Benefits of software configuration management

Software development is an area of constant change. Much of this is being driven by improvements in Internet platforms. There are fewer and fewer exclusively offline applications and more and more processing is being done in the cloud. This means that software applications must be more sophisticated, more user friendly and more easily integrated with other applications than ever before.
But, that’s not all. Enterprises must also change rapidly in order to keep up with ever more sophisticated customer demand from an increasingly tech savvy clientele who demand higher speed purchases, faster and more relevant communication and a greater choice of payment options. Technology has become the single biggest driver of change in the modern world and business is at the forefront of that change.
When it comes to technology, the development and deployment of enterprise software, along with software customization and packaged applications are the main beneficiaries of software configuration management. SCM makes change manageable through the use of integrated automated systems that record change, often as it happens, and provides a development trail that can be easily followed. It versions the different files and keeps track of them as development progresses. This prevents missed change requests, unfixed software bugs and other defects that can damage customer confidence or delay deployment of critical updates. It also makes certain that handoffs occur more easily by making concurrent development possible. Timelines then become more predictable and applications are deployed faster and with less errors.
Software configuration management answers the five Ws, Who, What , When, Where and Why, by maintaining records of changes and what impact these changes have on the application under development as well as upgrades and releases. SCM may require some investment, but it lowers overhead in the long run by reducing wasted time, speeding the development cycle and increasing customer satisfaction.