How Custom Software Development Can Affect Your Business

How Custom Software Development Can Affect Your Business

Custom software development has enabled businesses to create wonderful and useful apps. This is possible through the constant advancement of technology that impacts so many areas of people’s lives. However, before you go ahead and invest your time and money in order to create an app for your business, you need to understand how this can affect your business and what benefits can you get from it.

We have been in the business of developing custom apps and software for a while now. Our experience has taught us that everything needs to be cleared before the start of the development process, especially when it comes to the impact of a custom software solution in a business.

Listed below are the important questions you need to ask yourself as you go through the planning process and observe the effect a custom software could potentially have on your business.

What Kind Of Issue Are You Looking To Fix?

Usually, it is the need of a certain thing that results in great innovations. Maybe you have a slow scheduling process. Maybe someone’s desk is cluttered with many pieces of papers or there are too many spreadsheets. Maybe you need an app as your sales vehicle. Maybe the software you use is not tailored to your personal process.

Obviously, figuring out the main issue or an unmet need is going to help in keeping you focused. When creating an app, there will always be more ideas and not enough budget to turn those ideas into a reality. Throughout this filtering process, you need to ask yourself if this feature will bring you one step closer to figuring out your business issue. 

What Is The Desired Outcome You Want For Your Business?

The majority of our clients are working on the following types of applications:

  •       An app that’s sold as a product to the customers (both existing and new.)
  •       An app that’s specifically created to improve how a business runs.

If you are creating an app to sell it, then you most probably have certain desired outcomes like getting a specific number of users, market share, or revenue goals. If you are creating an app to improve how your business runs, then your goals might be to reduce paperwork, having a tool for supporting your unique process, or developing a database of information.

What Is Your Budget When It Comes To Investing In Custom Software Development?

When it comes to software, it is similar to housing. You can get a house for every kind of budget. The fancier it is, the more expensive it will be. When you are figuring out your budget, you need to think about your business outcomes. How much is your organization willing to spend so that you can achieve your listed business outcomes? You can achieve this with a good development partner. This is where the Goldilocks budget comes in. You will want to invest enough money to achieve the impact and value you want, but not so much that you end up overinvesting even before your product is out in the world.

When Should You Get Back Your Investment?

Oftentimes when a business invests in custom software, usually they are searching for a short-term return. There might be other businesses that are looking to build a more substantial software for a long term outlook. Understanding this will help in determining the right amount of money you should invest, the different milestones of the software plan, and the number of features included in every stage.

How Is Custom Software Development So Convincing?

Numerous applications come with differences in their features. It is not necessary that one that suits someone will also suit you. That is why customization in software development makes sure your requirements are met and ensures that you have the best platform you will need for growth. In fact, throughout the development stage, you’ll have the chance to incorporate a couple of tricks within the software for your reliability.

When it comes to software development solutions and its expectations, reliability and efficiency stays the same whether it is a business platform or an individual one. Listed below are numerous reasons which present concrete evidence about custom software development. In addition to benefiting you, it comes with several other utilities, such as:

1. Enhanced Efficiencies

If you want to increase your profits, then it is crucial to optimize your operations. The more efficiently you are able to perform, the closer you get to achieving it. With custom softwares, companies are able to meet requirements that are specific to their business, like:

  •       Offering in-depth quality control.
  •       Responding to orders and requests a lot quicker.
  •       Being able to deliver higher numbers within the same time period.

This will reduce the time that’s spent on production, boost the company’s revenue, and increase the amount of the products/services generated.

When a program is tailored to your requirements, it ends up meeting your needs. This includes things like your staff avoiding the use of less efficient or improvised tools that might come with security risks, which could threaten to harm your business.

2. Reduced Costs

Obviously, developing custom software will involve certain costs. These costs could potentially be higher in the initial phase as compared with off-the-shelf solutions. However, often times the costs are lower in the long term, if certain issues are taken into account like:

  •       The charges for extra users.
  •       Upfront or annual licensing costs.
  •       Staff training that’s on the system.
  •       Workaround solutions in the case of missing functionality.
  •       Certain modifications that support compatibility with the systems of the client.

Once business owners estimate the software cost of a company for a 5-year period for both options, oftentimes they’re surprised that the return on investment is more than the costs involved in a customized solution.

3. Maintenance And Support

Even the most reliable software program will end up developing problems over time. However, when that issue involves a mainstream application whose help desk is located in another state, then you will either have to wait for your turn to get help or you will have to immediately hire an engineer on-site in order to solve the issues.

In the case of custom software that was created by local engineers, you can easily get help in a short period of time from professionals who are aware of your system since they are the ones who developed it. This can be very helpful when needed, especially when it comes to maintenance, updates, and modifications.

4. ROI

When you buy an off-the-shelf software, you invest in the developer’s business. However, when you build a custom software solution, you invest in your own business and increase its worth. Moreover, your return on investment does not only include increased profits and cost savings, over the long term it is inherent within the value of your company as well. Also, with your own software program you will be able to improve your employee retention, open new revenue streams, and create other competitive advantages.

Conclusion‌

When it comes to custom software development, you have the perfect solution that will help a small business get ahead of others and get used to new business trends. You will see that both small businesses and leading enterprises are interested in investing in custom software development.

When you implement custom software into your business, you showcase your individual expertise to the world and your competitors. This results in a higher success rate and a larger share of your target market.

If you are looking to reap all of the benefits that come with custom software into your business, then you have come to the right place. ‌ECO&Tech‌ is there to help you achieve all of your business needs. With us, you can get web and mobile development services, business-related software development services, and full-fledged IT consulting. Get in touch with us, if you have any questions.