RAD versus The Old-School Waterfall Model

The Waterfall model was the most popular approach to software development in the 1970s and 1980s. This method divides a project into a series of steps, each of which feeds into and thus relies on the completion of the previous phase. In terms of engineering fields like construction, a rigid approach like the Waterfall model is intuitive and applicable, but it is highly insufficient in terms of software development in a fast-paced environment.

Rapid Application Development's adaptive approach allows you to be more flexible and timely in implementing client feedback and delivering the product. One can also avoid the redundancies that plague the Waterfall model. Within the Waterfall model, it becomes difficult to change the software core functions once it has reached the testing stage.

How Do Small Businesses Benefit from Rapid Application Development?

RAD is beneficial to small businesses that want to quickly build and iterate prototypes. They will be able to develop applications in less time, with less code, and based on frequent user feedback. The technology will be available sooner and without the need for extensive testing.

Larger teams with enterprise-level requirements may require months of road mapping and development to perfect end-to-end solutions. Rapid Application Development is all about getting your technology up and running as quickly as possible and into the hands of your customers.

Teams that use agile concepts such as the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) can plan quickly and add functionality in phases. Instead of launching a large and traditional waterfall-based project to make changes, this can happen right after the initial deployment.

Supports Rapid Evolution and Growth

Let's say you have a problem that needs to be solved by December to avoid a spike in holiday sales. Using traditional waterfall methods, which prioritize requirements gathering and comprehensive planning upfront, may result in the app not receiving any updates until it has failed to meet business needs.

Instead, you can use RAD to prioritize your most important features and make changes with each iteration. As a result, your business applications can evolve alongside you, which is critical for small businesses.

Small and medium-sized businesses are expected to drive market growth.

Due to their adoption of rapid application development platforms to develop customer-centric applications at lower costs and for better productivity, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are expected to drive market growth.

In most regions, SMEs that adopt RAD significantly contribute to the economy.More than half of all Americans own or work for a small business, according to the US Small Business Administration (SBA). SMBs are also responsible for 40% of the country's GDP. In the EU, approximately 99 percent of all businesses employ fewer than 250 people.

Small businesses require on-the-go access to their data without incurring the costs of storage and hardware maintenance. Furthermore, SMEs are looking for RAD platforms that are cloud-based in order to save money, time, and resources. This boosts the market's growth even more.

Asia-Pacific to Witness Highest Growth

• Growing technical expertise, the presence of large enterprises, enhanced services, and expanding cloud-based service providers are all contributing to the APAC region's tremendous growth.
• Furthermore, countries such as China, Japan, India, and Singapore adopt cutting-edge technologies in the region, influencing rapid application development vendors to expand further in the region.
• Furthermore, companies such as Point Share, Octal Info Solution, Hermes Infotech, Ranosys Technologies, and MindCraft Singapore, among others, are based in Singapore and provide technology solutions that help businesses grow and improve application efficiency.
• SMEs in the region are also moving to cloud computing and migrating their services to the cloud in order to improve their business results and productivity. According to the Indian Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, India has 50 million MSMEs, making it one of the world's largest MSMEs, boosting the market's growth even further.

Top Priority to End-users 

One of the best aspects of RAD is how heavily it relies on user and stakeholder feedback and collaboration. With their feedback and reactions to the technology, the customers and employees can help improve the business. This also increases the likelihood that your solution will be in the hands of users who can provide valuable feedback on new versions and functionality.

The real-world feedback cycle can boost morale among internal users of an operations-based app, as team members feel their needs prioritized.

Meanwhile, external customers or partners will have a better experience because they will believe that you genuinely care about their needs, resulting in improved customer service and satisfaction.

Risk Management Improvement

The advantages of RAD do not end with the frequency of release. It also includes frequent testing when deployed.

As deployment cycles shorten, small businesses will be able to spot bugs much sooner. Security and compliance risks can also be identified before they cause havoc.

Longevity

Small businesses frequently lack the financial resources of large corporations. When a small business invests in a new business solution, it must be long-lasting, meet operational and customer needs consistently, and provide a return on investment for the foreseeable future. Backward models, such as Waterfall, might not meet all three of these criteria in the long run as the company grows.

As RAD works on agile principles, no app or solution is set in stone and can be updated and expanded as needed.