If you’re a profound developer, you might have familiar with the term of Custom software development. Yet, if you don’t, there’s a chance that you may encounter with this term without knowing or not. According to statistics, spending in the sector of enterprise software grow steadily and expect to reach $457 billion in 2019, which demonstrates, among other factors, the obvious trend for the growing competitiveness of business software development.
However, such applications are generic in terms of end-user requirements and may offer certain features that may not exactly fit your unique requirements. So, even after spending money, you might still have to struggle as some features might not be available in your ready-made software. So now, we – AHT Tech would like to show you the overview of custom software development and keys to make it effective. Let’s go!
What is custom software development?
This is the process of designing, creating, deploying, and maintaining software for a specific set of users, functions, or organizations. In contrast to commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS), custom software development aims at a narrowly defined set of requirements. This term is also referred to as bespoke software and is usually performed by in-house development teams or outsourced to a third-party.
Some benefits of custom software development
When you implement the custom software development, you get a number of benefits putting you into avantgarde in your industry sector. The major advantages your business acquires with custom software include both tangible and intangible benefits:
#1. Custom software development helps boost the customer’s retention
Applying specialized software solutions in your business custom care management enables an individual approach to each client and upscales the management level within your enterprise. By ensuring the bigger chance of clients’ loyalty to your product and service, you increase your chance for revenue because having loyal clients is a hundred times more efficient than searching for new ones.
#2. Security enhanced
Due to an increase in cybersecurity problems, especially in the growing sector of online banking, custom software development seems a solution that helps face this challenge by configuring the security measures for the specific needs of your business. That way, your security will strengthen at a much higher level.
#3. The integration you may need
When you apply the custom software development you will get only those integrations that you need. Of course, this is always without overloading workflows with unnecessary technicalities, and this way you will save a considerable amount of time and money. Also, your store will be much more focused than ever before, which satisfy both you – the owner and the customers.
#4. Efficiency boosted
By applying the customized solutions, you streamline your service delivery and expand on your efficiency. This is because the main goal of custom software development is to increase organization productivity by minimizing the adjustment time. As a result, your business will be much more streamlined, which will eventually increase the retention rate.
Some key tips to make custom software development much more effective
Custom software development builds programs from the ground up to meet the hyper-specific requirements of your business. The industry is mature, with countless providers poised to help your business make rapid progress toward its goals. So, let’s come to the tips.
#1. Consider your outsourcing options
Outsourcing software projects is one of the easiest ways to custom software development expenses. Also, this method is also a great way to gain access to experienced developers in the required technical domain. However, the price-quality ratio may go in the wrong direction, if not using this properly. So, with the right attitude, not only will you save money but you will also find a great quality software solution.
#2. Build up your requirements for custom software development
The main purpose of this is to avoid ambiguity in the requirements. If the requirements are misinterpreted or not read in its entirety, it will result in a complete disaster. So, before approaching any software outsourcing vendor, make sure you are completely aware of your business needs and draw up a requirement analysis. Also, you should draw up proper documentation from start to finish results.
#3. View your developer as a team member
When you hire a software developer, you might consider it a traditional customer/supplier arrangement. If you choose to view it as a team effort, however, you will come away with a more successful process. This means being as transparent and upfront as possible throughout development. Holding each other to deadlines and helping each other meet deadlines will keep the whole project moving along.
#4. Watch out for the scope creep
Once you have established a plan of action for your software development, it can be tempting to add to the project as it progresses. This is where planning your development out in phases can help to control the overall length and cost of the project. Have a clear scope and stay within the boundaries of that before moving on to add bells and whistles. You’ll know how necessary those extra features are once people start using what you have already.
#5. Decisive in thinking
Custom software development is rarely a single-person project. Chances are, there will be members of your staff who will need to weigh in on aspects of your software. While getting input from everyone is good for the overall project, there needs to be one person whose responsibility it is to maintain the focus of the process. Multiple decision-makers can make a project go off the rails very quickly.
Final words
That should be it! Here is the definition of custom software development, some benefits of it and also, the keys to making this term effective. All in all, have a successful development is the result of the collaboration between a developer and client. It can help your business become more profitable, but you must be well-prepared. Maintaining a focus on the outcome as you move through the process will help you to keep on track.
