We all use software every day. No matter the business or industry, software is just part of the world now. Most businesses use standardized, off-the-shelf tools for many tasks. Microsoft and Google products are so prolific that the average person is expected to have familiarity with them.
Yet, such generalized tools don’t always provide the best options for every place of business. As an example, what if you need specialized data integration software? You can try to make an off-the-shelf solution work, but you have another option entirely. You can invest in custom software.
Custom software development offers many advantages and opportunities, and when you understand them, it’s easy to see how they can contribute to long-term business growth.
Saving Money Over Time
From a business standpoint, custom software is only justifiable if it improves the bottom line in some meaningful way.
When you compare custom software to off-the-shelf options, a few points come to the forefront. First, custom software typically represents a single investment. You pay the developer(s) to make the software, and that’s it.
Meanwhile, off-the-shelf solutions often come with monthly fees, upgrade costs, and ongoing expenses. Over time, those add up and eclipse the raw financial investment needed for custom software.
On top of that, security and maintenance for custom solutions typically cost less. Because custom software is not widely available, it’s less likely that malicious parties will find vulnerabilities to exploit. Thus, it’s safer, and that safety can save a lot of money over time too.
Better Integration
Unless you buy into an entire off-the-shelf ecosystem, you’re going to find clunky integration at best. Sure, some things will work together, but others won’t.
One of the primary motivators for custom software is deliberate integration. You can tell the developers what software you use and how, and they can plan, from the beginning, how to integrate the new software with your existing staples.
You can and should expect seamless integration, and you can expect for this integration to further improve the value of your custom software. After all, it provides new solutions without inhibiting your use of older solutions.
Planned Scalability
Along those same lines, planning custom software from the beginning allows for better scalability strategies. When you stick with off-the-shelf options, scalability usually exists, but you have to buy into increasingly expensive support tiers as you grow.
Custom software gives you more control over your own scalability. If you use in-house servers and resources for most of your scalability, the custom software can simply expand with your hardware.
If you’re planning to buy into cloud support, then the custom software developer can design around that as well. Naturally, various combinations of scalability can all fit into the custom design process.
The point is that your software developer is intentionally building around your existing scalability strategy.
Improve Workflows
Arguably the most powerful advantage of custom software lives in improved workflows. Custom software can automate tasks that waste time and don’t really benefit from human input — such as data entry. It can also streamline communication and resource allocation.
It can also address specific bottlenecks in your workflows to reduce the amount of time, energy, and labor you put into some of the most common tasks in your workplace.
This makes your workflows more efficient and more valuable, ultimately improving the ROI on labor investments. Leveraged correctly, custom software can make it more profitable to expand your labor force and accelerate growth timelines.
Custom Features
While this concept does live in the very name of custom software, it’s worth exploring as an individual advantage. You can get custom features built into your software that specifically suit your organization and how you do things.
This often makes custom software more intuitive and easier to use. It also means you have the technological ability to carry out specific tasks in the manner of your choosing. Custom features can help with any aspect of your processes, from customized search engines to business-specific autofill features.
Custom features make up an essential element of software that perfectly fits your business.
Ownership
Custom software is yours. If you outsource development, licensing agreements might vary, but the developer is making the software specifically for you. You get to negotiate how it gets maintained. You can outright own it.
Sure, this prevents you from paying monthly fees just for access to your own software, but ownership extends further.
You have more power and flexibility in how you use your software over time. You’re not at the mercy of an outsourced customer service call center that doesn’t really understand your business. If you want new features or updates, you can commission them.
The ability to direct the life of your software allows you to continue to extract value from it even as your business evolves.
Professional Relationships
The establishment of professional relationships creates value that is difficult to quantify. Ultimately, someone has to build your custom software. That someone becomes an effective business partner. They learn about your business in order to build the software, and they are invested in your success through this relationship. As an outsider vested in your success, they may offer fresh perspectives for further improving productivity.
The software developer becomes a professional resource that you can count on in the future, especially if you have additional custom software needs. You can reach out to them for professional advice, planning, and development projects.
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