In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, Superior Digital is featured as one of our Top Mobile App Developers in the United States. Check out their profile here.
First, What Is Custom Software Development?
Custom software development is the process of designing and developing a software program to meet the individual needs of one or more customers.
Custom software development can come in many forms, including customizations to existing software programs, integration between 3rd party applications, web applications, business data analysis, cloud computing solutions, and others.
Why Does Custom Software Give Your Business The Edge?
Many businesses today focus solely on the short-term and don’t consider the long-term. The focus is on tactically solving short-term problems with “band-aid” solutions. This means that they often fail to realize that they will need software that is customized to their needs down the road to scale, grow and automate their processes and systems.
It has been reported that 70% of businesses are not using any kind of custom software. This is a move in the wrong direction for a growing number of companies. The companies that are using custom-designed software will have a tremendous advantage over their competitors who are living in a manual, human-powered environment.
Before we discuss the benefits of custom software development, let’s talk about the reasons why most companies aren’t successfully using it.
One of the major reasons that companies aren’t using custom software is the belief that this process is too complex and costly. But, this simply isn’t true. An example is one of our clients that has been able to save 160 man-hours per day using a single application that automatically handles the processing of data, organizing, and generating reports.
Of course, from a short-term perspective, these companies want to spend less money and time, but in the long run, custom software development is affordable and flexible.
Why You Should Reconsider The Use Of General SaaS Products
Off-the-shelf software is a compromise. It’s a compromise because it allows you to have the best of both worlds. It offers you scalability, but from a feature and customization perspective doesn’t provide for exactly what you need when it comes to an integrated experience. In addition, it doesn’t offer very much customization and flexibility as your custom tool allows you. In some cases, you can pay a premium to have custom features developed–but that will be a large expense that you will need to pay along with your monthly or annual subscription fees.
Off-the-shelf software can appear to be tempting for their one size fits all approach, but they are not always the best option. It is typically quite expensive in terms of subscription fees along with user-related fees, but it can be quick to deploy.
If you’re looking for a custom solution that meets your specific needs, then off-the-shelf software is probably not the right choice.
From our experience, and that of our clients, here are three reasons to reconsider going with a one-size-fits-all solution that most SaaS products deliver.
1. Hidden Fees and Additional Costs
While off-the-shelf software is generally less expensive upfront compared to building your software, it’s not necessarily free. Most companies purchase it on a per seat, per month basis, so the price of the software is usually in addition to a monthly subscription fee.
2. Security Concerns and Bugs
The reason most companies choose off-the-shelf software is that it’s easy and fast to set up. But, this doesn’t mean your data is safe. A lot of off-the-shelf software has security issues.
These issues can be exacerbated if the software is used in a shared environment. When software is used in a shared environment, there’s always the chance that someone on the network or a third party will gain access to your data.
If your company is regulated with HIPAA or other industry standards – you could be in hot water with regulators if the SaaS is not up to par. Some nuances need to be considered.
3. Likely Not Built For Your Specific Business
If you have a unique problem or requirements that the mainline software doesn’t cover, then you could be out of luck. Most off-the-shelf software is created by the companies that are selling it and it is built to solve a blanket problem, not a specific set of issues that your organization needs. Most of the time, this creates a disconnect between the software and your business leading to more SaaS products needing to be subscribed to.
For example, if you’re a financial services company, it’s not likely that your software would be designed to help a financial company exclusively–and even if it is–you have unique and specific needs that may not be covered.
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How Does Custom Software Avoid Costly Mistakes in Your Business?
Custom software solutions are designed to meet your business needs, rather than being a one-size-fits-all solution. This means that the out-of-the-box features are tailored to your specifications.
This reduces the risk of expensive mistakes in your business, which is common when using off-the-shelf software. It also guarantees that your company’s needs are met by having control over customizations and integrations that are necessary for your industry.
The Benefits Of Custom Software Development
The benefits of custom software development are many. It’s often the best way to achieve specific goals and objectives since every business is unique. Customization also allows for systems to be tailored to your unique needs, which can be cost-effective in the long run.
Additionally, when you build your solutions, you can control how it evolves and adapts to changing business needs without having to wait on the standard bureaucracy and high development costs that SaaS companies tend to charge.
Here are 11 benefits of developing custom software for your business.
1. Scales Your Organization
Custom software can help your company scale to meet the needs of a growing business. There are many benefits from implementing custom software, including the ability to complete work more efficiently and accurately, providing a competitive edge in areas such as customer service and productivity, and being able to integrate data from other enterprise systems.
