The Rise of Accelerated Software Development and Developing Smarter.

Truly effective software development doesn't happen by chance.

Surround's Accelerated Software development strategy is the culmination of years of developing and from taking a holistic approach to identifying and solving the key problems associated with software development. This is something that has changed and matured over the years and, of course, will continue to do so as technology changes and tools improve.

The root of the problem.

To provide a solution you must first understand the problem and in all software development, including software modernization, there are two critical problems.

2. The top complaint by executives and users is software can't keep up with the business. The development and delivery of key applications simply isn’t keeping pace with the business needs and businesses aren’t progressing as fast as they could if these needs were met.

Problems Plaguing Software

Some common problems you may be hearing about your software. If you have heard any of these, you may want to have a closer look at how and what you're developing.

• Software gets in the way of completing tasks
• Slows down the users workflow.
• Requires more work for users, rather than less.
• Hides system information through convoluted access or navigation.
• Is either overly complex and difficult to learn or is overly simplified and inefficient.
• Too easy to make mistakes.
• Is aggravating and frustrating to use.

Problems Plaguing Software Development

Some common problems you may be encountering in your software development. If you can relate to these, you may want to have a closer look at your development process.

• Long software release times.
• Long waits for requested changes.
• Significant project backlog and reduced delivery capacity.
• Lack of return and significant total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Limitations and proprietary lock-ins.
• Changes are often high risk and disrupts business.
• Software from the dark ages.
• No ability to adapt to changing technology.
• Decreased productivity and adoption.
• Lack of application monitoring, management & control.

Development tools are usually restrictive or incomplete.

These problem are why productivity solutions for software engineers are so appealing and such a good idea. There are many on the market, yet too often they are restrictive or incomplete. The results you get are underwhelming and you spend extra time overcoming limitations, dead ends, and brick walls. Chances are you have tried some of these solutions. Perhaps even had some success with them. But, was that a tactical one-off solution or part of a long-term strategy? What you may have come to find is that the closer you look at and use these solutions, the more you find limitations. The solution only gets you so far and then BAM, a brick wall. And that brick wall can be very expensive to crash into – you may have to start all over, in fact some companies may be on their 2nd or 3rd attempt. You may work through and past that brick wall only to run into another and then another and another. Now you are even further down the rabbit hole feeling like you’re trapped and can never get out. Solution providers may offer other parts of the product suites to get around or hacked through the wall, but there are additional license fees, different product parts may not play together well, what they have already done may not migrate to the newer solution, or there’s inevitably another brick wall. And, you are left standing on a bunch of tools, poor use of resources, wasted dollars, and further behind.

But there is a better way.

Enter Accelerated Software Development

Truth is, you need advanced automation that provides complete solutions. Including the ability to build mission critical enterprise applications, mobile applications, business processes, executive dashboards, superior user experiences, web services, workflow, flexible cloud-enabled architecture, and more. In essence, you need a way to reach your goals ahead of the competition with faster releases, better results, and more functionality.

With Accelerated Software Development that’s exactly what you get. Now, your developers can Develop Faster, Develop Better, and Develop More. They can deliver, with 100% success rate, the software your employees, customers, business partners, and vendors will love. You will deliver software that makes doing business with you compelling, obvious, and easy.

Exceed Expectations

With Accelerated Software Development your team can focus on what’s most important: making better applications, doing it faster, with more comprehensive functionality, and an agile architecture. With it your software will exceed expectations all while staying under budget and within business time lines. On top of that you will gain processes for fast, quality, repeatable, and continual development so you can continue to improve and adapt your operations as time goes on.

Keep up with the business.

Whether building new software, adding new functionality to existing software or modernizing legacy applications, with Accelerated Software Development your applications can finally keep up with your business so you can stay ahead of the competition.

Here's how.

Accelerated software development isn't rocket science. It just takes the proper direction, guidance, and understanding of what software development is really all about.

1. Why? Understand why you are developing the software. We develop software to solve business problems. Period. If you don't understand the business problem, stop now and start there.
2. Who? There are 4 primary groups in software development, (1) The Business Executives who invest in software to meet business needs, (2) The Users whose use of the software provides the return on investment, (3) The Developers that use the investment and deliver the software, and (4) The Providers who provide software and tools to decrease the investment needed, increase the return, or both.
3. What? Know what needs to be built, the budgeted investment, and the expected return. Make sure they are well aligned.
4. How? Develop based on the 7 Pillars to Accelerated Software Development.

Get it done – results matter.

Software development has always been about the speed and quality of delivery. The results are what matter the most. That is what Surround focuses on. For us, software development is largely about creating a culture of high performance, and motivating and empowering people to achieve organizational goals and objectives. A culture that is rooted in the "Get it done - results matter" philosophy. Accelerated Software Development is that overarching strategy, our strategy of strategies, to do just that.