Minimal Viable Product (MVP): What is it? Case Study of Dropbox
It is a fact that the modern workplace lives on the MVP, and people cannot live without it. This has been getting to be truer and truer for years, but the work-from-home revolution brought on by the epidemic proved it. Software technologies designed to support remote work flourished as team members who were dispersed globally and unable to work in an office did so. Minimal Viable Product is the latest catchphrase in town.
What is MVP?
So what is MVP exactly? Here is the definition which I found most appropriate ”Minimum viable product (MVP) is a product version that allows marketers to evaluate its potential. It has only the core functions to satisfy specific consumers' needs.”
There are many examples of MVPs, like Amazon, Airbnb, Dropbox, and Squarespace. And Dropbox is the perfect example of MVP. In its fourteen years of existence, Dropbox has evolved into much more than simply a straightforward cloud storage service in its fourteen years of existence. When it first started, Dropbox was basically a folder on your computer that was also present on any other computer that was connected to Dropbox and had access to the same folder. Although cloud storage is still at the foundation of their business model, you can now actively act on documents and files rather than merely storing them for access by others or by yourself on many devices.
Pros of MVP
When you are enthusiastic about your project, you may overlook several hazards that may be avoided by building a minimal viable product. You may capture a 360-degree view of your goods with this tool without suffering any negative consequences. See the advantages below.
A good analytical tool. When you create a fantastic product, you may believe that everyone will need it, but you can't be sure unless you test it. It can thus find out that other items on the market already meet the demands of your target customers or that your product lacks a distinct competitive edge. You can avoid making a lot of assumptions and spending a lot of money in this situation by creating an MVP.
Always Accessible. Success isn't always indicated by hundreds of sales or downloads, particularly if consumers stop interacting with your product. This can indicate bad user experience and unusable products. You have a fantastic opportunity to examine consumer behavior and discover the reasons why consumers stop using your product. Last but not least, you'll make all the required adjustments before spending money on more product development.
Help to create a better product. You may concentrate on the most crucial features since launching a minimum viable product entails giving them a product with little functionality. You'll discover what people like about it and what problems it doesn't address after testing it with early adopters. People will be glad to assist you in making your product better.
Quick Release. Due to intense market rivalry, company owners waste a lot of time second-guessing the quality of their products. They thus stake all they own on a product whose quality they are uncertain about. Often, it costs thousands of dollars and requires years of development. While an MVP cuts the distance traveled by several times. You will get feedback and be able to take action on it more quickly if you launch your product as soon as possible.
Say Hi to your first client. When you initially enter a market, it might be difficult to win your first customer. It is simple to do this work using an MVP. Your early adopters will be delighted to assist you since people admire companies that value their input. By doing this, you'll receive their frank opinions and get them involved in the development of your company.
Cons of MVP
MVP development is not without its drawbacks. Here are three MVP shortcomings that may prompt you to give up or go back to the drawing board more often than necessary.
Loss of focus. While creating an MVP, it is simple to lose concentration. When using an iterative development process, you must be committed, focused, and very tactical and specific about what you want your final product to be. Otherwise, you risk spending more than you intended to.
Always competition will catch up. Recognize that other people could share your concept, and that your competitors might overtake you sooner than you anticipate. You can also lose market share if competitors notice your product, identify its flaws, fix them, and produce their own superior niche product.
The wrong tech stack for the job. Finding the ideal tech stack and architectural design for the project you're working on could take some time. This process is often unpleasant, costly, and prone to unforeseen delays.
Dropbox: Pioneer of MVP
And Dropbox apparently pioneered the space when it was found in 2007, even iCloud was released in 2011 and Google Drive came out in 2012. According to Drew’s Video Demo (2018), the good thing about Dropbox is that it starts for free. Although a starting Dropbox account only has a small amount of storage, it still offers the majority of the features of the full version. This is a fantastic method to test the platform and see whether it's right for you. And it can be used anywhere on any devices. Every operating system has a desktop version of Dropbox, and every mobile device, including the iPhone, iPad, and Blackberry, has a mobile app. All of your files are accessible whenever and wherever you need them. And it’s extremely easy to understand and to use. Once they are installed on your computer, it inserts an icon in the appropriate menu bar of your operating system and generates a self-titled folder anywhere you want on your computer. All you need to do is add files to the folder once that is set up. When you place a file in a Dropbox folder, the program instantly syncs it with any other computer or device that has access to that same folder. And the most important thing about DropBox is it was secure and backup your files. Your laptop was accidentally left outside in the rain. You forgot your work-related rucksack on the train, which contained everything you needed. Every additional device you connect to your account will be able to access any files you've saved using Dropbox. If you mistakenly destroyed files, you may still view them for a limited period of time.
Controversy of Dropbox
There are more than 600 million users of Dropbox, which has been operational for approximately 13 years. There hasn't been a lack of issues throughout this period. Some of them were the result of hacker activity, but they all demonstrate that the cloud service's handling of customer data is the problem.
The following significant issue was a serious data breach in 2012. Up until 2016, Dropbox thought that just the email addresses of the 68 million users who had their passwords exposed had been exposed in this hack. The service published a public blog post and deployed certain security changes in reaction to this Dropbox security incident.
Anyone whose information may have been compromised at this point got a notification urging them to reset their password. We do not, however, know how many accounts the hackers had access to prior to the addition of additional security measures. Two-step verification options and the ability to log out of other devices from the security page also become accessible.
Employee access to encryption keys drew concern in 2014, while the 2012 breach was caused by a hacked Dropbox account. Your files may still be unlocked and accessed at any time since there was no change to the policy in this case.
Conclusion
The current society needs MVP products like Dropbox. It could make people’s work lives easier. However, like all the technology companies are facing, security problems are always the top priority of businesses, and customers are worried. Because there is nothing more important than keeping your personal information secure.
