Nowadays, more and more specialised software vendors are emerging as the computing technology and software sectors grow. Likewise, many unique ready-to-use products are accessible on the market with just a few clicks. In the meantime, an increasing number of companies can afford their own IT departments with strong teams capable of customising and integrating solutions. The build or buy dilemma now seems more relevant than ever.
Working in a bespoke software development company for over a year now has shown me the true value of investing in tailor-made software. While building custom solutions inevitably takes time, effort and requires a project budget, it is the right option when you aim to solve long-term problems harnessing the full power of technology.
1. It is Exactly What You Need
The build or buy dilemma has been around for years, and each side has its proponents and critics. It occurs more often when an organisation relies on both financial resources and in-house IT specialists. Undoubtedly purchasing off-the-shelf software is the easiest way to start tackling your business problems right away. You just need to pay a licensing fee or choose a subscription option, and you can start using the software. However, one can speculate whether this is the best strategy if you have a long-term vision concerning how the software will help you achieve your business goals and reduce operational costs.
From a business perspective, to attract and retain your customers, you need to constantly re-adapt to their current needs. And as we’ve observed during the pandemic, these constantly change and vary depending on factors such as new emerging trends, convenience, purchasing power, location, etc.. Whether your business model is B2B or B2C, deciding on a custom software development project will help you target your current pain points, solve them in a meaningful way and secure a competitive advantage. And the best thing is that you decide what features your business application must include, and you pay exactly for these.
2. Better Control and Technical Support
Whenever you decide to create a custom software application, you automatically gain more control over the whole development process and can add improvement suggestions or change project directions, if necessary. On top of that, modern developmental frameworks include regular team meetings between developers, clients and stakeholders, so that decision-makers receive regular status updates such as recent implementations, patches, migrations and overall tech performance. For example, Scrum is a popular framework for developing software applications that supports team engagement, communication, visibility and trust – all important aspects for high-quality software and continuous improvement in addition to agile business risk management.
Maintaining control throughout the entire software development process is certainly a plus, but what about the technical support after you start utilising your custom application? Compared to commercial–off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions, bespoke software development puts a strong emphasis on technical maintenance by making it easy and convenient. Yes, all major commercial software products are backed up by call centres designed to deliver customer support but just think about it: Who would be more suitable to support a software system than those exact people who originally created it?
3. Increased Software Security
Online security has been a major topic throughout the pandemic. With most global transactions and services switching to digital environments, it is no wonder that they became lucrative prey for cyberhackers. In fact, 2021 has been discussing the new cybersecurity crisis emerging alongside the health crisis. Popular rising threats involve malicious QR codes, MSP attacks, disrupted supply chains or cloud misconfigurations. For many organisations, cybersecurity is now a number one priority and they deliberately choose to minimise their risks by investing in secure solutions.
An alternative option that strikes as more reliable and trustworthy is to invest in a custom software development project. The reason that this is a more preferred option for many companies is that COTS are, in general, more vulnerable and more susceptible to external cyberattacks. While it is true that technology advances at high speeds, this doesn’t hold modern hackers back. Just the opposite, they continuously come up with new ways to cause harm. That’s why risk mitigation involves building resilient custom software with constantly updated information security procedures that is far better prepared to withstand a potential cyberattack.
4. More Business Value Over Time
This might come as a surprise but developing your own software solution means that you secure a long term business advantage. Most probably, you’re currently facing a particular business problem that undermines your company efforts to grow. Depending on the industry you operate in, such problems might include flawed internal operations, lack of knowledge about business performance, or maybe you need to scale your systems and accommodate all incoming traffic.
Technology has become exceptionally flexible, high performing and accessible. Even smaller businesses can now afford to have a digital strategy and implement it on a budget. Think of your strongest business assets and pain points and how these can be approached to create unique value for your company. After all, technology is only here to enhance, simplify and optimise current workflow, cut down on overhead costs and generate more revenue. Two direct consequences: 1) our society is becoming increasingly digitally-driven, and 2) you should find ways to leverage. Otherwise, you risk staying behind and missing opportunities to grow.
5. Easier to Scale
Few things are damaging your business worse than not being able to adequately respond to your current business needs. For example, with Black Friday approaching, more end-customers than in previous years are expected to shop online. For retailers whose cloud server can’t handle all incoming requests, this automatically means losing clients and money. Unfortunately, competitors with reliable tech infrastructure await exactly that.
This simple example illustrates a potential scenario, but even famous brands sometimes experience technical flaws when the system parameters can’t handle disruptions such as high traffic. Custom software solutions are built in a way that is flexible and can quickly adapt to all the changes in both directions. Besides, working with external vendors on a long-term project ensures the time-effective component vital for reacting fast and modifying the solution to better serve your needs. Software developers that have created the system already know its specifications, and scaling is uncomplicated.