Start-ups aim to do more with less because as the name suggests, they are a start-up. It is vital that any IT services provider optimize their products/services to reduce costs while ensuring security. Here’s how you can build your IT services to be cost-effective, faster:

Cost of human capital

Underestimating and not setting the cost of human help can be an unpleasant surprise. You’ll need to determine the cost of human capital for the entire duration of the product development. While building your prototype, it is better to hire contractual employees, since you’ll need to only pay them once contractual tasks are completed and the pre-agreed milestone is achieved. Build a great team, either in-house or distributed across locations.

Start with fewer features

Since you are a start-up, your product needs to be introduced to the audience as a priority. The preference of the audience segment that is positive towards your product decides the features you’ll need to incorporate later. So don’t release a full-fledged product without knowing what features will be important to your users. You might spend a lot of time and money developing features only to find out later that your users find it useless. Go with the most in-demand features as you start off and build features as you go.

Start testing early

You don’t want to be delivering a glitchy product, so start testing early. Regular tests throughout the development lifecycle will save you a lot of time, effort and money ensuring you release a product you envisioned at one go. If you push the bugs to be dealt with at the final stage, you’ll have to brace yourself for a lot of rework and in most cases, low-quality product wasted money, and psychological stress.

Go cloud

Using the cloud means low up-front costs and manageable monthly costs. It also allows scalability. Even for established companies, new equipment can be cumbersome, expensive, and inconvenient, with the cloud you’ll need minimal hardware. Backup and disaster recovery are easy and reliable too.

Effectively Marketing your Product/Services

Promoting your newly launched product is as important as developing process. Keeping aside a realistic budget and focusing on digital marketing is the go-to step for many startups. Consider paid advertisements that allow you to be more vocal. It further allows you to be more visible on search engines using related keyword terms for a set budget. For startups who need organic marketing, focus on good PR and a solid content strategy. You’ve got an edge if you have a database of your potential customers or existing leads, in which case you must invest in email marketing. Distribute highly targeted emails and gain more exposure.