Is your customized Business Software a Friend or a Foe?

In the past, there are two categories for companies—those with software systems and those that don’t. Nowadays, having software is not enough; you need great software. Software application development will continue to evolve, along with the continuous evolution in technology, and the changing requirements of people and business organizations. 

What is a custom software? A custom or tailored software is designed keeping in mind a certain group of users or a company with specific requirements. With the rise of multinational organizations, the need for a tailored software solution has grown which directly influences the rise of  IT outsourcing services.

What Goes into Making a Custom Business Software?

Any company wishing to make efficient and easier operations opts for custom software development for a solution that’s tailored to their specific requirements. There are various operation sectors to be included for such software to be created and included in the conception stage of development. They include doing research and development, engineering, marketing, and management. 

A typical solution that’s unique to your brand is made and broadcasted further to the custom development teams. Once implemented, the tailored solution is tested on all levels to check out its efficiency and functionality, and once approved, will be delivered to the business to go live. For a business organization, it’s also important to be sure that the customized solution is the perfect fit. 

Your Customized Software—a Friend or Foe?

Today, the key to success in any business endeavor is to go for custom software development. How should you determine if the customized solution is just what your brand needs? 

Development Efficiency

This relates to the performance level of developers or programmers. Determine the development rate throughput, the percentage of the budget is spent on support and maintenance against system improvement. Furthermore, check out how amply the updates are tested and find out if the costs of development ebb and flow with the business cycles. 

Process Efficiency

This takes into consideration the friction point between systems and people. Check out the alignment of the systems to good business processes as well as the personal workflows of employees. Do people work in a way that the system dictates?

Did you spend so much time or less time waiting for the system? It is intuitive? Or, do employees need comprehensive training before they become trusted or proficient? Are outputs personalized in content and form? Or does it need further ‘spreadsheet message’ before data becomes actionable. 

Vital Statistics

These are high level, fundamental things to consider. Is the system very much maintainable, and was it developed with modern architecture, language, and deployment? Consider the plug-ins and scripting invoked. Does it run fast enough to keep pace? Check out when it was last updated and if there’s an unexpected downtime. 

Security is Comparative

Instead of ignoring threats, expose them. Make sure that you have a crisis management team and determine the inherent vulnerabilities to the technology used in creating and deploying the system. How accessible and safe is the underlying code? Moreover, determine how data and access could be misused by both internal and external forces to your organization. 

Readiness for the Future

This recognizes that the future is on the horizon. Are you willing to embrace it or resist it instead? It would be good to find out if the software system could handle future conditions and technologies. 

For instance, the IoT or the Internet of Things and mobility standards of any place, time, and device. Is your company able to innovate at a pace needed to win the customers of the future?

Take Your Business to the Next Level with Customized Software

Check out the four ways that a tailored solution with your unique requirements in mind could take your business to the next level. 

1. Give your Brand More Room to Grow

For startup Business, custom application development could give you the flexibility that you need to grow in the future. As your workload increases and as your profits will grow, your old system may be unable to handle it or could have limitations in the number of transactions it could accommodate or support. A customized solution on the other hand is scalable, which means that it grows as your needs change. 

2. Tailored Business Software Boosts Efficiency

When you need to use several off-the-shelf software pieces to accomplish a task, you could end up wasting valuable time. If your software is making simple issues much more complex than they have to be, then switching to a customized software solution is the way to go. It could help you to use your resources and time more efficiently. 

Tasks that are repetitive, including payroll calculation, data entry, analyzing daily business data, and inventory management, all could be automated with one custom business software, giving you more time to focus on other important matters. 

3. Increase ROI with a Tailored Software

All business decisions, at the end of the day, boils down to a single question: will this boost the bottom line? With custom application development for startups and entrepreneurs, the answer is yes. Anything you do, to make your business efficient naturally would in turn make your business more profitable. 

The most common reason why organizations avoid in custom software investment is because they assume that it could cost them an arm and a leg. Although it’s true that a tailored solution tends to be more expensive upfront compared to an off-the-shelf product, the return on investment is considerably higher in the long run. With the efficient use of time and resources, you could run a more profitable and productive business. 

4. Easy Communication with Different Locations

If you have several locations, communicating with outdated software could be a real headache. When branches use different versions of software and access to various information, it could create confusion and chaos. 

When all your company locations use the same tailored software platform, communication is significantly easier. Getting access to the same data enables more simplified processes and day-to-day problem-solving that’s more efficient. 

Conclusion

In businesses all over the world, whatever industry vertical and size, the need of the hour is customization. A tailored software solution is especially designed to meet your unique needs, therefore, saving you money and time. Definitely, a tailored software product could boost your ROI like no other.