Businesses understand the need for personalised experiences, so custom software development has become attractive.
It allows organisations to address specific problems of customers through custom features.
A simple example of custom software is Uber, allowing users to book rides from anywhere.
Similarly, there are plenty of examples across domains.
However, some businesses still refrain from custom software development despite its benefits.
This article will discuss the benefits of custom software development and answer key questions like
Let's begin with a brief understanding of custom software.
Custom software is a type of software specifically designed for businesses or individuals to fulfil their requirements.
What differentiates custom software from other types of software is the personalisation level, which ensures that users get what they are looking for.
A simple PDF viewer, off-the-shelf software has no personalise feature.
If you add a simple feature, users can add an e-signature and modify it on the PDF file.
Added functionality can enable you to make the user experience more personal.
Whether B2B or B2C, custom software offers many benefits, like cost optimisation, compatibility, better ROI, and flexibility.
Businesses that offer personalised solutions are the ones making more profits. According to research, 70% of companies that use personalisation have increased their ROI by 200%.
Custom software can help you personalise customer journeys and improve the ROI for your business.
You can design features for customers and add functionalities that help them.
An example of a personalised experience is Grammarly's weekly updates.
Grammarly sends users weekly updates on emails that show how they have been performing.
Similarly, you can create customised analytics for your users to ensure a better experience.
However, there can be numerous ways to customise the experience using custom software development.
This is why personalisation is one of the key advantages of custom software development, which improves user experience and customer retention, association, and loyalty.
Conventionally, off-the-shelf software is believed to be cost-efficient. However, the limitations of off-the-shelf software, like reduced flexibility and issues of scale, can affect your ROI.
For example, if you are a startup looking to build off-the-shelf software for 10,000 users, scaling the same for a million users is difficult.
At the same time, custom software development makes it easy to scale with the flexibility of adding infrastructure as per requirements.
Adding a feature is also easy in custom software which means more flexibility and business agility.
In off-the-shelf software, adding a new feature is complex as the underlying architecture is not accommodating to sudden changes.
On the other hand, custom software development begins from scratch and has a structure that accommodates additional features per business needs.
So, when it comes to the cost of software development, choosing custom software makes more sense than traditional off-the-shelf ones.
A secure experience improves user trust and conversions. According to Adobe, 7 in 10 customers buy more from trusted brands.
So you need to ensure software security for better conversions and higher ROI. This is one of the key benefits of custom software development compared to off-the-shelf ones.
Custom software provides better security than other types of software because you build it from scratch.
You can add security features, policies and authentication mechanisms to handle the latest cyber threats.
Hackers are constantly changing the way they attack systems. Custom software enables you to update your systems according to the type of threat.
Increased efficiency and productivity are key business benefits of custom software development.
Custom software development enables businesses to create software that perfectly aligns with their operations, workflows, and goals.
This approach ensures that unnecessary features are eliminated, and the focus is on providing essential functionalities to enhance productivity.
Custom software development automates tasks for businesses, saving time and resources. This results in greater efficiency and productivity.
Further developing custom software help automate processes and eliminate errors in business, improving productivity.
It also includes checks, validations, and data integrity measures for greater efficiency. Investing in this technology saves time and resources.
Customised software development can give your business a competitive edge by integrating your current infrastructure and optimising internal processes.
Investing in custom software solutions can boost efficiency, minimise downtime, and offer access to the best tools in the market.
Further, you can easily integrate modern innovation and technologies using custom software development.
Integrating such technologies to stay ahead of the competition is crucial, especially in the age of generative AI and how it's changing the entire operational paradigm.
One of the advantages of custom software is the ease of integration for AI algorithms.
If you want to integrate generative AI models like Open AI's ChatGPT or any other model, compatibility becomes key and custom software provides what you need.
Integrating different services with existing systems is a crucial advantage of custom software development.
You can prevent conflicts and save time and resources by tailoring software to an organisation's specific requirements.
Custom software can integrate with external systems and services for streamlined workflows and efficient data exchange.
This saves time and resources and leverages previous investments for improved efficiency and ahead-of-the-competition advantage.
Data is a valuable asset in any organisation that needs to be shared and utilised across different teams and departments.
Custom software development can be designed to connect various systems and databases, ensuring a smooth flow of data between different functions.
This integration eliminates:
Traditionally, software development was a one-time shipping exercise, where you develop the product, ship it, and forget about it.
However, modern-day business operations are demanding and require constant support.
One of the significant custom software development benefits is long-term support and reduced maintenance.
What makes it an attractive choice for most businesses are the benefits:
All the above benefits of custom software development will motivate you to find the right solutions provider quickly.
But before you start searching for a top custom software development company, here are three crucial benefits!
Three of the most important aspect of any business entering a market or launching a new product are:
When you launch, your product is as crucial as how it performs.
Yes, if you launch a woollen wear clothing line in summer, and that too in a tropical country, it does not make sense.
Similarly, if you are developing custom software for eCommerce businesses, then your product will get maximum traction in the holiday season.
A significant advantage of custom software development is faster time to market.
So, you can gain that traction and grow your business by launching the product quickly.
Business traction is a holistic approach with only insufficient UI or features. You need a synergy of great features, excellent UI, and a highly functional support system.
Custom software allows businesses to integrate different systems and create an ecosystem which produces results.
Take an example of a manufacturing business with multiple departments like, production, procurement, quality, and dispatch.
Creating a unified workflow with all the data synchronised in real-time requires an advanced system. Manufacturing companies can leverage custom software development and build such systems.
This means better production quality, happy customers and more traction towards products, ultimately leading to conversions.
Nurturing the customers for conversions will need specific features and functionalities that meet their demands.
One significant custom software development benefit is the ease of creating microservices catering to specific customer needs.
So, if your customers need a feature to add preferences for the rides they take each day to the workplace; custom software development allows such addition within no time.
Reduced costs, faster time to market, better conversions, ROI, and improved productivity are some of the major custom software development benefits.
These advantages of custom software development make it an attractive option.
However, choosing a customised software development approach requires thoroughly analysing the project goals, problem, and value proposition.
Comparing the benefits and their ROI is key to choosing the right approach.
But if you still have any doubts, please contact us to learn more about custom software development's benefits.