The Benefits Of A Customized Business Software Solution
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We’ve all had off-the-shelf business software. Most businesses begin by using prepackaged software the way kids learn to ride a bike; they start out with training wheels. As children grow, they try to keep up with the bigger kids' bikes. Obviously, the wee ones can’t compete. Eventually, though, kids streamline, ditching the additional wheels, and expand their horizons by challenging themselves to ride around balanced on just two wheels as they grow. By expanding into a more versatile bike, they are soon better able to keep up with the big kids.
Likewise, as your company grows, "starter" software may no longer fulfill the needs of your expanding business or accommodate continued growth. Chances are, if other businesses within your industry are becoming more competitive with custom software designed to their specific needs, your company needs to ditch the training wheels—prepackaged software— to keep up.
However, one shouldn’t think of custom business software as something to have merely to keep up with Jones, Inc. Business software is created to not only fulfill the needs of your business but to help it grow by integrating and streamlining processes, automating routine tasks, and creating easy access to databases for not only your staff, but vendors and customers as well.
Attempting to manipulate packaged, licensed, “starter” software to support the ever-expanding needs of a healthy company isn’t a productive or cost-effective idea. When you need a mountain bike to scale the mountains arising from daily challenges, a bike with training wheels just won’t do. You need software that has scalability.
Plus, licensed software requires constant renewal of expensive subscriptions (which add up over time), and software that is fixed in function, instead of fluid, creates a lot of extra manual labor. If your data is scattered all over, the risk of losing critical information or having it compromised increases.
Industry & Business Specific
The biggest benefits of custom business software are, well, it's customized to your industry and especially the specific needs of your company. Or, if you think of your familiar easy-to-use, licensed software, similar software created from different code can be adapted specifically to your business. Meaning custom business software needn’t be some alien program the users have to sweat bullets figure out. Although different in origins, its functions are usually as intuitive as that to which you are accustomed.
Security
Licensed software has known, common vulnerabilities that hackers can easily figure out. Custom-coded software is not worth the effort for hackers who must figure out unfamiliar code to find out where potential vulnerabilities are when there are so many easier targets to exploit. Not to mention, designers make security a top priority.
Compatibility
Business software can be customized to integrate with your favorite preexisting software. Buying numerous licensed off-the-shelf softwares sounds like an inspired solution but they usually don't work well together. They may a little, or a lot, but not optimally.
Maintenance
You can’t know that a boxed software manufacturer will always be around to support the product. They may version up to an entirely different format leaving your system ops unsupported or go out of business altogether. A lot of companies pour money into in-house IT teams who exist solely to prop up unsupported software or try to get incompatible software to perform. With custom business software, you decide how your software is supported and maintained without a huge emergency life support staff.
If your “starter” software is beginning to feel like pedaling a tricycle uphill, contact The Intellection Group. They can provide the best talent to create software that turns mountains into molehills. Or call 678-283-4283.