Digital transformation continues to permeate all aspects of our lives. This direction is crucial for businesses because investing in new technologies has always been one of the ways to develop them, improve their competitiveness and increase their revenues.
Custom software development is an essential part of this strategy, equally important for a company of any size – from large corporations to small businesses.
This term can be defined as follows:
Custom software development is the process of designing and building software products that meet a particular customer’s individual needs.
Examples of customized software:
- CRM and ERP systems
- business process automation systems
- content management systems (CMS)
- property management systems
- web and mobile apps
- e-commerce solutions (like a marketplace platform)
- database development, etc.
We can provide a lot more examples. The main difference between custom software and off-the-shelf software is that the former is designed to solve a specific business problem and is intended for internal use within a company.
The global market for custom software development services is estimated to be worth $115.6 billion in 2020 and is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1% from 2021 to 2028. These data indicate that more companies are likely to adopt the principles of “custom development”.
What Companies Need Custom Software?
Custom software tailored to clients’ individual needs fully benefits companies eager to achieve the following business goals:
- solving specific business issues as efficiently as possible;
- gaining a competitive edge in the market;
- optimizing and automating work processes;
- increasing staff’s productivity;
- reducing costs in the long term;
- having a flexible and scalable solution adaptable to business needs that may change over time.
The cost and time necessary to develop a custom software product depend on features you plan to implement and several other factors.
Want to start a project?
Our team is ready to implement your ideas. Contact us now to discuss your roadmap!
Enterprise software is the largest market for custom software development, followed by consumer software.
6 Key Benefits of Custom Software Development
When you develop your own IT project, you should take the following arguments why custom software development is important.
1. Scalable and Fully Customizable Tailor-made Solution
Custom software is tailored to your brand’s exact needs and specifications. That is the first and obvious advantage relevant for any enterprise regardless of the type, size, and niche in which this company operates.
Software customized to your needs has all the necessary functions implemented and important processes properly adjusted to meet your exact requirements. At the same time, as your company grows and business evolves, you can flexibly adapt it in compliance with the needs changed.
62% of companies prefer custom software development over off-the-shelf solutions because of the need for functionality and scalability tailored to their specific needs.
2. Competitive Advantage
Off-the-shelf software offer the same possibilities used by many other players in the market. Software developed specifically to meet the needs of a particular company allows implementing functions unavailable to other players in the market, and you can use them to gain a substantial competitive advantage.
Custom software addresses your business processes directly, eliminating unnecessary functionality often found in off-the-shelf software. This streamlining can significantly increase efficiency, reduce time spent on tasks, and improve overall productivity.
3. Cost-effectiveness in Long-term
Off-the-shelf software is a more affordable solution in the first place. However, in the longer term, custom software development is more profitable since you actually invest in your own business development and do not have to make monthly payments on the SaaS model.
Moreover, you can reduce custom development costs if you plan it well and iterate the product, starting with an MVP.
4. Seamless Integration into the Company Workflow
Most likely, your business already uses various software solutions to fulfill certain tasks. You may have a hard time integrating them with an out-of-the-box product. On the other hand, when developed from scratch, new software is much easier to integrate with existing software, allows you to save costs, and speeds up its introduction.
5. Increased Reliability & High-security Level
Nowadays, the problem of unauthorized access to data is among the key ones. When you order custom software development, you have the opportunity to choose the data protection technology or protocol optimal for your business and integrate them into your software.
It is much harder for attackers to gain access to a protected individual system than to a typical software solution, the vulnerabilities of which they know well enough. If you use off-the-shelf software, you are completely dependent on the company that developed it.
Scalability & Flexibility
Custom software adapts to the changing needs of an organization. It grows with the business, integrating new processes and technologies, unlike off-the-shelf software that can become restrictive over time.
This scalability ensures that the software evolves with the business, accommodating new processes, increasing user loads, or emerging technologies without requiring a complete overhaul.
6. Continuous Support, Maintenance, and Assistance
The world is yours whether you want to implement new features, optimize and improve your product, or get uninterrupted support. You are no longer dependent on third-party vendors and can easily update your product if you need.
Besides, an off-the-shelf software developer can discontinue updating the product at any time, and that can negatively affect your business processes. Service duration and support should not be dependent on out-of-the-box solution limitations.
Ownership and Control
Owning your individual software gives you complete control over your digital tools. They can modify, update, and integrate systems as needed without relying on third-party vendors.
This is critical for data security, compliance, and maintaining a competitive edge. While custom software requires a higher initial investment, it eliminates ongoing licensing fees, often resulting in long-term cost savings and a higher return on investment.
Disadvantages of Custom Software Development
Our article would be incomplete if we did not mention the disadvantages, or rather the obstacles stopping some entrepreneurs on their way to developing their own IT solutions. We can actually talk only about three major disadvantages that customized software may have:
- custom software development takes time (5-6 months on average);
- qualified technical specialists should be involved in the development (but you can also outsource the project);
- initial costs will be higher than when you buy an off-the-shelf solution, and that is why you have to be ready to invest.
However, it is worth noting that choosing the right experienced development team minimizes the downsides mentioned above.
Ready to Build Your Custom Software Solution?
Each company has its own needs, and off-the-shelf solutions do not always allow getting things done well enough. Custom software development allows optimizing work processes and developing any business more efficiently.
We at Lvivity are always ready to become a reliable technology partner for you and help you build IT solutions at an affordable cost. Such solutions will focus on solving your company’s unique needs.
Contact us to discuss the details and find out how we can help you propel your business to the next level!
Flexibility, efficiency, and individual approach to each customer are the basic principles we are guided by in our work.
Our services
