“The biggest perk to custom software is that it can be fully customized to your specific business needs. Not only that, it allows for the software to grow with your business with future customizations and changes. Also, due to the nature of custom software, it is less likely to have security risks associated with it. On top of all that, custom software typically comes with great support, as it is coming directly from the developers of the software.”
- James Boatwright, CEO of CodeGalaxy
“The benefit of using custom software is that it is tailored to your organization, not a generalization of its customer base.
There are many great pieces of off-the-shelf software available. Most need to address a range of needs from its customers wide enough to allow for a comfortable user base. Most organizations do not use the full functionality of a piece of software. This is often because there are items of functionality that are not relevant to the organization.
Oftentimes when organizations use off-the-shelf software, they need to perform operations on several pieces of software and pull the various results together to create the item they actually need. Also, you need to license and train for these sometimes disparate pieces of software.
Custom software is made to reflect your business, instead of trying to wrap your business around a piece of software.”
- Randolph Morris, Founder & CEO of Bit Developers
“If your business needs custom software, you first have to make a decision. Do you purchase something off the shelf and customize it, or do you build it from scratch? You have to look at the cost of each, consider expenses like what software off-the-shelf costs, then how much time will be spent customizing it, do you have to outsource or ask the developer to help with the customization, labor costs, etc. If it’s part of your core line of business, you should always build it anyway. It’s more cost-effective to do so because you know exactly what you need it to do.
There are a few benefits of custom software. You get to design your features and put in exactly what you need. You get to dictate what people have access to. You get to help determine the location of features and the look of the platform to ensure ease of access. Custom software also ensures that your employees have the tools they need to do their jobs, so they won’t turn to shadow IT. When your custom software does all of those things, it creates security around your business with less fragility, and it helps your employees be as efficient as possible. All of these things add up to increased revenue and higher profits.”
- Pieter VanIperen, Managing Partner of PWV Consultants
“The reasons to opt for a custom-made software solution vary. In some cases, you may need to do so because your needs are unique and there is no off-the-shelf product that can satisfy them. Other times, it may be that your method of doing business is better and can’t be supported by a commercial product. With custom software, you’re in control of your own design and you can achieve a competitive advantage. In still other cases, your business may be running on two or more different systems that don’t talk to one another and you need a solution through which you can bring these together to communicate and see the whole picture.
I also point out that even for those who have had custom software developed and implemented already, if it’s getting older it may need to be upgraded rather than trying to find a solution in off-the-shelf products. If you were to swap out the old system for an off-the-shelf product, you’d have to change all your internal processes to adapt to that new software whereas by updating your custom program you’re creating a current system that will work more seamlessly with the processes you already have in place.”
- HyGoldstoff, Founder and CEO of InterSoft Associates