In these modern times, technology has taken over almost every industry of the global market. Software companies are at the center of these technological changes. They create various programs that are being used in many industries today. However, software companies face many challenges while providing their essential services to their clients, especially in the global market. We have outlined the problems that they face below.
Costs
Growing your software business can come with incredibly high costs. Because the market has grown, the software company also has to increase the rate at which they develop the software to cope with the high demand. Also, the international money exchange rates are always fluctuating, making it costly when trying to budget effectively. Thus, it would be best for the companies to set their prices in their local currencies, to budget effectively while minimizing costs.
Product Pricing
Pricing is a significant challenge for software companies, primarily in the global market. The same price will not have the same magnitude in every country. For instance, a product that costs $50 in the United States carries a different significance when it costs the same in another country. $50 in the United States could represent a small percentage of the average salary, but it could represent a significant percentage of India’s average wage. (Think of Adobe Photoshop, historically a very expensive bit of software. There is a reason that so many open source alternatives, exist.) It poses a substantial problem for software companies. While other companies agree to set lower prices for such countries, other companies are forced not to sell their products to such regions.
Cultural Values
Positive cultural values play a vital role in the success of a software company. Culture is diverse, and it changes across the globe when you move from one region to another. The values of the people in a particular area determine if your product will thrive or fail in that region. Therefore, software companies must look at the people’s culture and values in their target region before launching their products in those regions. Many software companies face the challenge of designing their products to accommodate all the cultures in their target regions. There is an excellent paper called “The Software for Cultures and the Cultures in Software (PDF)” on the subject.
Software Piracy
Software piracy is a global issue that is facing many software companies. While it seems that hackers or professional coders are the main offenders in piracy, anyone can be a software pirate. Stealing software that is protected legally is an offense that is punishable by law. However, many software companies have a hard time trying to control their content from being pirated. To protect their software products from piracy, they need effective anti-piracy solutions. Pace AP is an example of a piracy solution that can help software companies.
Functionality
An ideal software product requires exceptional functionality. For instance, you may have tax software, and you want it to function in different regions. However, each region has its legal requirements. If you decide to develop software for each region independently, it will significantly create a lot of work. Moreover, it also comes with a lot of problems in terms of software updates and maintenance. If you decide to create a single system that will accommodate all the regions, the software will be very bulky, and very expensive to develop.
Additionally, you also need to have adequate knowledge about the appropriate versions in all your target regions. Failure to have this knowledge is costly. You may end up wasting a lot of resources developing software that is not appropriate, which will end up receiving terrible reviews.
Language
The content of the software needs proper translation for the people of the product’s target region. The software product needs to have excellent software localization for an adequate user experience. However, many software companies lack efficient software localization. It makes it hard for the people of the region to use the software adequately. Ideally, the best way to solve this is by using software localization agencies. A software localization agency makes it easy for software to be adopted in various languages for the target regions. When the software gets translated into a local language, the users in the area become more proficient in using the product.
The only way for a software company to thrive in the global market is by conquering these challenges. While the obstacles seem many, operating on the worldwide stage is more than its problems. The company will have a broader market that increases sales and profit margin.
Author
Matija Kolaric
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