How To Choose the Best Software Solution for Your Business
Have you been toying with the idea of custom software for your business? The application could be a fresh, new tool for your organization. Or, perhaps, your business relies on an old, outdated legacy application, and you’re wondering if you should update it or buy something off the shelf.
On the one hand, with a custom development solution, you create a unique application that solves every aspect of your business’s challenges; however, it can be expensive and laborious.
On the other hand, off-the-shelf software is typically less expensive and quicker to implement; however, it may not meet all of your business’s requirements—at the end of the day, the return on investment might be lower since the software might only meet a fraction of your needs.
In this blog, we’ll illustrate the differences between custom development and off-the-shelf software to help guide you toward the right solution for your business.
What Is Custom Development?
Custom development is exactly what it sounds like—it’s the process of creating a unique software application that solves a specific set of challenges for your business.
Creating a custom software application involves much more than downloading an app from a manufacturer’s website. Instead, you work closely with a development team to analyze your business’s needs and goals. In understanding your processes, a development team then designs and develops a software solution to meet all your business’s unique needs. See six examples of custom software development projects.
During the development process, you’ll be involved in helping ensure the software’s tools and features meet your business’s goals and expectations.
Advantages of Custom Development
- Meets your exact needs. There’s no “if the shoe fits” when it comes to custom software—it’s built precisely to do anything and everything you want or need it to do. A good technology partner will listen to your goals and build a solution that goes above and beyond what you hoped it could.
- Improved efficiency and competitiveness. Custom software gives you a strategic advantage over your competitors. You truly have a software tool for your business that they can only dream of. Custom development also means that the software will align perfectly with your existing processes—with off-the-shelf software, it’s the other way around.
- Alignment with your business processes and requirements. Often, software is thought of as a solution to a problem instead of a strategic tool to improve a business. Custom software can give your business the exact boost your business needs to be successful in all the right areas.
Integrate with existing systems and technology. During the discovery phase of the custom development process, you’ll work closely with your technology partner to determine the full scale of your new software application, including all of the necessary integrations needed to make the application work with your existing software and processes. With off-the-shelf software, you may have to sacrifice some compatibility and workflows for it to work as the manufacturer intended.
Disadvantages of Custom Development
- Upfront cost. Typically, custom software has a heftier price tag than off-the-shelf software, but there’s a catch. When calculating how much a software solution costs, you need to consider your overall return on investment, including future business profits, old software licensing you’ll no longer need, and added efficiencies. A perfect solution can thoroughly improve your business, including your bottom line. Custom software is also a unique advantage you’ll have over your competitors. Learn how to estimate the cost of a custom software application.
- Overall time. Building a custom software application from scratch takes time; however, you should consider the future time you’ll save when the application is implemented. Part of the development process includes analyzing your current business and engineering the perfect solution, in which your time is a long-haul investment in your business.
What Is Off-the-Shelf Software?
Off-the-shelf software is any application that’s ready to go straight from the manufacturer without extensive customization needed for your business. Compared to custom software that meets the unique needs of a single organization, off-the-shelf software is developed to meet the majority of requirements for a wide range of organizations.
Typically, off-the-shelf software applications don’t take a ton of time to set up, and most users familiar with technology and other industry-specific software can easily figure out how to use it. If not, there are many resources available for training.
Examples of off-the-shelf software include Microsoft Office products, virtual collaboration software like Zoom, and operating systems like Windows or MacOS.
Advantages of Off-the-Shelf Software
- Upfront cost. Off-the-shelf software is usually cheaper when looking at purchase price alone since it’s mass-produced and readily available. There are also many others purchasing the software, so you’re not footing the total cost of development on your own.
- Implementation time. Most off-the-shelf software solutions are ready to go right out of the box (or download) with minimal set-up time required. While your business may have some minimal 1:1 customization work with the manufacturer, it’s not something that will typically take weeks or months to accomplish.
- Widely available support and resources. When more people use a software application, there are more resources readily available when it comes to training, support, and troubleshooting. Think about all the Excel hacks or “How To Create an Impressive PowerPoint Presentation” videos on YouTube. When it comes to Microsoft Office products, you can find almost any answer you need with a quick Google search because millions of people use those products daily. A custom software solution won’t have the same depth of easily accessible resources, and the level of support you receive will vary drastically based on your technology partner.
Disadvantages of Off-the-Shelf Software
- No ownership. Your software application is at the mercy of the manufacturer and, in a way, other businesses that use the software. The UI could change, resulting in productivity challenges as your business adjusts, the manufacturer can take away and add features as they see fit, and they can push updates, upgrades, and pricing changes onto customers at any time.
- Limited customization. In most cases, what you see with off-the-shelf software is what you get. You may be able to customize some aspects of the software, like your company’s branding or how some features work, but you won’t be able to drastically change how the product works for your business.
- May not fully meet requirements. With an off-the-shelf solution, you need to change your processes and workflows to work the way the software expects. Conversely, custom software is built to work the way your business needs it to. Another aspect of off-the-software that you need to consider is scalability. Your business may outgrow the software, or the software might outgrow your business—scalability with off-the-shelf software is out of your control.. When more people use a software application, there are more resources readily available when it comes to training, support, and troubleshooting. Think about all the Excel hacks or “How To Create an Impressive PowerPoint Presentation” videos on YouTube. When it comes to Microsoft Office products, you can find almost any answer you need with a quick Google search because millions of people use those products daily. A custom software solution won’t have the same depth of easily accessible resources, and the level of support you receive will vary drastically based on your technology partner.
We Meet Your Needs.
As a technology partner, High Touch is uniquely positioned to help businesses with everything software-related, whether it’s a full-scale custom software application, integrations and middleware, software modernization, or consulting services to help you choose the right off-the-shelf software for your business.
To learn more about High Touch’s software solutions, contact us. We’re happy to help.