It is precisely called “tailor-made” because the system or software adapts to accommodate the unique preferences and expectations the company already consolidated in other words, It is the software that adapts to the company with the ultimate goal to remove massive lifting so it can quickly solve internal processes in the most cost-effective, timely manner.
Therefore, we need to understand what licensed software means and its limitations vs custom.
COTS (Commercial-Of-The-Shelf) means that the software comes ready to be used by the organization without the need for customization.
Some limitations we can share are the following:
- Vendors may cease their support or may go out of business
- There may be a need for customizing the software to fully fit individual business functionalities and this may end up being expensive and time-consuming
- In cases where the software is licensed periodically or for a set number of users, COTS may be expensive in the long run
How important is custom software development?
- Independence: Being independent, allows you to lose fear if the provider goes out of business, maintenance holdups spike in-licenses cost. With custom software, you are the boss.
- Efficiency: Automate manual tasks, centralize information, streamline communication, analyze performance, eliminate distractions, and more. Custom software is purpose-built to support processes quickly and productively.
- Scalability: Custom software can grow as an organization or business grows and changes your designers and developers can plan for your future extensions ahead of time saving costs on migrations and others.
Custom software is primarily developed to improve internal workflow, but if it has the semblance for customer use, it's a great business opportunity. Think of how many of your competitors can make use of your software. Custom software is necessary for those companies that handle the well-being of their staff. As for entrepreneurs, the correct use of both sides (internal and external) of the custom software will show excellent marketing graphics.
