improvement, analyse and evaluate the results obtained in each project, in terms of quality, efficiency, and cost, and compare it with the rest of the internal projects. We can even see how we have done compared to the competition. This way, we can identify new strengths and weaknesses and continue to take steps so that the IT value we have conquered does not escape us, turning it into something alive that is always growing. 

As you can see, conquering IT value is not just a search; it is a testimony to your dedication, your perseverance, and the right choice of your tools. With IT Value in mind, every challenge becomes an opportunity to grow and improve. In this journey towards excellence, you are not alone. If you need it, LedaMC accompanies you on your journey to conquer IT value.