When your business is thinking about purchasing software, you’re presented with many options. You’ll need to look at picking a vendor, platform, function, and more. Depending on the complexity of the problem you are trying to solve or business process you are trying to simplify, this could be a big undertaking. You might have already been approached with the idea of a custom software solution. It’s a pricer option up front; however, it will be made for your companies needs.
On the other hand was the COTS option. While the commercial off-the-shelf option might be cheaper, there are many downsides in the long run that could prove to be much more expensive and less effective. COTS options are often one-size-fits-all and hard to change or grow after time has passed. One-size-fits-all options can lead to massive costs to upgrade down the road.
With those two options presented the question is which is better. In many cases, this will be the custom software solution. From reducing human error to automating workflow productivity, there are five ways custom software can save your business money starting from day one!
Reduction of Human Error
It’s understood that no matter how perfect people strive to be, they inevitably make mistakes. When a person uses a program, they must input data. The more times they have to enter data yourself, the higher the chance of human error. When a human error takes place, this could cause issues with money, time, or even a client!
The problem with human error and off-the-shelf options lies in the one-size-fits-all model. With a COTS option, you’ll have to do more of the work yourself. Since the program was not made for you or your company, there might be extra pointless steps or even additional and confusing features. This can mean a much higher chance for error.
When you use a custom made option, on the other hand, you can do less work. When we design a custom solution, we take in mind everything that you do which could be automated. This allows us to reduce the number of times a human has to involve themselves in the process which leads to fewer errors. This lack of mistakes means that you can save time, money, and even client relations.
Simplification of Management
If you are looking for a solution for enterprise management, then a custom solution will save you hours. With an off-the-shelf enterprise management system, you’ll often find that it wasn’t made with your company in mind. This fact makes sense as they needed a product that any size business in an industry or industries could use.
What happens here, in many cases, is you will lose time looking at templates that don’t’ fit quite right. Another example is a home panel that shows too much. A custom solution simplifies management tasks by putting what you need right where you need it. If you don’t need to see the hours of each employee but do need to see their station on a map, then a custom solution can make sure that’s all you see. Overall time is money, so hours of work reduced is more money for your business.
Easy Expansion
Though custom software allows for you to pick and choose what you need at the given time, that doesn’t mean it can’t grow. When compared to COTS options, custom software is much easier to expand, change, or reduce based on the needs of your company.
Many times additions to your company’s program can be made with a fraction of the price of buying a COTS expansion that still wouldn’t be what you needed. As before, any development to your program would be custom made with your needs and desires in mind.
Pulling Data
When you have a custom solution, you can pick data from anywhere you want to both internally and externally. This is ideal because it allows for a dynamic system which can increase your business intelligence. While some COTS may have the option to sync with external data, a custom solution can ensure that precisely what data you need is available when you need it.
Reallocation of Resources
When you create a custom program, you gain many positives. Altogether, those positives create the final benefit. A simple expansion of the program, the ability to pull data from wherever, the reduction of human error, and the simplification of management creates extra labor.
Simply put, when a custom solution comes together, you will have the ability to do more with your time. If your custom solution is used by many, then there is a high chance that dozens or thousands of hours that used to be taken will suddenly become available for other tasks.
Reducing lost or wasted time, as well as all the other pros of custom software, leads to an increase in capital for the company. In time, this will make the custom made solution thousands of times cheaper than the COTS option.