A Software Development Approach for Driving Competitiveness in Small Firms

The COVID-19 Pandemic has forced many businesses to accelerate their digital transformation strategies to continue to meet the changing needs of their customers. This has resulted in significant growth in the global software. However, for decades, managing software product quality has been a major challenge for many software development firms. This low success rate is due mainly to the development and delivery of low-quality software products. In addition to the direct costs associated with poor quality software, software flaws can also create security concerns, where hackers can take complete control of various devices and data such as mobile phones, computers or firms' operational transactions. These security and privacy breaches are currently occurring at great frequencies.

Although producers and consumers of software products spend vast amounts of money in developing and purchasing these products, in many cases the promised benefits of user satisfaction, efficiency, productivity and profitability are not realized. In more severe circumstances, software development firms have failed, face the threat of being bankrupt, being acquired or suffer closure, because customers are demanding high-quality software products that they consistently fail to deliver. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating within the software development industry have a more critical need to produce high quality software since they are less able to absorb both the cost and reputational impact of producing low quality output.

A Software Development Approach for Driving Competitiveness in Small Firms provides some cost-efficient options that can help SMEs to increase the likelihood that their software will be of high quality. It tells the story of the entrepreneurial journey that small firms should take to deliver high-quality software products. By utilizing practical examples and providing several recommended solutions to decrease the likelihood of producing low quality software. The book outlines how mobilizing people, process and technology are integral to the software development process and emphasize why process maturity is the most influential factor in software development in small and medium enterprises.

新冠疫情迫使許多企業加快數位轉型策略，以滿足客戶不斷變化的需求。這導致全球軟體市場顯著增長。然而，數十年來，許多軟體開發公司在管理軟體產品品質方面一直面臨著重大挑戰。這種低成功率主要是由於開發和交付低品質的軟體產品。除了與低品質軟體相關的直接成本外，軟體缺陷還可能引發安全問題，黑客可以完全控制各種設備和數據，如手機、電腦或企業的運營交易。這些安全和隱私漏洞目前發生頻率很高。

儘管軟體產品的生產者和消費者在開發和購買這些產品上花費了大量金錢，但在許多情況下，所承諾的用戶滿意度、效率、生產力和盈利能力的好處並未實現。在更嚴重的情況下，軟體開發公司失敗，面臨破產、被收購或關閉的威脅，因為客戶要求高品質的軟體產品，而他們始終無法交付。在軟體開發行業中運營的中小企業（SMEs）更需要生產高品質的軟體，因為他們很難承擔低品質輸出所帶來的成本和聲譽影響。

《小型企業競爭力的軟體開發方法》提供了一些成本效益的選項，可以幫助中小企業增加其軟體高品質的可能性。它講述了小型企業應該採取的創業之旅，以交付高品質的軟體產品。通過實際例子和提供幾種推薦解決方案來減少低品質軟體產生的可能性，本書概述了動員人力、流程和技術對軟體開發過程的重要性，並強調流程成熟度是中小企業軟體開發中最具影響力的因素。

Delroy A. Chevers is a Senior Lecturer of Information Systems at the University of the West Indies, Mona. He holds a PhD in Information Systems from the University of the West Indies. He has over twenty-five years of experience in teaching and research. In 2019/2020, he received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching at the University of the West Indies. In that same year, he received the Principal's Research Award for the Most Outstanding Researcher. Since 2019, Chevers was appointed Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies. His research interests are information systems quality and success, and project management. He has published articles with top-tier international academic journals in information systems.

Delroy A. Chevers是西印度大學蒙納校區的資訊系統高級講師。他擁有西印度大學的資訊系統博士學位，並擁有超過二十五年的教學和研究經驗。在2019/2020年，他獲得了西印度大學副校長頒發的卓越教學獎。同年，他還獲得了校長頒發的最優秀研究者研究獎。自2019年以來，Chevers被任命為西印度大學社會科學學院研究生學習和研究的副院長。他的研究興趣包括資訊系統的品質和成功，以及項目管理。他已在頂尖國際學術期刊上發表了多篇文章。