Regardless of the type of business, before investing money in developing and launching a new product, you want to test the customer feedback, don’t you? For instance, if you are a company dealing with software development services in the UK or anywhere around the globe, you create a software product that has to pass through numerous stages before launching in the market.
Therefore, selecting the right software development tools is the key. Companies implementing software development services in the UK and across the world would either select the prototype method or the minimum viable product (MVP) approach in developing applications.
During this process, they verify if potential customers accept their concept and idea regarding a product. In this article, we will explain the prototype and MVP and help you select the best strategy that meets your project requirements.
What is Prototype Development?
So, let us move on to discuss a prototype. A prototype is a product sample designed for testing the product’s main functionality, user experience and user interface.
It represents the product idea where you can access any design issues before developing a full-fledged product. Indeed, prototypes have flaws as they are not fully developed products.
As discussed above, the very purpose of prototype development is to verify a product concept’s design, functionality and usefulness. It helps you test a product’s performance while collecting feedback from potential customers. Based on their responses, software development companies can make changes before launching the final product.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Prototype
Before discussing MVP, we shall look into the advantages and disadvantages of prototype development. We shall start with the benefits of the prototype development strategy.
Advantages of Prototype Development
A prototype has several benefits. It helps verify the concept of a new product, the issues in design, test functionality and collect feedback from potential users.
Further, it also helps reach the concept to the development team and business stakeholders. There is enough scope for making corrections, and easy to spot missing functionalities.
Limitations of Prototype Development
It is expensive and time-consuming, particularly for complex products. Also, another drawback is that, since it is not the final product, there are chances that the user feedback on the prototype may be inaccurate.
Solutions often differ from the expected standard as developers want to build the prototype quickly. Also, customers may or may not accept the product.
The Idea Behind MVP
An MVP is a product development approach that involves a much broader aspect. As opposed to the prototype, MVP intends to validate the market feasibility of the product apart from its core functionalities. It verifies if the potential customers accept and pay for the product.
For example, if you are a company offering software development services in the UK or in any part of the world, you can use the MVP strategy if it suits your business requirements.
MVP offers basic and essential features of the product under development. It helps users to respond so developers can make necessary amendments.
Benefits of MVP Development Approach
Just like the prototype approach, the MVP strategy also has some advantages. As the name suggests, MVP features only minimum but must-have functionalities needed. It features only the ultimate purpose for which the product is built.
Additionally, it helps in testing and iterating products based on user feedback. Another benefit is that it involves a little investment in time and resources. An MVP lets the software development team test and fix issues based on user feedback. Therefore, there is plenty of scope for minimizing risks related to product development.
Limitations of MVP Approach
Even though the MVP strategy offers several benefits, it is not free from limitations. Some of the limitations include that since it is a basic version of a product to be built, it needs the features of a fully developed product. Therefore, in such cases, there is a risk involved as customers cannot experience the real feel and look of the final product.
Now that we have understood the basic meaning and benefits of prototype and MVP let us discuss the major differences between both strategies.
A Closer Look at Prototype vs. MVP
Before you go with a prototype or MVP development strategy, make sure that you compare both approaches and learn the differences between them.
Indeed, prototype and MVP approaches are outstanding tools for software development, but they provide different purposes with unique attributes.
Let’s compare both based on certain parameters and check out what they offer.
Prototype or MVP – Which One Do You Want to Select?
As we all know, huge risks are involved in the software development services industry. Therefore, no matter if you are a company dealing with software development services in the UK or a global software services company, verify the demand for a product before its launch. It happens during the development stage, and prototype and MVP, as explained above, are two different approaches in software development.
Being a company providing software development services in the UK or operating from anywhere around the world, you should either select prototype or MVP development strategies based on your needs.
As a first step, investigating a few aspects would help you find the most suitable development approach.
A prototype strategy seems better if you run out of time and money when you want to demonstrate your product’s UX and UI design flows to stakeholders.
Also, the prototype approach is an excellent development method when you want to build a product that provides an outstanding user experience.
On the other hand, MVP is ideal when you have little idea if the concept solution would relate to the market needs.
Under such a situation, creating an MVP helps. It guides you through the development process and works when you have budget constraints. It also reduces resource wastage when you develop a final product without testing market viability.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is MVP and Prototype in business?
A prototype is a development approach that tests the fundamental ideas behind the product. In comparison, MVP showcases the essential features useful for testing and receiving user feedback with less time and money.
What are the benefits of MVP when compared to a prototype?
An MVP is a functional version with the essential features of a product that lets the developers collect user feedback. While a prototype gives only a general idea of the product, particularly its look and feel, user interface design and user experience.
What is the most basic type of prototype?
Diagrams and sketches are the basic forms of prototype development strategy. It needs only minimal effort and is useful for conceptualizing a new product or idea with the development team members for making further improvements.
Software Development Services at ThinkPalm
It doesn’t matter if you are a company offering software development services in the UK or whether you want to select a prototype or MVP, you can leverage ThinkPalm’s software development services. Regardless if you select a prototype or MVP approach, both require careful planning and professional support.
Our dedicated development team work to make your product perform remarkably well in the market. We help you analyze features, user preferences and behaviour and make essential improvements. We focus on promoting your brand as the company offering the most advanced and flawless software development services in the UK. Our aim is to help you win more customers each day by beating the competition through efficient development solutions.
Ensure your product works the best in all cases. Get extra peace of mind while you emerge as one of the biggest companies offering software development services in the UK or around the world. Use ThinkPalm’s support in software development to help you select the best suitable strategy.
Author Bio
Silpa Sasidharan is a content writer and social media copywriting expert working at ThinkPalm Technologies, who aspires to create marketing texts for topics spanning from technology, automation and digital business solutions.
