Custom Software Can Be The Competitive Edge For Your Business

Businesses always look for ways to outperform their competitors and ensure good customer service to benefit their bottom line. And in this fast-paced digital world, companies must rethink the tools they use to run their businesses.

True innovators know that whoever has the best software to operate in the digital economy is likelier to succeed. This brings into question using off-the-shelf software, which may not be able to accommodate your unique needs now or as you scale your business in this increasingly competitive world.

5 Reasons To Choose Custom Software

Companies realize they will need to hire software developers to build custom solutions to support competency and innovation. This blog post offers five practical reasons to consider custom software over the off-the-shelf solution.

Greater Scalability

As your company grows, so do your needs. You might need to upgrade and have more advanced tools as your business processes get more complex. If it’s not scalable, purchasing a pre-packaged software solution will become an issue once it won’t be able to support your business or if it becomes too expensive to upgrade.

Arguably, there is greater scalability with custom software. Businesses can choose developers from custom software development companies in Austin, TX, or from another location within the USA or worldwide. Most importantly, there will be little disruption to your business operations as your business expands.

Pre-packaged software solutions may be the best fit for small businesses in their startup phase. This is because their operations are still unstable, and the primary focus should be making the organization operational and viable. However, for every growing business, you wouldn’t want your capacity for growth to be limited by software.

Using custom software ensures that your software scales to accommodate your business needs and requirements over time. This can help your business grow faster and stay competitive without being restricted by inadequate software.

So, if your business is at a phase where you can afford the investment, it’ll be worth it!

Compatibility And Better Adoption

How different departments work and communicate will often determine the success of that business. For instance, your production team’s processes differ from what’s required in the marketing and sales groups. Every division or area of any company needs its own systems, policies, and procedures to operate efficiently, including your HR and accounting teams.

However, there is a need for compatibility and collaboration as your teams operate in some isolation but share data as and when required. For example, your accounting and HR teams must calculate staff salaries. Developing budgets for marketing and sales may need data from the finance group. The key to seamless integration and data sharing lies in sound software systems. As your teams become more integrated and connected, you can streamline business processes that give you an edge over competitors.

Cost-Effective And Good ROI

Using bespoke or purpose-built software will be more expensive than ready-made solutions. You’ll face the high upfront cost needed to fulfill the entire software development life cycle.

However, in the long-term perspective, customized software may have a better ROI due to fewer requirements for regular updates than pre-packaged software.

Plus, rather than pay for a feature-rich solution you don’t need, you can get just the essential features for your business uses and scale to include more functions when the need arises.

Improved Cybersecurity

Software security is a big talking point, particularly in collecting and storing personal data.

A pre-packaged software solution is developed for wide, commercial use, and security-rich features may not be its top priority.

You don’t want damage to your business brand and reputation should cybercriminals get access to your customer data. Therefore, adding more security layers to your tailored systems can be a selling point for your business.

Is the source program code of pre-packaged software more easily hacked than custom software? In fact, according to a 2018 report, 96% of the enterprise market uses open-source components. Thus, it poses a higher cybersecurity risk compared to custom software. Moreover, since it contains a more extensive user base, cybercriminals are more attracted to target such software as they can get more sensitive data and resources than in custom software.

Bespoke software can reduce the chance of intrusion since your development team uses its own tools to build software. Additionally, cybercriminals are less likely to attack custom software because of the low payoff potential.

Another consideration is the lack of control you have over the off-the-shelf software. You don’t own it, and your business depends on the company that owns it.

Maintenance And Support

With custom software, your business can invest in support services more than pre-packed solutions.

Continuous support is generally built into your contracts with software development companies. Therefore, a dedicated team will maintain and support your software. This allows them to detect and fix bugs and vulnerabilities found in your software. Also, there’s no need to worry about your current software provider discontinuing services or products that your business relies on.

The control of maintenance and support you’ll receive is in your hands and not vice versa.