Software or product development has several different forms. So it can be anything from software development, mobile application development, and software tools development to API development, embedded system development, and more. There is a lot more to software development than meets the eye. And there are also different ways through which software is developed. One of the ways is a custom software development and the other one is commercial off the shelf software development. There is a significant difference between these two types but we won’t go into those details. Our focus in this post will be on custom software development and its advantages.
What is Custom Software Development?
Custom or bespoke software development refers to the process of building tailor-made software solutions based on specific business requirements. When you hire a custom software development company in the UK, you are delegating your software development function to another party. This could be due to several different reasons. One of the reasons could be insufficient or incapable of internal resources.
There are many businesses out there that can’t afford to hire an internal software development for their needs. This is where a professional custom software development company comes into the picture. It lets businesses working on a limited budget to gain software building expertise that the big players have access to.
Custom made software is made to fit the client’s requirement to the tee. Everything from scalability, security, and integration with existing systems to flexibility, customization, and process automation, custom software does away with all those limitations that we associate with off the shelf software.
Custom software solutions are ideal for businesses or entrepreneurs that already have a visual in mind about how they want a certain product to be implemented. This is contracted software development where a third-party with the right development expertise builds the software on your behalf keeping in mind your vision. The software development company ensures that even the minutest of details are strictly met. Custom software development involves joint planning and detailed discussions regarding custom specifications.
Now that we know what custom software development is, let us now move its advantages.
4 Main Benefits of Custom Made Software
Personalization
Custom made software is personalized exactly to the needs of the client. It is a true manifestation of a client’s idea. Let us understand this with an example. When you go shopping for a suit, you have two options. You can either choose a ready-made suit that might not fit you as well. The other option is you get a tailor-made suit that has everything to your liking, and it fits you perfectly.
Custom made software is that tailored suit. While the ready-made suit is off the shelf, mass-produced a suit that is available in standard sizes. The off the shelf solution might not take as much to implement, there are high chances that it won’t provide the ideal solution to your problem.
It may even require you to bring some modifications to your business operations for proper integration. On the other hand, your custom software is built keeping in mind your business processes and structure.Flexibility
An off the shelf software solution is inherently inflexible as it is developed for almost every business that is in need of software. Customization isn’t a quality that you would normally associate with these solutions. You will have to use third-party plugins to complement these software solutions with your existing systems or use them in business processes that are specific to you.
However, you may have to suffer a huge loss of buying software that doesn’t fit your system if there is no such plugin available. Customer software solutions are devoid of all these problems.
Changes to the initial requirements can be made at a later stage as well. Also, you can expect a quicker time to implement as your software development company will be already aware of the code.Security
A lot of people think that off the shelf software solutions are secure, but this isn’t often the case. These solutions are easily available in the mass market and used by many businesses. This makes them exposed to hacking. If hackers are able to discover a single flaw in an off the shelf solution, they can use it to harm several businesses.
On the other hand, custom made software rarely gets so much attention from hackers as the source code is only available with the developers. However, this doesn’t mean that they are more secure than their counterparts.
Make sure that the software development company you hire factors in the security of the product right from the start and uses development techniques for access control protection and reduction of security breaches.Priority Designation
We as a whole appreciate the nature we have with a current framework, and when that framework is changed, even the littlest changes can be bothering. Natural alternatives covered up under various force downs or even the littlest showcase changes can be cerebral pain initiating.
Custom programming arrangements, be that as it may, give you a needed assignment so nothing changes about the arrangement except if you decide to do as such. In the event that you need the dashboard along the left half of the page rather than the top, make it so.
Conclusion
There are several benefits of building custom software over choosing off the shelf software solutions. However, the final decision should be taken keeping in mind the specific requirements of a business.
