When we obtain a loan from a bank, we usually know the obligations that come with it. Additionally, we know the conditions under which it was granted to us – the amount of installments, interest rates, etc. A company’s technological debt may not be visible at first glance, and its deepening carries several undesirable consequences. In this article, we’ll explore how technology debt is generated and why keeping an eye on your application is a vital part of a company’s IT strategy.
What is technology debt?
The changing IT environment forces managers and business executives to operate under tight time constraints, focusing almost exclusively on the result and delivering the product to the customer. By making business decisions this way, technical issues are put aside. This method of delivering IT solutions solves users’ current problems, but it carries several risks. Mateusz Rędzia, a web application developer from Solwit, provided a detailed description of this issue:
https://solwit.com/en/blog/are-applications-coming-of-age-on-technical-debt-and-its-consequences/
In the survey, which was conducted and published by Polcom in the report “IT investments in the direction of development of Polish companies in 2021-2022. Cloud and new technologies,” the problem of technological debt was considered the second most crucial IT factor as a way to hinder the company’s growth – 65% of respondents said so!
Business-wise, technological debt arises, among other things. This is when we use fast but not necessarily optimal solutions to meet current customer requirements quickly.
Inflicting technology debt in the long run makes a solution more vulnerable, reduces efficiency, and increases development costs, ultimately resulting in reduced customer satisfaction and lost sales.
Negative consequences of technological debt in business
Long-term incurrence of technological debt brings a heap of consequences. Among the most critical are:
- increased software development costs;
- more developers needed to deal with problems;
- declining developer productivity;
- delays in product development;
- a rise in security risks;
- higher costs of servicing software users due to their dissatisfaction.
In the end, companies that incur technology debt regularly lose customers to companies offering cutting-edge, optimal solutions.
How do you reduce technology debt in a company?
It is worth noting that a small amount of technical debt is unavoidable in most cases since it is a trade-off between the rapid delivery of a product to customers and the quality of the code.
Hence, when incurring debt is necessary, the quality of the solutions should only be reduced temporarily and in areas where it is absolutely necessary.
“Prevention is better than cure,” Hippocrates, the pioneer of prevention, proclaimed in his oath more than 2,400 years ago. Following this principle, it is best to invest in ongoing software updates to reduce technology debt.
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