Custom software can help your company scale to meet the needs of a growing business. Think about your business as a set of systems, if you need to scale the sales force, for example, you could handle that at minimal or no cost using your system. A SaaS will have additional fees, setup times, and additional steps that need to be in place before you can do that.
You can also scale using your custom technology because you are automating your manual processes, instead of having to hire more people to do manual data sorting or generating reports. For example, a simple app can handle the workload of 20-200 individuals and do their work in a matter of seconds. And you can achieve that without having to worry about the elements of human error as well.
2. Improves Productivity
In today’s global economy, many companies are looking for new ways to increase productivity. In the past, the most common way to increase productivity has been to reduce costs by implementing more efficient machinery and processes. Custom software is an addition to the mix of tools some businesses use to stay competitive. Custom software solutions allow an organization’s employees to focus on their jobs and the most important tasks rather than turning their attention and time toward manually updating and tracking data that could be done automatically.
This can enhance productivity overall, and most custom software solutions can do this automatically and effectively. Think about the number of times that a small error has a butterfly effect across your teams and departments. That can be a thing of the past.
3. Betters ROI
Some businesses are concerned about custom software development costs. The truth is, if you take the time to design and develop a custom solution, you will save money in the long run. It is an investment that provides a very measurable and trackable ROI.
That’s because custom software is more flexible and easy to upgrade compared to a standard software product. With a custom solution, your business will be able to adjust to new developments in your industry, improve the quality of service you provide and be able to show growth and improvement in your organization at the end of day your running costs are pennies on the dollar compared to any other option.
4. Integrates With Other Programs
When you buy standard software your business has to integrate the software with other programs and systems, such as customer databases, accounting packages, and other applications.
However, custom software can be designed to work with a variety of systems and applications to make your business more efficient and streamlined.
A custom software solution can be a powerful tool for integrating several software programs into a single, cohesive program. In today’s digital world, it’s important to be able to analyze and extract data from multiple sources so you can more easily store and manage it.
5. Allows Your Business To Grow
By buying standard software, you are locked into a system that has a predetermined set of features. If your business needs to grow or change you will have to pay additional fees to “upgrade” to a new version and new features. Custom software, on the other hand, allows you to add features and functionality as needed. If your business expands, you can upgrade your software to a new version without worrying about whether or not it will affect your current software.
6. Provides A Competitive Advantage
With custom software, you can successfully integrate your business systems to create a competitive advantage. This can ensure that your business stays ahead of the curve and that your employees have access to the information they need to do their jobs more efficiently and accurately. Think about having real-time market data directly in front of your team when they need it for example, in one place, without having to log into or access five to seven different programs, then merging that information.
7. Improves Customer, Client Service, and Partnerships
One of the main reasons that people choose custom software over standard software is that it can provide an improved customer user experience. For example, if you provide a custom solution that allows customers to receive service online, you can eliminate the need for a service technician or tech team to answer their questions or troubleshoot their issues. Your software could contain an AI that chats with your client and solves common mistakes without needing hours of consulting time from your internal team.
8. Positions Your Company As The Only Logical Choice
Custom software is a unique and innovative product that you can build specifically for your business. The most innovative products are those that are tailored to your business. For example, a CRM application that is customized for your business can provide a competitive advantage by giving you the ability to serve customers in a specific way that your competition doesn’t have access to. If you consider the fact that the same SaaS products you have access to, your entire market has access to, you will see the value of having a superior solution that only your company uses.
Think about a project management solution. While your competitors may be using Jira or something similar, you can have a superior solution that does more for your market and adds more value to your clients. Your clients in turn will associate that added value with your company and will not be able to find another solution that meets their needs as your company does.
9. Optimizes Business Process
Custom software allows you to create optimized business processes. You can use this software development process to automate key business processes, allowing your company to manage its operations more.
10. Keep Your Software Up-To-Date
When your software is customized, it tends to stay up-to-date because your needs are specific to your business problems. If your business needs to grow or you need to implement additional features, custom software is the way to go.
11. Easier to Maintain
Custom software solutions offer a higher level of stability than using off-the-shelf software. This means that they are more resistant to security threats and software updates that can trigger bugs and errors. Plus, the use of custom software is more agile and allows for higher levels of efficiency in systems. In addition, it gives you the ability to make changes to your business systems if you need to.
In conclusion, the best way to prevent costly mistakes in your business is to invest in custom software. Custom software makes it much easier for you to manage your business, which will save you time and money.
Many business models that rely on high-quality custom software can avoid costly mistakes by reducing or eliminating repetitive tasks, improving customer service, and increasing accuracy with high-level KPIs and data management.
Not sure where to start? Look into outsourcing a software development company today.