Nowadays software and apps are an important part of our lives. Everyone needs one or the other software programs to run their businesses based on their demands.
This specific need is what determines what kind of software program you need. Do you need pre-packaged software or do you need custom-built software according to your specific business need?
But before you make any decision, think about your goal and purpose for software. You will need to do a detailed analysis as to how this can help your business; do you need to solve your core business functions? Can this bring better growth prospects for the business? If the answer is affirmative, then go ahead with custom software.
Here are 3 major advantages of custom-built software.
1. Competitive Advantage
Custom-built software provides solutions to the specific or critical problems in your core business functions which means that you will be able to execute the tasks in a very efficient manner for clients.
There is a great chance of acquiring and attracting more clients as now you have the specific tool to solve their core problems with better turnaround time and better quality.
2. Greater Stability and Improved Productivity
Custom-built software provides greater stability for the long run; it focuses on what are the actual requirements of the business. It can significantly strengthen the efficiency and increase the productivity of the enterprise.
Here is a great example of PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) a big 4 company, which gained 80% in its productivity and 67% faster ticket resolution rate using a smart ticketing system developed by Fingent.
This automation process can greatly reduce human error and tasks are executed with excellent accuracy.
3. Rapid Requirement Changes
Changes are inevitable and this is where custom software provides you better flexibility to upgrade the software based on changing requirements.
Consumers are changing requirements frequently, so it becomes critical to adopt the idea of building custom software that can quickly help customers according to new business strategies and business requirements.
This is not possible with pre-packaged software.
There are several advantages with custom software, but this convenience comes with a price. Hence, we need to consider the downsides of it.
3. High Cost
Custom-built software is designed from scratch to solve specific business requirements, so developing it requires extra cost. Direct cost is typically much higher than the Off-the-Shelf Software.
In the longer run, this could be cost-effective but the up-front cost is certainly high.
4. Time Consuming
When we develop or design something from the base level, it always takes time, because it is easy to maintain and tweak an already built system.
Custom software often takes time to get completed as it would require initial setup, design changes at different times, and finally to implement in the real world.
This may not be feasible for some organizations which are looking for a quick solution instead of taking the time to develop something fron scratch.
Besides these pros and cons of custom-built software, it solely depends upon the customers’ requirements, size, and capacity of the organization.