If you’re a corporate business – big or small – you need to have Custom software development that automates most of your business processes, including tasks, activities, HRMS, etc. It eases your daily stumbling blocks and gives you an edge over your competitors.
You might be wondering, how can we do such a thing?
Custom software design and development will have an answer to the question. It’s a unique way to design custom software based on your pain points and provides the exact thing that you’re looking for in your business needs.
Traditionally, the process used to build such software for a commercial business is called COTS – commercial off-the-shelf software. Such software provides massive support for the industries but lacks fundamental features. Those drawbacks include:
- What if the company needs to scale up and wants to add more employees?
- Some organization wants to add more customization to facilitate their people. How can they accomplish this without performing significant changes?
- Automating only one sector of a specific branch without doing a significant overhaul cannot be brought about because of using COTS.
COTS doesn’t provide any solutions to the above questions. They are also called Bespoke software; consider it a tailor-made suit. Therefore, a company wants more customization, cost reduction, efficiency, and control in today’s era. Here comes the custom software design and development to the rescue!
Perhaps you think CSD is a brand new technology for the future. No, that’s not true! But, all the processes that we used to perform on COTS are used here. From development to deployment, all the industry practices are the same. And mindset is what is changed.
So, let’s take a breath of fresh air and look at what has changed in CSD.
Advantages of Developing CSD Over COTS:
Here are some of the boons of having custom software design and development (CSD) over commercially off-the-shelf software (COTS):
- Efficiency: The efficiency advantage of CSD over COTS is by far an essential factor when considering switching. Because they are designed to perform tasks that are made for them, streamlining the process is easier than one can ever imagine.
- Customization or Scalability: The company has the choice to scale its product whenever the hiring process begins. Traditionally, they have a limit. Either too large or too small. And whenever the maximum capacity (of adding new employees) reaches, they have to call developers to perform a major overhaul on the software.
- One-time cost: Companies don’t have to spend many resources each time while upgrading the software. Usually, the developers set aside a development cost and tell companies before creating the product. Custom software tends to provide flexibility in cost reduction.
- Freedom: Aside from pre-existing software (easy to use), custom software provides more freedom and flexibility to the company. Resources are easier to manage, and they only need to worry about things they are really concerned about. However, the cost of managing and upgrading the software has to lie on the company side that had it developed.
Still, however, one cannot apply CSD in every aspect of business and always choose them over COTS. It is impossible to replace all of COTS’s ways of doing things. Companies such as real estate, grocery makers, etc., don’t have such complex requirements for which they need up-to-date CSDs, they can rely on traditional pre-packaged solutions, and it works perfectly for them.
Keys to Determine Before Choosing CSD:
Before you choose custom software development for your business, it’s our suggestion to run a “buy vs. build” analysis. It tells you whether you (really) need CSD or your business will be okay with using COTS. According to a research conducted by Capterra:
“The report tells that many businesses think that their project might fail, and fewer than 1/3rd are completed on time.”
Below are a few points that will help you analyze your business:
- Consult with your company’s workforce, managers, salespeople, and board of directors about the need to have an (automated) system that can manage their tasks more efficiently than the existing system.
- Set requirements that are precise, clear, and consistent with the business you’re working with. Then analyze those requirements and assess if your current software is compatible with them. When COTS compromises the quality of your product, look for solutions that can improve it.
- Think of new technologies that can positively impact your business and solve your current problem rather than going for a product change. If you need automation AI can help you with it, it can work along with the existing software you’re using. Cloud can also provide you with different solutions that might impact and ease hordes of (time-consuming) jobs.
- Ask developers for a solution. They will provide you with COTS models that don’t need a major upgrade and are compatible with your business’s tech stacks. AI, blockchain, and cloud solutions might be enough for you to solve basic needs and avoid common issues.
- Use analytics in your applications. Introduce technologies like deep learning, natural language processing, etc., in your product, so they can process vast chunks of data and make a predictive analysis based on that. Observing minor snags will be very helpful for resolving them quickly.
Things to Ponder on:
Ask the developers about Low code. It is also an effective practice that involves a reduction of little to no coding techniques used to build commercial applications.
It’s your job to analyze and examine the right solution for your business. Don’t make decisions in haste. Always consult with other employees, the board of directors, and managers before reaching a final decision.
Because the competency required to manage custom-developed software is sometimes more significant than the packaged ones.
Custom design and development software have their own boons and banes, and if decided accurately, they are essential in many aspects.
Therefore, it’s essential to know and search for an existing packaged software solution that can cover 70-80% of the work. If there is (our suggestion is), you shouldn’t consider switching to CSD. songs gdf
