The irritating shortcomings of off-the-shelf software and its inability to conduct successful battles on all business fronts have pushed many companies to the idea of custom software development.
When perfectly tailored to suit your business needs, custom software may seem to be the best solution, but it turns out that is isn’t.
To make sure that custom software really is the best option, it is necessary to think through all pros and cons of this or that choice. They will either incline you towards the off-the-shelf software or make you choose the bespoke software.
It is definitely worth to start with the pros of custom software. There are 5 main advantages to look at:
1. Custom software is ideal for solving specific tasks and to satisfy unique business needs. In fact, custom software is an exclusive turnkey information system which can stand the pressure where the off-the-shelf product will bear defeat.
2. Custom or bespoke software solutions are more effective than ready software packages. The high functionality of custom software is predetermined by the fact that its development involves the analysis of data collected from engineering, marketing, research and development, and general management departments.
3. Custom software covers the full range of features of modern production processes and business process management.
4. Ownership of software code. The unique software will give you a great advantage over your competitors and can be developed on par with your business development.
5. Complete control. Automated in-software features can simplify business processes considerably and lead to skyrocketing productivity.
In order to clearly see the situation and make sure you don’t invest in something that won’t bear fruit, let`s deepen into the custom software cons or disadvantages. Here they are:
1. Long time for development.
In comparison with mass ready-to-install software products, custom software and its development requires much more time for the product to be created and adopted. Nevertheless, a highly professional custom software development company can cope with this challenge within a short period of time.
2. High costs for development, maintenance and updates.
In comparison with off-the-shelf software solutions, custom software is rather costly. Every stage of its lifecycle requires considerable money investment. As technologies improve and change over time, you will also need to make changes to your product. Moreover, custom software requires appropriate maintenance and support, which may lead to recruiting highly professional IT specialists or turning to outsourcing.
3. Low quality software products if you choose the wrong software development company
There are many companies that provide unprofessional and low-quality software solutions. On top of that, you will only be able to check it after the bespoke software solution is ready and considerable funds have been invested. Therefore, it is better spend more time on searching for a highly reliable software development company and overpay a little than to get the software solution that will not meet your requirements.
Despite the three cons mentioned above, there are certain situations where custom software is the only choice. Unique or highly unusual tasks require a different approach that can only be applied in custom software. Thus, custom software development may not only improve your business processes but also give you an advantage over other competitors in your field.
What is more, a highly professional and trusted software development company can help turn these disadvantages into advantages by creating custom software solutions based on your budget and time limit delivering you a top quality software product.
However, you can still turn to off-the-shelf software if there is no need for something specific or unusual. There are many ready, already acknowledged software products on the market that can be installed within an hour. This can prevent you from dealing with a pig in a poke, which custom software can sometimes turn out to be.
Elinext Alliance software development projects:
EdQuants Web Portal
GoldStar WordPress Plugin
LoanGarage Financial Portal
Custom CRM System
Rescue Game Web
Industries and Technology Areas
Industries: IT
Technology Areas: software development, custom software development
