When we grow from an individual to a company or from a company to a group our needs change drastically. With the growth and expansion of our business we become more accountable and responsible towards our stakeholders, employees and customers.
All our affairs and processes need to be attended by more dependable systems and accurate practices. Though, most of us, at some point of time, started operating from scratch working manually, but it changes as the time proceeds and our work become vast and complex in nature. All your day-to-day job roles, calculations, record-keeping, monitoring, checking, systematizing, measuring and other operations feel the need of software to ascertain accuracy, diligence and standardization.
Whether you own an export house that deals in garments or a manufacturing firm that produces electronic gadgets, you need to align your entire system of management, manufacturing, warehousing, selling, accounting and CRM with the help of a complete system.
Most of us don’t belong to a technical background where we could know all about the technology and therefore it becomes difficult for us to identify our software needs.
Software is available in two forms, commercial off-the-shelf and customized. Off-the-shelf software is a readymade application that is made to suit general needs. It offers you with all the features and factors in an inclusive manner that would help you run your process on a general automated framework.
Customized software is a tailor-made product for your specific needs. It is made to suit your process exclusively unlike generic software.
Now, how would you identify whether your business needs a customized software or generic application? Well, this can be answered easily by analyzing a few things about your business.
Small or Large Business enterprise– If you have a large set-up and a lot of uniquely placed processes, its better if you go with custom software. You can be benefited largely by having personalized features that directly addresses all your departments and process elements in an all-encompassing manner. If you own a small business it can be a wise decision to have off-the-shelf software, let’s say for accounting, where you would get all the standardized features that are highly prevalent in market, without costing you much.
Purpose- If the software system needs to handle dynamic tasks and do multi-tasking it should be substantiated by thorough research and development. This calls for custom software development for building full-proof system components that comply to all the protocols thoroughly and combines all the proponents in a well-appointed manner. Also if the software needs to connect different offices, departments and work processes it needs to be taken care by full-fledged network policies, security and back-up facilities. This can be better addressed by Custom Software Development Company with large all-round set-up and dedicated professionals.
Nature of Business-Do you come from a business that deals in a unique product and belongs to a niche concept. If yes, it’s always better to go with custom software development for your bespoke project. You will only get the perfect product by getting a thorough research and development done for your process. This would also include features and modules that you need to be implemented in your automated system.
Type of User-The type of user going to use the system is a good way to determine whether to get customized software developed or getting generic software application. If the user class belongs to managerial level or are having very specific needs in terms of accessibility, functionality and technicalities, custom software will only be of help. There may be different off-the-shelf available in market with all those offerings but they would be more or less different in their details and task entities, which could disturb and delay the processes handled by the top officials and cost the company dearly.