5 Signs Your Technical Debt Is About to Cost You Market Share

The pressure on founders, investors, and software development teams to deliver launches quickly and cost-effectively is enormous. And it’s understandable. The stakes are, after all, higher than ever.

But when important technology decisions are based on speed rather than value and quality, issues mount up. There are only so many shortcuts you can take before the levels of technical debt start to derail your entire platform.

At best, you’re looking at expensive and lengthy reworks. At worst, you’re looking at a potentially permanent loss of market share.

We believe this is a serious problem for app development teams around the world, which is why we’ve identified the five tell-tale signs that technical debt is costing software products market share.

1. Maintenance Is Taking Up the Lion’s Share of Your IT Budget

Prioritizing output over outcomes means developing technical debt. And like all debt, it needs to be paid off at some point. The more debt you have, the longer and more expensive it is to deal with.

Organizations globally are spending an average of 30% of their IT budgets on managing technical debt. This means vital resources are being diverted away from the areas that deliver the most value.

If dealing with technical debt accounts for more than 20% of your total budget, you’re effectively neglecting opportunities that might arise in the future. And that’s going to cost your organization market share, sooner rather than later.

2. New Feature Launches Are Taking Longer and Longer

If the lead time for each new feature or launch is growing over time, that’s a sign that your competitive health isn’t in a good place.

The pressure to ship faster is greater than ever, yet your delivery cycles are getting progressively longer. There’s a very good chance that technical debt is to blame.

On average, app development teams that have to deal with high levels of technical debt ship 25% to 50% slower than their more efficient counterparts.

Quick fixes replace thoughtful architecture. The friction and delay between releases get even worse. As a result, your organization is missing its launch windows. Competitors are getting there first.

3. Even Your Talented Team Can’t Get to Grips with Innovation

Close to 70% of organizations say that significant levels of technical debt harm their ability to innovate.

Your organization invested in a top software development team. The brightest and best in the industry are on board, so why is innovation still a struggle?

Chances are, the mountain of technical debt that’s suffocating key team members is making bold changes just too risky or expensive.

According to the Protiviti Survey, organizations with lower technical debt outperform their competitors by up to 20% in terms of revenue growth.

4. Inefficient Legacy Systems Are Inflating Costs

You have a top team of talent, your concepts are sound, and your project scopes are comprehensive and well-thought-out. So why is your organization plagued by frequent rework, bug fixes, and failed attempts to modernize? In our experience, the culprit is usually technical debt.

Around the world, businesses are wasting an average of more than $370 million due to inefficient legacy systems. Lengthy transformation lead times and integration failures are the result.

Throwing short-term fixes at long-term issues never works. The more patches you develop, the more unstable your product becomes. Due to your legacy core , you’re fighting fires with money and resources you just don’t have. And while you’re burning cash on firefighting efforts, your competitors are diverting theirs to expansion.

5. Customer Reviews and Retention Rates Are Sliding

We’ve seen it time after time in the software development industry. Technical debt inevitably leads to slower performance. Reliability suffers. Personalization becomes a real chore.

When application development teams can’t scale or adapt quickly, users quickly become frustrated with the product experience. Over time, frustration boils over. And that’s when loyalty begins to wane, and churn begins to accelerate.

The longer your customers are frustrated by your product, the more market share you’ll lose. Take our word for it: Customers vote with their wallets long before internal metrics suggest there’s a problem. Keep them happy!

Avoid Technical Debt — Protect Market Share: Proven Software Developers Hold the Key

The five issues we’ve outlined above are potentially catastrophic for the future of your digital product. If they’re allowed to persist and compound, your more agile competitors will steal your market share faster than you can say “I need an outcome-focused strategic software development partner .”

Don’t take needless challenges. Reach out to the DigiNeat team today to organize an initial strategy session. We’ll help you control technical debt and fiercely defend your market share.

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