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The benefits of using enterprise release management strategies for startups
The startup boom has transformed the business world. While the model has helped launch some truly inspiring, perhaps even visionary enterprises, the market is becoming saturated as competition grows stiffer and stiffer.
This is a user generated content for MyStory, a YourStory initiative to enable its community to contribute and have their voices heard. The views and writings here reflect that of the author and not of YourStory.
Many startups are looking to big companies in an effort to discover what factors are contributing to their success. It’s certainly true that huge companies do have some excellent practices that can be extremely useful even when applied to startups. Enterprise release management is one of them. Let’s see what it’s all about and how you can utilize it to your advantage.
What is Enterprise Release Management?
Enterprise Release Management (ERM) is a framework that is often used in giant companies, and its purpose is to facilitate and organize releases of new software or changes in preexisting versions. Nowadays, most companies deal with very complex software that usually consists of several versions for different platforms – a mobile app, a web application, and a desktop application. Throw in the database, the front-end and back-end development and the server maintenance, and you have a very complicated system on your hands. The reality is that even small tech startups usually deal with all of these segments. Useful test management tools are a great way to stay on top of these multifaceted systems and without them, it is very easy to lose the plot.
Who can use it?
Anyone can benefit from ERM, especially if they are trying to juggle several projects at once. In that respect, ERM resembles a more organized and scalable version of project management. When a company has several developers who are working on different aspects of a project (or a few different, but interconnected projects), time considerations and transparency can be an issue. Teams that need to be synchronized while working on their own parts of the project can benefit from time optimization and fresh information that ERM brings about. Managers can easily organize and delegate tasks to all of their stakeholders, or even create timelines for them, so that every participant knows of any delays as soon as they arise. In business, saving time is synonymous with saving money, and excellent human resources management is the key. Working together towards a projected finish date requires working in sync.
What can a startup gain from it?
Different speed of work and unforeseen problems during development can be the financial downfall of even the best planned projects. The thing is, no one can predict with exact precision the time necessary to finish a project or one of its parts. When there’s more than one developer involved, things get increasingly complicated. Oftentimes, a developer is left on standby, waiting for his colleagues to finish their part of the job. No business owner needs a clarification on how expensive it is to pay a programmer who is idling. Complete transparency ERM also minimizes risk which is present whenever new software is released, by controlling the release process. Every new release or even a modification brings about the risk of downtime which is absolutely unacceptable nowadays. Competition breeds excellence, and clients have gotten used to it. Offering them anything less can have dire consequences for a business. ERM facilitates roll-out and roll-back, making the experience as painless as possible.
Every company can only gain from improved communication and organization, whether it has 10 or 100 employees. An increase in productivity, and the lessened load on managers can be exactly the boost a company needs to reach success. Staying organized and cutting back risk might make all the difference and establish your startup as reliable and efficient.