Early in October last year, it could be remembered that the US federal government launched HealthCare.gov to let Americans shop for insurance plans with great ease. Shortly after the site was launched, the first-ever users were frustrated by its performance. Thus, in this blog we will discuss the web development lessons that businesses should learn.
HealthCare.gov was plagued by numerous problems, ranging from crashed servers and security issues to bugs, errors and slow load times. In short, the website was a disaster and is a perfect example of what businesses should not do when developing their websites and launching them for the first time.
In an article published at entrepreneur.com, tech journalist Kim Lachance Shandrow specified three web development lessons businesses should learn from the HealthCare.gov fiasco. Here is a brief look at them.
Web Development Lessons: Prepare for Initial Surge of Traffic by Reinforcing Bandwidth
As a website aimed to make insurance plan shopping easier, millions of people visited HealthCare.gov during its launch. Unfortunately, the site was unable to handle the surge of traffic due to a lack of server capacity combined with software code ridden with errors.
One of the web development lessons here is if you are developing a website for your business, you should consider the amount of traffic it will receive once it is up and running. If you anticipate more traffic, then you should load up on your server capacity to ensure it will be able to handle the load and prevent crashes along the way.
Once your site is up and it is attracting more than you have anticipated, the next best thing you can take is to scale up your web servers to meet your website’s traffic requirements.
Web Development Lessons: Thoroughly Assess Security Risks Before Going Live
Four days prior to HealthCare.gov’s launch, officials who are responsible for running the website were warned regarding the site’s level of security preparedness. The site presented “inherent security risks,” as personal information of users, such as birth dates, social security numbers, and sensitive health details were easy targets for identity thieves.
While many of the security issues plaguing the site has been addressed and no successful security breach has been reported according to Federal officials, there are still security problems found on the site that continue to worry users.
One of the web development lessons here is that before you as much as launch your website, you want to make sure that it is secure in every angle. While hiring a cyber-security specialist could set you back, it is a worthy investment because risks will be properly assessed and vulnerable areas within your website will be addressed.
If you cannot hire a cyber-security specialist and you are developing an e-commerce site, consider hosting it through a third-party e-commerce service. Many vendors that offer such a service take it upon themselves to handle most aspects of their client’s website security, thereby assuring you that your website is protected.
Aside from the aforesaid suggestions, it is equally important that you assign a dedicated security team to monitor your website once it is live. Make sure to regularly run tests on all interconnected servers and network perimeter devices to mitigate security risks.
Web Development Lessons: Carry Out Tests Pre and Post Launch
Speaking of testing, HealthCare.gov was not sufficiently tested on all fronts. This is evident when users complain that the site, which was supposedly designed to efficiently assist them in shopping and signing up for health insurance plans, was not performing the way it should be. Glitches and bugs continue plagued the site and servers were sluggish.
Private contractors in charge of building the website also said that the system was not tested enough because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which is responsible for running the site, was determined for its October 1 debut date.
As a business owner, you should be the first to recognize that your website will serve as the face of your business. The way it performs will reflect on your brand, so if it performs badly and does not satisfy customer expectations, then you cannot expect them to come back and use your products or services.
Do not launch your website unless you have thoroughly tested it. You can hire a usability testing company to figure out the weak spots of your site and improve each of them. This pre-launch step will allow you to scrape bad software codes and will give you a clear view if your site is user-friendly or not.
Of course, testing should not be limited to pre-launch alone. You should also make it a point to carry out tests once your site is live, especially when new features will be added or if there are changes that need to be implemented.
These web development lessons shall at least give you an idea of what to do to avoid experiencing the same scenarios. However, we know how much web difficulties are still inevitable. Thus, know that whatever website issue you may encounter, Prime Outsourcing’s Web Team is more than willing to assist you. Connect with us today for more web development lessons and our featured services.
