So you’re in the market for new software. You’ve probably searched the internet, looking for the best options for your business and have been overwhelmed with the results. Should you choose commercial or custom software? If you choose custom software, how can you make sure the project is successful? What do you need to know before choosing a custom software development company?
We get it. Investing in new software applications is a big decision, and you want to make sure you’ve considered all your options when it comes to your business’s digital transformation. Let us help you by taking a look at what the benefits of custom software are and how you can ensure success on your software projects.
Commercial vs Custom Software
Commercial or custom software? The best way to choose the best option for you is to determine what you want from your software in the first place.
Commercial
Commercial software, also known as packaged or off-the-shelf software, is a cookie cutter software option that provides the same features and functionalities to all companies. Commercial software is available for almost any need, including accounting, project management, and word processing, to name a few.
Commercial software usually has less up-front costs to deal with, but businesses are often left paying for features they don’t need or paying extra for functions or additional user accounts that aren’t included in the base package.
If commercial software works for your company, that’s great! But if you find yourself paying for multiple commercial software solutions to satisfy all of your business needs, a custom software solution may be the better option for you and your business.
Custom
Customized software, also known as bespoke software, is the opposite. It isn’t available because you haven’t built it yet!
It is tailor made software that’s designed to fit the exact needs of your company. Whether you’re building software for your customers or you want a company-wide, interdepartmental software application, custom software can make your dreams a reality.
Custom software often has a higher price tag at the start. However, you can pay for everything you need and nothing that you don’t want. You get to set your budget, and you get to decide what features you want included. Plus, with custom software, you usually own the code, so you don’t have to worry about monthly subscription costs unexpectedly rising
It’s not for every business, but if you’re looking to evolve your business in the future, custom software is a great choice to remain competitive in any industry.
Benefits of Custom Software Development
Not quite sold on a custom software solution? Intimidated by the workload and price tag? We understand. Let’s talk about some of the benefits of customized software application development and how it could help your company.
Increase Speed
Software development companies can save you the time and effort you waste using the trial and error method to find a packaged software you like. If you partner with a software development company to create your customized software, you can be confident that your project is their main priority.
Rather than wading through subpar commercial software options that don’t fit your needs, software developers can create exactly what you’ve envisioned efficiently and effectively.
Save Money
While custom software may have a heftier price tag at the beginning, it’s also your best chance at saving money in the long run. With customized software, you can create better, more efficient business processes for you and your employees. By giving them the tools to complete work faster and with greater accuracy, you’re directly impacting your bottom line.
Plus, your company might ultimately save money by paying for a cost-effective custom software solution rather than paying for multiple monthly or yearly subscriptions for off-the-shelf software. You can also save money on licensing fees, costs per user, downtime for updates, and more.
No matter which way you look at it, custom software development is an investment that will benefit your company for years to come.
Maintain Adaptability and Scalability
In order to keep up with the changing needs of your customers, we know that your business is always changing. As it does, so should your software!
You’re constantly working to sell more products and bring on more satisfied, loyal customers. Unlike off-the-shelf software, custom software development allows you to maintain adaptability and scalability through every stage of your company’s growth. Whether you need to add new functionalities, scale your software for more users, or increase your security, custom software development allows you to make those changes when you need them.
How to Achieve Custom Software Success
So, you’re definitely warming up to the idea of custom software development, but in an industry where so many projects fail, how can you be sure your company will achieve custom software success?
Partner With the Right Software Development Company
The first and most important thing you can do to achieve custom software success is partner with the right software development company. There are countless custom software development companies that are hungry for the opportunity to create your software, but how can you be sure they’re the right fit for your business?
When browsing software companies, be sure to investigate and compare these factors:
- Type of payment model
- Proposed timeline
- Expertise and experience with the type of software you want
- Communication methods and frequency
Exploring these different aspects of custom software development services will help you choose the right partner for you and your business.
Check out this step-by-step guide for help choosing the right development partner for you!
Defining Success
Before you even begin laying out what you want your new software to do, it’s crucial that you define success with your IT team and business stakeholders. If you don’t know what success looks like, how will you know when you get there?
Maintain alignment and keep your team members accountable by agreeing on a definition of success that everyone can work towards. Create a shared language that will help your teams communicate and interpret the goals, vision, and outcome of your custom software project.
Establish Clear and Realistic Objectives
From the beginning, your business should set clear and realistic objectives with your software development team. To begin, determine a budget and decide what functions are must-haves, wants, and low priority. Then, go through that list with your developers and project managers to decide what can fit into your project based on your budget.
The expertise and experience of your development team can help you determine where you can make compromises and sacrifice some functionalities for others to still get the software you want at the cost you can afford.
You’ll also want to determine a timeline with your custom software development company. Make sure they’re aware of any sensitive deadlines, and base your project timeline around those dates. Be candid and transparent with your development team, so everyone is on the same page before development begins.
Communicate Effectively Between Teams
The communication and collaboration doesn’t end after you establish your objectives. To ensure custom software success, work with your development team to create a schedule for regular communication during the development process.
Whether this looks like weekly meetings or progress reports that are sent every few days, create a plan that works for your business and the software development company you’re partnering with.
Test Frequently
For successful custom software, you’ll want the software to be tested continuously throughout every stage of the project. This way, bugs and other issues can be identified quickly and your software developers can fix them immediately.
Testing frequently can also help you and your development team optimize processes and functionalities included in your software. Perhaps the plan you had on paper didn’t work out quite as well as you pictured in practice.
By testing often, you can pivot and modify your plan without sacrificing too much time and money in the meantime.
Your Custom Software Success Partner
Finding the right software development company for you can be intimidating and stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. At Geneca, we define our success by your success. We’ll listen to your wants and needs every step of the way, and we’ll keep you in the loop on every decision and milestone of your custom software project.
Whether your project is big or small, we have the right software developers, processes, and tools to make your software dreams into reality. Contact us today to see if we’re the right fit for your software solutions.