Although “good” is not necessarily considered a “bad” result, think of it this way: why would you get pizza from an everyday family restaurant, when you could go to a pizzeria?
Software Customisation - What It Is
The term software customisation has morphed quite a lot over the years, and there are now various levels of what is considered custom software. The most prominent of which fall into the following categories:
Customising existing software - this could pertain to a local program, app, or cloud software. Typically these types of software only allow for so much customisation, typically surface level adjustments. Think of when you buy a new phone and you customise it to your liking: colour, ringtone and order of loaded apps; or buying a suit and having it slightly altered to size.
Fully customised - this would typically be building or creating software from scratch; or building on existing software that may have been previously created to extend its functionality. Typically this would be like sitting with the phone manufacturer and telling him how you like your phone to work and they build it accordingly; or going to a tailor to have a suit custom fitted and made for you.
Why Is Software Customisation Important?
The role of customisation becomes increasingly more evident in growing enterprise level organisations where measuring business success (growth, performance & productivity) is essential to business overall health.
Custom software should enhance business functions as, at the heart of it, it is about deep-diving into the overall business, and more detailed departmental requirements, understanding it and then giving the software a final shape.
Money Saved Through Customisation
Software that is intuitive to the business requirements will assist employees to be more productive, but this is not the only place you will save money.
Custom software development is not as expensive as people might think. The development cost and time depend upon the business requirement and the software features. Well managed projects also do not take up more time than initially specified, and most software developers will consider a priority approach - whereby you can use part of the software as they extend and build additional features.
As for costs, some software agencies are also amenable to payment per milestone achieved.
Custom software should also scale with your business, therefore any money spent will be saved in the long-run over a few years. Whereas off-the-shelf products might be more immediate and perhaps cost a little less now, but the business might outgrow that off-the-shelf system a lot faster and then would need to spend more money, potentially on further customisation.
No matter where your business finds itself within the business life cycle, speak to Platinum Software if you’re considering investing in custom software.
