FEB 25 2022

Why is custom software development important?

BY TRUDO

Photo Source: Perforce
If you’re reading this article, you probably already know what software development is, and by the name, custom software development is something that you could guess very easily.

The current economy, a certain way of living and consumerism have changed all sectors of life, where even products and services such as IT solutions need to be very specific and fitting for clients. Competition in the market has created options for clients to just go next door and require and acquire whatever they want, as unique as it is. Software development, just like food items, can become “sour” and out of date if not provided by the right company or individual for you.

Custom software development is the process of creating and maintaining a software product for a specific set of users, which differs from already existing, commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS), which usually are software with a broad set of features and requirements, allowing it to be commercially distributed, custom software development is more focused on a specific set of requirements and features.

As businesses or organizations grow, they will not need to constantly buy new software to fit the requirements of all the changes they have to deal with while the business is growing. When the requirements for the software are made, assessing future needs with designers and developers is something that can be done and taken care of.

Who needs it and what examples do we have of custom software development?

Examples of commercial software products include Microsoft Office package, Windows Operating Systems.

In the other hand, custom software that is designed for specific needs can happen to be the following:

- Software for specific companies that is required for work within the company and communication between sectors - A program to maintain service equipment or field work for a manufacturer -Online banking apps that have unique features based on what the bank offers -Apps for hospitals, medical issues, potential diagnosis and administrative management.

Application customization, application modernization and application management are generally associated with custom software development.

Most custom software development is created and maintained by in-house tech and development teams, due to the need for inside knowledge, but quite a lot of companies resort to outsourcing third-parties as that can be cheaper.

The overall methodologies of creating a custom software are general and can be applied in all kinds of software development. It would move through steps of designing, gathering, coding and constructing, testing, deploying the software and maintaining it afterwards, and applying the same methodologies such as Agile, DevOps, and so on.

What kind of benefits can you gain from providing or acquiring custom made software development?

Scalability: as businesses or organizations grow, they will not need to constantly buy new software to fit the requirements of all the changes they have to deal with while the business is growing. When the requirements for the software are made, assessing future needs with designers and developers is something that can be done and taken care of.

Efficiency: custom software is built in such a way that it supports processes that need to be fulfilled within the organization and will be supported productively without the need to be tweaked or adjusted like in COTS applications.

All in all, custom software development is required in many fields of work and is definitely more beneficial than a lot of ready-made software due to the specificity of the work that is provided. Although a lot of companies and organizations make due perfectly with COTS applications, if you want a smoother work process within the company, with collaboration of all outside partners such as suppliers or other companies that you can outsource certain tasks to, custom software applications will be revolutionary within your organization or company.