SF DevOps Update – RAD for Customer 360 Platform to Eliminate the Wait

SF DevOps Update - RAD for Customer 360 Platform to Eliminate the Wait

One of the essential primary objectives of any e-com business is to reduce the delivery time to
the end customers. You can see how the top e-commerce portals are now offering same-day
special delivery, next day delivery, two-day delivery, etc. as their offerings RAD to customers.

These were once exceptions for premium customers, but they were now becoming a standard in
assessing the provider’s serviceability. Those involved in the e-com business are trying to set
themselves above the competition and test the waters with the help of the latest technologies. You
may have read about drones being used for delivery and road robots delivering at the
doorsteps of the customers etc.

A study shows that close to 50% of the active e-commerce consumers now expect to receive
their packages through drone-deliver in the next couple of years. This significant shift is towards
providing delivery services as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, this is limited to
package delivery, but instant customer gratification is now setting standards in all types of
products and services across the industries.

Uninterrupted universal digital connectivity is expected to make this instant gratification possible for all sorts of consumers to receive service without delay. This becomes evident with regards to customer care applications. About 58% of the global consumers agree that technology had changed their experiences and expectations, mainly over the last couple of years, in terms of how they want companies to interact with them.

The need for quick app development

The modern-day consumers expect their providers to do business with to be available as and
when they need them the most. While they use apps, if they are not available immediately, the
customers may instantly decide to move on and do business somewhere else. This is the
biggest challenge to organizations who are dealing with online delivery of services.

Even though about 76% of the IT leaders identify the speed of project and application delivery as one of the most critical KPI, only about 45% of them can design an app exactly as per the business
requirements in a limited time and only about 47% out of them can deploy such an app in no
time.

So the truth about it is that in this new area, businesses try to rediscover ways to move beyond
the traditional app development life cycles, which are usually too long and complicated to

quicker and easier ways to meet clients’ demands. As such, many of the enterprise
developers are now turning towards a brand-new methodology as introduced by Salesforce the
rapid application development or RAD.

What is Rapid Application Development?

Rapid Application Development or RAD is an innovative model for application development in
the SF DevOps approach, which has a major focus on user strategy, speed, and proper
prototyping. With RADs use, enterprise developers can work directly with the product focus
groups to understand the actual latest user needs and repurpose the existing components of
the software to cut down the build time and deliver working prototypes very early in the
development cycle itself.

With this approach, the improvements can be made very iteratively
on every successive release. Above this, RAD has also helped establish the working applications
much quicker than it would have been possible by continuously improving those apps based on
direct live user feedback.

You can find this methodology right opposite the traditional approach of the Waterfall
application development method, in which specific goals are first established for each module
of development in a sequence. While the Waterfall developmental approach will let greater
operational control over the process and complete it with strict deadlines by assigning
individual responsibilities, most of the time, the result could be a very lengthy developmental
duration.

Most of the time, but the end of this development period, most of the applications
they try to develop may have become obsolete in the fast-changing technology industry. An
average app development life cycle in the case of the waterfall method may range from about
15 to 18 weeks, which is more than enough for users to take their requirements elsewhere.

Being an innovative incremental app development model, RAD can help reduce the
development life cycle significantly. Along with this, RAD can also help promote better
coordination within the internal departments in a multi-locational development setup. This is
made possible as different aspects of the app are developed concurrently than in a sequential
model as in the waterfall method.

So, as the apps are developed and deployed, feedback of
users are also collected simultaneously and incorporated into the future iterations. This will
allow better adaptability by ensuring that the applications remain updated and satisfying the
latest market demands for a longer period.

But in reality, for many enterprises, adopting the RAD model of application development is
easier said than done. The development tools that traditional developers use require in-depth
coding logic and knowledge, which means that all developmental tasks are the responsibility of the IT departments.

The applications built using the waterfall model also consist of many highly
specialized components to that specific app to be used anywhere else. This further offers less
code reusability and slows down the development cycles. This is where RAD provides a
fundamental shift in the development approach by ensuring reusability and easy customization.

Salesforce, being the No. 1 CRM has now developed a robust PaaS solution for enterprises to
try out a much faster and adaptable framework for app development. Using the Customer 360
platform, enterprise development teams, and individual developers can make and release
functional apps much faster and ensure that the apps remain for a longer period by
incorporating the changing user demands in real-time.

Thanks to the RAD tools, which are very expertly designed for the developers of all skill sets and
expertise levels to handle easily? By adopting these no- or low-code solutions, you can develop
enterprise applications even without any deeper knowledge of programming languages.

The MSME businesses, too, can extend their app development beyond the IT departments or
consultants by collaborating to develop apps that meet the needs of all. It further helps to
reduced development time significantly by offering the most relevant applications to meet the
needs of the times.

 

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