Why Your Tech Isn’t Future-Proof

Feeling particularly jubilant today? You think you have an idea that could possibly shake or break and remake a preexisting idea that has been widely accepted as the “norm” or “The current in-thing”? Well, I hope you take that idea of yours and give it a life. I hope even more that your idea becomes accepted as the new norm.
Wait, if that idea of yours has anything to do with Information Technology, let’s discuss it a little more…
If you have already tasted success, you must be enjoying your 15 minutes/days/months of fame, but I sincerely hope you are not thinking of riding off into the sunset. Why? You see, by now that idea of yours has had its genes tweaked, dressed up in fancy new attire, given a new name and stands a pretty good chance of being cast in the sequel to your blockbuster movie; only this time it’s not you who is in the director’s seat. You have got to up your game else you are down and out for the count.

Why Orkut went to the grave and Facebook is still young and dynamic
Let me explain with a few examples. Hi5, Zorpia, Orkut and many more social networking sites once enjoyed a good user base till something else came along, took what was already there, made it better and nuked the competition. Why has Facebook held the pole position among the social networking sites for almost a decade? There may be many reasons for this, but I think it’s mainly because Facebook never stopped trying to stay relevant. The Facebook mobile app is updated every 2 weeks for crying out loud! And updates to the website are rolled out daily. What was first a slick new social network, got regular doses of steroids and augmentations. The wall, news feed, privacy settings, etc. are all features that kept it in the game and relevant. It’s not like they never got anything wrong, not every new feature was entirely original (for eg. The tagging and tapping as in Twitter), nor did every once-popular feature enjoy a 10 year lifetime. By listening to users and by studying user analytics, Facebook quietly discontinued features that didn’t have much activity and introduced new features that were trending or set a new trend.
You may have the next WhatsApp-like app, but there are plenty of other apps that now have the same functionality.

How to make your idea future proof?
If your App was a smash hit in 2012 when iOS 6.x and Jelly Bean was cool, you need to update the look and functionality of your app to better suit iOS 8.x and Lollipop in 2015. That is how you stay relevant. Study the competition, listen to your users and be in sync with the times. So give your tech full body armor, a mini-nuke launcher and wings (or at least a jetpack) because not all tech is as reliable and future-proof as the T-101. We are fresh out of body armor, mini-nukes, wings and jetpacks here at Fingent but sure can help you out with technologies that we constantly attempt to make future proof.

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About the Author

Ashmitha Chatterjee

Ashmitha works with Fingent as a creative writer. She collaborates with the Digital Marketing team to deliver engaging, informative, and SEO friendly business collaterals. Being passionate about writing, Ashmitha frequently engages in blogging and creating fiction. Besides writing, Ashmitha indulges in exploring effective content marketing strategies.