When a company decides to improve its business by adding a new digital tool, an application or a new piece of software to its arsenal, it has a choice — take the custom route and get a solution that’s fully tailored to its needs, or choose one of the available off-the-shelf solutions that cover only a part of those needs. In this blog, I’ll explain why and when is custom software the way to go!
Before we jump into the core of this topic and show you 5 key advantages of adding custom software solutions to your business, let me start with the basics and give you some more context.
What exactly is custom software?
When we talk about custom software, we usually talk about different types of applications, whether web or mobile apps, that are built to order — they are built to have specific features that can handle a specific company’s specific needs. Businesses that are most commonly looking for custom software are either companies that are just starting out and are looking to make software a core part of their business, or more mature businesses who want to utilize custom software as a way of upgrading their processes or adding a new stream of revenue.
Companies whose software is their core business are always building it from scratch, so in this article I’m going to talk more about companies who use custom software to enhance their existing operations.
There are usually a couple of different scenarios that occur once those kinds of more mature companies decide to use software solutions for a specific function:
- They either buy an off-the-shelf solution
- Or they develop their own software — or hire a specialized development company to build it for them
#custom vs off-the-shelf #custom software
