Every business needs software to manage data, improve customer service, and advance internal processes. Various marketplaces offer our customers a stunning range of software products and services. It makes a choice difficult. We share our software development experience to help you decide. What is better: ready-made or custom software? What to do: to buy a product or to develop the app? To avoid mistakes and save time and money, we offer an overview of the benefits of custom software development.
Custom software solutions created from scratch for the needs of a particular business are always unique and specialized. They adapt to existing business processes and allow you to implement new features quickly. There are no analogs in this case. Their interface is designed specifically for employees and customers of this particular company. All special software functions and tools are fully used, as well as all the capacities. Of course, such custom-made software allows you to work as efficiently as possible.
Moreover, this type of software belongs only to the company that uses it. It means that you can add and remove features. You can constantly develop an individual software solution following new business requirements.
Custom software development provides control over any changes and absolute independence from third parties. Therefore, large companies like Amazon, Uber, Netflix, McDonald’s, and Google prefer custom software development.
Knowing the differences between custom and standardized software is essential to decide which one you need. According to the list of tasks assigned, the software should meet the needs of as many consumers as possible, providing the most demanded functionality. Standard programs may only sometimes satisfy the needs of enterprises that perform highly specialized tasks, for example, using some unique equipment. The maximum effect of individualization, “sharpening” for the needs of a particular enterprise or person, is achieved in office work, dealing with a client, or operating some statistical data, including accounting for the turnover of financial and material resources.
Also, standard and custom software differ significantly. Customized apps are developed by a sufficient number of companies in the field of resource management, as well as in the organization of automated reporting, plans, and other documents that are necessary for the commercial activities of any enterprise. The ability of the program to perform the task assigned to it as quickly and comfortably as possible, taking into account the specifics of the organization operating it and the existing infrastructure, becomes a key factor for customers.
Now we see a growing interest in ordering custom software development among representatives of large businesses. It is especially true for industrial enterprises and the financial sector. However, in our time of high technology, even not-so-large-scale companies seek to improve the quality of work and customer service by creating additional services.
Custom software is a significant competitive advantage, mainly if it aims to improve customer service quality.
High-tech tools for automating business processes can significantly increase profits, reduce costs and save company money.
Software developed for your company can help you control employees’ work and improve workflow management’s efficiency within the enterprise.
Technical support of the software will ensure the smooth operation of automatic systems.
Let’s look at these and the other benefits of outsourcing custom software development.
When you buy off-the-shelf software, you can never be sure it will work in your enterprise. Developing software specifically for your company ensures that the solution is reliable.
Custom software development may be expensive but profitable in the long run. Custom software does not require constant change or development following the company’s requirements. It can be used without any investment for a long time. To expand access to the application, you do not need to pay more (as is often the case with ready-made solutions). Also, you do not need to pay for additional features that you may need in your work.
Software that is often hacked is popular on the market. Hackers and attackers are already aware of the vulnerabilities of such software and know where to find a compromise. Custom-designed software will be used only by your team, and the chance of being hacked is minimized.
Custom software can be scaled to meet changing business needs. A ready-made application cannot be manipulated easily. Its further use becomes either too expensive or impractical.
Organizations use a lot of software for their work. Custom software considers these factors and is designed to be compatible with the company’s other tools. Ready-made software typically causes integration issues that custom software does not.
Your direct competitors will likely use the same software if yours is custom. With it, you decide how your software will look and work and thus be able to be more successful in the market. For example, you can make it more client-oriented, and your competitors use ready-made software with restrictions.
With custom software, you don’t have to worry about some features not working. The software owner may terminate the software at any time. But with custom software, this is not the case: its buyer is the sole owner of the software, and no one will take it away.
The need to order the development of individual software arises if:
Creating and implementing software that allows you to automate business in an enterprise is a process that takes time and effort. First, you need to understand the project’s scope, discuss specific details, determine the customer problems the program should solve, and whether you can use all the custom software development benefits.
Therefore, to announce the final price for creating software, the developer will only be able to receive initial information from you and discuss the details of the project. The terms of software development also depend on these details.
The work is divided into stages. The first results of the software with basic functionality can be seen in a couple of months. In subsequent phases, the developer will continue to refine the program and expand its functionality.
Staged work allows you to speed up the process, keep it entirely under control, maintain productive feedback from the customer in the process of work, and, if necessary, adjust the program.
Before starting the project, the developer agrees with the customer on the problem that the program should solve.
Further, the developer tries to give the most detailed description of the developed software’s possibilities. In other words, he specifies the functionality and draws up a straightforward technical task.
Starting to work on the program itself, specialists draw up a framework – the system’s architecture, which includes the following:
Then comes the detailed design, which means the development of the program at the initial level. At this stage, different options and ways of implementing the project are compared, and methods and classes are designed. This stage is critical when creating large projects.
The next step is coding and debugging the program. Surprisingly, as you can see, this is far from the only stage in software creation. And the presence of all the previous work moments determines the project’s quality and speed.
After the program code is ready, debugging and testing of the functionality will be required. If the software contains several components, each is tested separately first.
When testing is completed, specialists integrate the components into a single complex and test the entire system. This stage allows you to identify and eliminate problems with the interaction of individual software components. It is also mandatory to test the performance and security of the system.
After testing is completed and the program is fully debugged, the developer is ready to present the result to the customer.
Custom software developed for you can provide you with primary business and commercial benefits and a significant competitive advantage. A custom application is easier to use and can work according to your company’s business processes. However, such an app costs more than ready-made software (both in terms of time and money). Suppose you decide to develop custom software. In that case, you’ll need professional developers working with industry standards that will provide you with the application’s source code and support. In such a case, you can only use all the custom software development benefits.
Tell us about your project and we’ll be glad to help.
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