Customized software maintenance – a paid or a free-of-charge service?
Custom software developers sometimes anxiously wait for the maintenance period to begin. During maintenance, the software is already locally installed on the customer’s equipment and infrastructure, and the detailed job of adapting the software to the customer’s processes and needs is in almost all respects finished. If the development and implementation phases were well managed and finalized, during the maintenance phase, the software developer’s effort should be significantly diminished and the profitability should increase. With a little luck (or maybe it’s more than luck at stake), during maintenance, the developer’s work and allotted resources will be minimum, while the maintenance cost (some quite generous) will compensate for the low profitability of the project in earlier phases.