Custom-made software: safe option for SMEs

As the effective use of technology becomes more important in the highly competitive small and medium sized enterprise (SME) market, more companies are questioning whether to buy off-the-shelf software versus paying a developer to produce unique software tailored to their own specific needs.

What is custom-made software?

Custom software is designed to perform a specific group of tasks that differs from other already available software (also called off-the-shelf software). It is generally not targeted to the mass market, but are usually developed according to the unique requirements of a company, business entity, or organization. This process is also referred to as Custom Software Development or Custom Application Development.

Why custom-made software?

When purchasing an off-the-shelf software package one may be impressed by all the features it offers, but in reality the majority of businesses use at most 10% of the features in their applications - although they still pay for the whole package. As a SME with individual needs, it may be a far better option to choose a custom-made package. In effect your business will no longer pay for functions it does not need. Custom-made software ensures the software does exactly what the company requires and is flexible enough to meet changing market conditions.
One should also consider that the price of off-the-shelf applications is only part of the total cost of ownership. Annual licence fees and maintanance fees need to be weighed in total cost of ownership calculations. When all this costs are added up, companies will find that custom-made software is not as expensive as it is reported to be.
Custom software also eliminates time wasted trying to figure out appropriate settings and promotes time better spent productively in the workplace. The entire concept is geared towards providing SMEs with a affordable alternative to traditional software in a way that not only cut costs, but also cuts maintenance to a minimum and allows clients to focus on core work, not on working the software.This, coupled with the fact that all upgrades and maintanance are performed by the developer, diminishes the need for the service of additional IT professionals.
Lastly a frequent argument against custom development is that the developer may go out of business or be unable to continue supporting the software for some reason. This is easily dealt with by ensuring the source code is made available to the client by the original developer, should something happen, another developer can take over. The same wont't happen when a proprietary vendor decides it will no longer support a product.

In conclusion

Standard software bought off the shelf certainly has its place in business today, but in the SME market companies need to focus on keeping one step ahead of their competitors. Having your own business applications designed and built by developers such as Inspired Archetypes, is a flexible, cost-effective solution that will ensure your organisation's technology investments optimally support your business and not a software vendor's business.

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