What is Systems Development?
In simple words, systems development is nothing more than the art and science of making resourceful and effective systems that are capable of fixing a determinate problem or satisfying a specific need on their own. Nowadays, thanks to the multiple technological advancements of the century, systems development is extremely related to application development, as everyone desires to have an online presence in order to solve many problems or obtain more attention on the internet.
Systems development focuses on the creation, planning, testing, and deployment of many applications or systems that can boost the efficiency or capacities of a company or business with the purpose of increasing sales, boosting security, improving efficiency or so many other factors.
What is Application Development and Why it is Related to Systems Development?
On the other hand, application development is the whole process of creating software that can support a business function or boost the efficiency of a determined workgroup/environment. It might share similar principles with the previously explained term, but they are not the same thing as this one focuses on software development, so it is something that will be done with many programming tools and digital resources.
However, just like with any other system, this process requires a lot of planning, analysis as well as testing, and deployment in order to make sure that everything works as planned and that the purpose and objectives of the software can be obtained.
Normally, these applications can be “rented” or accessed by paying a monthly fee or with a single-time payment, and that is how enterprises make money with these kinds of software.
What is the Relationship Between Application Development and System Development?
They might be tightly related, but application development refers to the whole design and creation of software, meaning that it could be part of a system rather than the whole system by itself. This is an interesting fact as it can be understood that system development indirectly covers application development and design, especially when nowadays they require the assistance of software in order to be completed or work as intended.
The main differences between these two concepts are the next ones:
- System developers are responsible for building the parts required for the system and then proceeding to match parts. On the other hand, application developers do the same but with unique software that might be used as a tool to complete tasks or objectives in the system.
- Application development requires the usage and understanding of modern programming technologies such as programming languages, frameworks, databases and so much more while a system developer might only need SQL and Operating Systems knowledge to complete the work.
- System developers might create a scale data system from scratch with the purpose of being different from the competition while application developers can use and connect to many data sources without having the fear of copying the competence.
In simple words, both are needed as stepping stones for each other, especially nowadays when technological advancements are becoming a part of society.