Fathom is an expert in B2C software development. SaaS (Software as a Service) has long been a popular business model for delivering software application services. Fathom has had more that its fair share to build B2B/Saas applications, and is fully equipped to help you not just build the technology but to also help leverage technology to experience optimal growth.
Here is all that we do when build a SaaS product for you:
We Acquire A Deep Understanding Of The Problem Being Solved And The Target Market
The first thing we do is to do a detailed discovery session to not just understand the problem you're trying to solve, but also how can we really help you expand your vision via technology. We assess you market research and discuss and ideate with you very closely to understand the needs and pain points of your target customers and make a strong sense of the solution you are considering building.
We Help Define Your MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
Based on your research, we help create and refine a list of features that you would need to include in your application. We help prioritize this list based on the most essential features that you need to launch your MVP. The idea is to help you launch your application quickly and get feedback from your target market sooner than later.
Define The Technology Stack And Architecture.
A crucial step in building a B2B SaaS application is to determine the technology stack that best suits your core use cases. Likewise, we design the architecture of the product such that while it helps achieve our immediate need of building an MVP, it is designed to be scalable, cost effective and designed with performance in mind to ensure the application can demonstrate robustness and stability while handling large amounts of data and traffic.
Establish Project Management Processes
When the project kicks off, there are several streams of tasks that are kicked off and run in parallel. Many a times, this can get very overwhelming, very quickly and it start becoming very difficult to make sense of the progress (or lack thereof). This is why a strong project management process becomes essential. The idea is not just to make sense of the progress, but also plan different dependent deliverables of the project, so that any wait times due to dependancies are minimal to none, there is optimal resource levelling and extensive cost optimisation.
Determine A Cloud Platform To Host The Application.
While there are many options to choose from in the current cloud platform landscape, we fully understand that it is important to choose a platform that matches the best for the needs of the application. Be it AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Digital Ocean, they each bring a set of benefits and costs associated. We use our expertise to carefully assess the needs of the application and the cost constraints governing the project to determine the best fit.
Establish A Continuous Integration/continuous Delivery (ci/cd) Pipeline.
One of the first things we do prior to the kick off of the development is to establish a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline. This enables us to automate the process of building, testing, and deploying code and helps ensure that new features are delivered quickly.
Implement Robust Data Storage Solutions.
The application will need to store a significant amount of data, so it is important to choose a data storage solution that is scalable, secure, and reliable. This could be a sub component of the cloud platform we choose or it could reside separately. Security is paramount when it comes to choosing the right storage solution especially from a backup standpoint regardless of whether a dedicated backup solution is implemented.
Implement Secure Authentication And Authorization Mechanisms.
Authentication and authorization mechanisms help protect sensitive information and ensure that only authorized users have access to the application. Be it MFA, On Premise Single Sign On i(SSO), Social Auth, or integration with Third Party OAUTH solutions such as OKTA, we are fully geared to implement the solution that applies the best to the application.
Implement Detailed Error Handling And Logging Mechanisms.
Common wisdom tell us that error handling and logging help the development team quickly identify and fix problems when they occur. But there is so much more to it. Detailed logs can also be used to track usage and performance over time. Even more so, though not completely, logs tend to serve as historic debugging audits and are very valuable determining origins of problems. At Fathom, we make sure we implement logs in ways that help not just the tech team, but the business as a whole the best.
Develop The Application Via Established Project, Code And Task Management Best Practices
Having carefully assessed the requirements, and the project plan, we break the project structure into smaller, manageable and measurable tasks, and begin development. For Saas projects, there are multiple streams of dev tasks that occur in parallel. We could be working on Api, web front end and mobile front end at the same time, with the idea that we are able to arrive at features that as functional as possible right off the bat.
Over a period of time, these smaller feature tasks get grouped into larger deliverables ready for business feedback, while the team continues to incrementally work on the next set of dev tasks.
We repeat this process for the entirety of the dev cycle.
Implement Robust Reporting And Analytics Systems.
Regardless of the type of product, there is a zero percent change that the product will not need any reporting. In fact, its been our experience that a big chunk of work pre launch and post is is toward reports and analytics. And while we have build a lot of native reporting, we have also been integrating with reporting solutions like Tableau and Metabase, and analytics tools like Amplitube, Mixpanel and Google Analytics.
Our vast experience makes us not only start this process a lot sooner, but we also design the database and our collections to be as reports ready as possible.
Implement Robust Third Party Integrations.
Applications today have become a huge amalgam of multitudes of 3rd party software interwoven with custom code to create a solution to cater to the core business use case of the application. Its almost impossible for a Saas application to not have 3rd party integrations.
Having done this over and over, we have evolved our internal best practices to allow us to integrate with 3rd party applications in the most optimal way when it comes to Saas applications.
Implement Compliance With Applicable Privacy Guidelines.
This is a very important area that Fathom focusses on during maintenance. We not just do regular functional testing, but also run periodic load tests and regression test to ensuring that not only are software application working but they are working within established response time SLA's.
Establish And Implement Robust Quality Assurance Processes.
This is a very important area that Fathom focusses on during maintenance. We not just do regular functional testing, but also run periodic load tests and regression test to ensuring that not only are software application working but they are working within established response time SLA's.
Orchestrate The Go-Live Deployment Of The Application.
This is a very important area that Fathom focusses on during maintenance. We not just do regular functional testing, but also run periodic load tests and regression test to ensuring that not only are software application working but they are working within established response time SLA's.
Implement Detailed Usabiity Tracking And Monitor Usage.
This is a very important area that Fathom focusses on during maintenance. We not just do regular functional testing, but also run periodic load tests and regression test to ensuring that not only are software application working but they are working within established response time SLA's.
Implement Scalability And Performance Optimizations.
This is a very important area that Fathom focusses on during maintenance. We not just do regular functional testing, but also run periodic load tests and regression test to ensuring that not only are software application working but they are working within established response time SLA's.
Implement Data Backup And Disaster Recovery Strategies (BCDR).
This is a very important area that Fathom focusses on during maintenance. We not just do regular functional testing, but also run periodic load tests and regression test to ensuring that not only are software application working but they are working within established response time SLA's.
Establish Post Go-Live Maintenance processes and SLAs.
This is a very important area that Fathom focusses on during maintenance. We not just do regular functional testing, but also run periodic load tests and regression test to ensuring that not only are software application working but they are working within established response time SLA's.
Maintaining custom software is essential for ensuring that it continues to meet the needs of the business. Planning for future changes, regular updates and upgrades, monitoring system performance, proper documentation, and testing, are some of the best practices that should be followed to ensure the maintenance of custom software. Reach out to us to see how we could help you maintain you software applications.