Your business is growing, and so is the need for a more efficient way of dealing with your success so you keep achieving great results.

If you’re considering replacing your Excel dynamic tables (no matter how well they’re performing) with a more efficient solution, this article about the advantages of custom software development is for you.

Custom software is also known as tailor-made software, bespoke software or personalised software. Unlike the so-called packaged software (or COTS, “commercial off-the-shelf solutions”), custom software is designed and developed to answer the specific needs of users. This could have huge benefits in critical areas of a business, like inventory management, finance and accounting, as well as education and human resources.

What exactly are the main benefits of tailor-made software? We’d like to share four of them with you.

1 – Tailored result

Of course, the name says it all: custom software has the great advantage of being specifically developed for the needs of users, no matter how peculiar or specific they might be. Surprisingly, companies may have different requirements according to multiple factors: industry, geography, language, law regulations… As an example, when it comes to time tracking for, let’s say, a restaurant, you’d think that a standard solution could satisfy every client. Unfortunately, part-time shifts and maternity leave regulations may vary from one country to another – or in the case of Switzerland, this would be the case, even between different cantons.

2 – Best control

Tailor-made software encourages control and independence – both technically and economically.

• First, when your software is built from scratch to match your working environment, integration with 3rd party applications already in use is usually an easy and error-free process, but with COTS this may not always be the case.

• Additionally, packaged software pricing is often based on a recurring revenue model, which may increase the cost far more than expected. This can be the case when customers pay per number of users that log into the solution, or by usage (how much they use the software).

• Custom software development is also the best way to avoid unwanted updates and time-consuming system outages.

3 – Best user experience

Users can be very different from each other: demographic, age, degree, background, ability to use technologies, and so on.

Generic software is more focused on the purpose, rather than the people who will deal with it on a regular basis, to the detriment of user experience and productivity.

Tailor-made software, on the other hand, takes into account the specificity of end-users and, by releasing functional prototypes before the development of the final solution, they receive and implement early-stage feedback.

4 – Cost-effective

End users benefit from tailor-made software development, and so do their employers.

Less training is required, productivity increases and long-term costs are lower than those of standard software. These compensate for the higher upfront investment of custom development, not to mention the hidden costs that off-the-shelf applications may generate, such as requiring specific hardware to run efficiently.

COTS can be preferred by younger companies with limited time and resources, but custom software development can be the best choice when you’re considering the growth and scalabilty of your business.

Not only intuitive software makes life easier for you and for your team, but it also helps create new business opportunities. Our client, Finser Packaging, knows it, which is why they asked Appybros to develop a fully customised inventory management solution for the benefit of their employees, their business and their results.

Conclusion

Your business is unique and so should the software that helps you run it.

Want to know whether you should invest in a custom or a generic software solution? Don’t wait. Get in touch with us now . We promise to give you our (honest!) advice for free.

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