In the times of digital transformation, neither enterprises nor their IT departments can survive without investing in custom software development. The reason being, there are a lot of digital solutions that are rendered redundant once an organization acquires a commercial off the shelf (COTS) tool. But again, this does not mean that you should steer away from investing in COTS tools. On the contrary, it is suggested by experts that you combine the two kinds of tools for a more successful business operation.

Despite the fact that buying solutions is all too tempting, you should have a deeper insight into the effect it could have on your business. After all, it is through digital that you are trying to attract and engage new customers even as you strive to retain old ones. If you have been contemplating the scope of digital solutions for some time now, this is the article for you! We will take a look at why custom software development is important when you are making your investments in digital platforms.

 

There is a massive transformation that is going on in every inch of the world. The revolution that is transforming every aspect of financial, health care and business processes, we are seeing a lot of business enterprises adopting customized software solutions to their problems. There are several benefits that come along with these customized software solutions that prove to be very useful in the long run-in terms of healthy growth and reach of the business. That being said, let us look at some reasons as why custom software development is vital for your business and how it can help your business grow big in the market.

Freedom of Integration:

Technology is inherently diverse and versatile. In the past few decades, technology has revolutionized all areas of work, business in particular. No matter what industry you belong to, you will find the use of enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools and other systems that are used for various enterprise applications. However, integration of these systems is complex for multiple reasons. The solution proposed by vendors varies across platforms, each with their own data management infrastructure. There is no apt solution from a single vendor which addresses common requirements across the business portfolio. This can cause a lot of friction as heterogeneous technologies are adopted.

 

Now, this leads us to the question, “Can tools from multiple vendors be integrated for a better business insight?” The answer is not simple. There are many cases when these tools do not integrate with each other. In such a scenario, you may find yourself bogged down by issues similar to a paper jam in a multi-functional printer.

 

If you have multiple systems across your organization, then integration is key. Not only does it bring in the benefits of using multiple systems together at the same time, but also saves money and time on integrating them later. Selecting a single integrated system rather than a series of disparate platforms for your organization could lead to considerable benefits. There are different ways of integrating systems – bespoke solutions, combining open-source tools or simply buying pre-built solutions. The article will go into detail about the pros and cons of each option.

Ease of Scalability:

Are you looking for enterprise ready software that can scale up with your business objectives? The words “scalable for large workloads” is usually thrown around in tandem when discussing enterprise solutions. This is mostly due to the fact that scalable systems are a requirement for companies with a large number of concurrent users, connections and workloads. However, scalable systems should not be seen as simply workload oriented. Ready-made solutions are advertised to be scalable when in reality they can only handle a certain scale. This can turn into a problem for your business if your needs ever change, or your enterprise landscape evolves, leaving you with expensive software which cannot scale up with your business demands. Therefore, the more reliable option is custom-built enterprise software which will be able to scale up as required while also keeping your existing business processes intact. When you acquire tailored software development pieces, keeping in mind the specific objectives of your organization, you can rest assured that rapid scalability will not cause any hurdles in future.

 

Scalability is a crucial aspect when acquiring software licenses. Though enterprises could benefit from ready-to-deploy enterprise solutions, they often advertise to be scalable for large workloads. However, custom software development can be revolutionary for your technology stack. It greatly facilitates your business when you requirements are unique as well as changes over time.

Avant-Garde Innovations:

Innovation is the pulse of every competitive business environment today. Functioning in a competitive market lets you develop a sustainable competitive advantage which is based on the continuous innovation of superior products and services. You can’t survive without continuously innovating as your rivals are developing at a similar pace, if not with faster development speed. This doesn’t mean that you have to reinvent the wheel, but it does mean that by having your own custom software built, you can build innovative concepts faster and without depending on other technology vendors to do it for you.

 

Moreover, when you as a business buy expensive COTS software from reputed vendors, you kind of restrict your innovation capacity. You have to wait around for the vendor to create something new over a period of time and that holds you back and slows down your business growth.

 

Businesses venturing in Custom Software Development can benefit immensely from it. A custom software development project makes room for experimentation and implementation of new ideas without depending on third-party technology vendors. It is easy to make the necessary alterations since everything is in your control when you choose a custom software development strategy.

Integration with Existing Technology:

Investing in technology blindly is not always a smart move. Often times, the same functionality that you can get from a new solution can be achieved by customizing the existing technology that you have. Many businesses have invested in building custom software that is a lot simpler and cost effective than having to completely replace it with a new product.

 

There are times when the existing technology provides all the key capabilities required by your business to deliver new or better digital experience. You may not need to invest in a new solution from a vendor. To make sure you’re getting the best ROI from your investment, it is wise to take time and study how your existing technology solves problems for you. And when you have an internal team to customize your legacy or existing software then that might be a greater option to go for rather than undertaking a new solution altogether.

 

Integration with existing enterprise applications, systems, and technology comes as a boon to companies because they are able to leverage the strength of their own legacy system as well as getting better performance.

Security and Compliance:

When any business decides to improve on its strength through making use of new digital solutions from various suppliers, they do so keep the industry standards in mind. While this is not exactly a bad thing, in most cases the industry standard compliances are followed very closely.

 

With increasing engagements with governments, diverse regulatory regimes and commercial organizations, enterprise applications are vulnerable to legal or regulatory encroachments.

 

Business compliance matters arise due to deviations in the day-to-day operations and direct influence of external factors. Being able to stay compliant, at the same time embracing business opportunities can be challenging for enterprises and small businesses alike. The way out is by the development of custom solutions that suit both the needs of businesses and industry standards. This approach results in solutions which ensure compliance with core processes, while also enabling digital solutions from third-party vendors to be seamlessly integrated with the overall operations.

 

The very thought of digital solutions being held back by compliance issues is enough to make every IT administrator’s stomach churn. It also leads to additional development costs, which your budget can ill-afford. So rather than sit while fretting over compliance issues, go ahead and ‘spare not a single penny’ on custom software development to ensure that your enterprise applications adhere to industry and geopolitical best practices. 

While it is good to create awareness about security and compliance, businesses often forget to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before trying to replicate it in their own business scenarios. These situations force businesses to hold back their intentions and stay away from mainstream markets or at least adopt delays while fitting into the default compliance policies.