The last thing any business wants is to become a victim of its own success. This is why companies that deal in business models featuring software as a service, online video games with dedicated servers, web hosting services, and more have to be careful about the load their systems can handle. Having an influx of new customers that exceeds your expectations can crash your system, doing real harm to it while upsetting current customers who rely upon your service. Here are five ways you can make sure your system can handle the load and won’t limit your success.
Scalability Testing
The concept of scalability is incredibly important when it comes to your business, especially in regard to your end user experience. There are many things that affect just how scalable your system is such as hardware and software limitations. This makes it critical to assess your scalability early on.
A great way to do this is to use software that can simulate heavy load conditions. Not only can it give you an accurate idea of just what your systems can handle, but it can also simulate metrics from around the world for an in depth look at what your system is truly capable of handling. Using this software, you can then plan the growth of your system accordingly.
Streamline the User Experience
One of the factors that can lead to load problems with end user content is inefficient coding, and an end user experience that is overly complicated. By streamlining these variables, you can reduce the load on your system without expanding it. While this is sometimes used as a stop-gap strategy during an emergency, it is also a great way to prepare for an influx of new customers.
Troubleshooting Problems Quickly
Speaking of which, when a problem does arise, it’s important to get it taken care of as quickly as possible. Identifying, and eliminating bottlenecks in your system can be the difference between your system continuing to function normally, and having it crash. The good news is that identifying these problems early on is easy with the right software. Go here to learn more about how to prevent a bottleneck.
Ongoing Testing
Businesses can grow unpredictably. Not all of your success will play out according to plan, and there is always the chance that you could strike gold on accident, exploding your customer base overnight. To prepare for this success, you need to have an ongoing load testing routine that constantly monitors your systems and assesses their viability should an influx occur. This will keep your systems running and give you a little peace of mind.
Specific Testing for Specific Networks
Many different types of systems need to be load tested, but not all of them should be tested the same way. For example, an SaaS operation would be tested differently than an On-Perm system. Fortunately, there is software that can handle both, as well as provide you with hybrid solutions should your system fall somewhere in the middle. This will help keep you up and running regardless of your business model, and the end user experience you provide.
