The conflicts between hardware and software teams is a constant problem in the tech sector, but it doesn’t have to be. Read on as we discuss what is hardware integration and how the conflicts can be solved quite easily.
Apple vs. Android: Seamless Integration vs. Disjointed Implementation
To exemplify what hardware integration is in its proper sense, we can easily take the differences between iPhones and third-party Android smartphones. While Android really does now have a number of advantages over iOS, as far as providing a seamless experience is concerned, the iPhone is still significantly ahead.
The fact is that everything from the SoC to the software itself is manufactured under Apple’s exclusive guidance, even when some parts are supplied by external companies. This has made things super easy at Apple for both software and hardware engineers, because they are all essentially working in sync, under the same guidelines and have instant knowledge about changes made at either end.
Is It Possible for Small Businesses to Achieve the Same?
A few years ago, the answer would be no, because the available technology simply wasn’t good enough to achieve similar hardware-software integration without a huge budget at that time.
However, what is hardware integration today and how can it affect a product’s final performance? With online resources and tools such as Upverter, hardware-software integration has actually become simple. Upverter makes seamless collaboration between the software and the hardware team, an intuitive and instant process. In fact, the PCB design tool is easy enough to use for almost anyone with just a basic understanding of electronics on either end.
The Human Aspect of Collaboration
We rely on automation heavily these days to improve and speed up various processes in a product’s development, but the human aspect is still as relevant today as it was five years ago.
What this means is that the collaborative tools, helpful as they are, cannot help teams that do not have the skills necessary for the project in question. Identifying and switching personnel in either team could see remarkable improvements in promoting a better understanding between hardware and software teams.
What About Co-Location?
If a company is able to get both its software and hardware teams to do work side-by-side, under the same roof, they would be in an ideal situation. Communication becomes much faster and simpler as a result of this set up. However, this is usually not a feasible option for smaller companies, as they often have to outsource some of the work.
As already mentioned, this could have been an impediment five years ago, but fortunately, we have collaborative tools like Upverter to work with today, which makes co-location unnecessary.
It is to be understood that the conflicts in between software and hardware engineers are not something that can easily be solved only because they can now collaborate. The idea is to make it as easy as possible to solve those conflicts by providing a seamless, digital environment common to both teams.
