5 Reasons Why Small Businesses Need to Invest in Custom Software Development

Information technology development is a critical success factor in modern business. Indeed, entrepreneurs are striving to increase their automation levels and business process efficiency to succeed in an increasingly harsh competitive environment.

Off-the-shelf software often does not fully comply with the requirements a particular company may have, especially when it comes to niche expertise. Therefore, to obtain software that fully meets their business needs, companies may want to consider developing custom software, instead.

According to a McKinsey study, 70% of high performing companies use custom software. 

What is Custom Software Development and Who May Need It?

Custom software development is the process of building an app that’s adapted to business requirements and needs. Unlike off-the-shelf solutions, a custom turnkey app allows business customers to create and implement unique functionality that fully complies with their business processes and meets their specific needs.

Competition is constantly growing and the economic landscape is always changing dynamically; as such, software must function quickly and efficiently while taking the company’s specifics and infrastructure into account.

When it comes to bespoke software, custom product development is becoming an increasingly popular choice across various business fields:

• Financial Industry
• Healthcare Industry
• Trade and e-commerce
• Production, logistics, and others.

Custom software solutions allow companies to optimize their business processes, increase efficiency and competitive power, adapt to changing market demands, and achieve their objectives.

Custom Software Development Advantages for Small Businesses

The benefits of custom software are so numerous that we could write a whole series of articles about them alone! However, for the sake of today’s guide, we’ll briefly list the most essential benefits that are relevant to almost all companies.

1. Compliance with the company’s individual requirements. During development, the software incorporates data and features based on current business processes in the company. For instance, it may pursue the goal to reduce operation time or mitigate information loss hazards.

2. Flexibility and scalability. Custom-built IT infrastructure provides a flexible approach to functional expansion, as needed. Customers can control the development process and make adjustments at any stage to meet changing needs and ensure business growth.

3. Unique functionality. Once developed, customized software products typically contain features and capabilities that are unavailable in off-the-shelf solutions. For instance, a customized product can integrate with all of the business’s current apps; it can also offer functionality that solves business tasks and take into account all possibilities and technical limitations. This sort of software provides the company with a sustainable competitive benefit accordingly.

4. Integration with the available infrastructure. Custom software is developed with consideration given to the company’s current infrastructure, often with the need to operate seamlessly with other software products. This approach allows a more natural integration of the new product with customers’ available systems, ensuring maximum compatibility and more efficient operation.

5. Support and maintenance. When choosing a custom solution, small business owners typically receive dedicated product support and maintenance services from the developer. Thus, small businesses can quickly solve or eliminate re-occurring problems, update the app when business processes change, and ensure smoother business operations.

How do small business owners know they need custom software development?

When making the decision to develop custom software, you should always consider the following points carefully to help make your decision:

• What specific needs and challenges can my business solve using the software?
• What off-the-shelf solutions that can meet my needs are available on the market?
• Is there the possibility to adapt off-the-shelf solutions and customize them to meet my business requirements?
• What unique requirements are hard to implement with the off-the-shelf solutions I already have?
• Does my custom software development budget allow the possibility of allocating sufficient resources?
• What flexibility and scalability levels are necessary; will off-the-shelf solutions provide the necessary flexibility when I change business processes or expand my company?
• What are the likely custom software development project implementation deadlines?

When you consider all of these aspects in detail, you should be able to make a more informed decision if you need to order custom software development on what the most suitable option for your business is.

Customized software is suitable for a wide range of companies and enterprises seeking solutions capable of reducing costs and automating business processes. When choosing a development company, you should always pay attention to your contractor’s reputation, developers’ experience, and the feedback provided by existing customers.

If you need a reliable technology partner to develop a customized software product, contact us and let us discuss the details with you!