Businesses often face a hard choice – to pick up software off the shelf or get it tailored to their needs. Making this choice can be challenging as ready-to-use apps can cover most of their needs and cost much less at a first glance.
However, bespoke software can be much more beneficial in the long run and can cut developing and operating costs significantly. In this post, we share our opinion on bespoke (or tailored) software, what it is, and its advantages. After reading this article you should have a good idea of why opting for bespoke software will benefit your business.
Bespoke software, or in other words custom or tailored software is software that has been created with the client’s specific needs in mind. Much like a tailored suit, these software solutions are built to the businesses’ particular specifications and should meet all of the requirements of the company.
These bespoke solutions are even be developed to fit into your current ways of working, so you needn’t change how you work in order to employ the system. As the solution is tailored to your individual business and you own the source code, the solution can be easily integrated with other bespoke or packaged software, used to replace a legacy system, and can be updated and expanded in the future.
All in all, it’s a customized alternative to expensive packaged software solutions that might contain unnecessary modules that aren’t vital to your business and could just complicate the way you operate.
Bespoke software is the opposite of off-the-shelf software. Packaged software is built for general use and may not suit the needs of your company. Many choose this solution as it’s often cheaper than bespoke software, but this doesn’t mean that the operating costs are lower.
Instead, off-the-shelf software often requires more time to create workarounds. These can result in a loss of productivity which could end costing your business more than a tailored software solution.
More importantly, your internal or commercial activities might be too particular to fit a general use software. This means that adopting an off-the-shelf solution will not be able to cover all of your needs. This in turn leads to having to purchase multiple different systems for small portions of your activity, costing more than a bespoke software solution.
And finally, if you are innovating in your niche, you won’t be able to do this with simple off-the-shelf software. You will need a solution that will help you be faster, more productive, and bring advanced solutions to your clients, making custom software a must.
As such, bespoke software has numerous advantages for your business and is often the better choice. The most notable benefits of custom software solutions are:
Below is the summary of these two types of software solutions, that should help you understand the benefits of tailored solutions even further.
Even though off-the-shelf software is versatile and easy to use, bespoke wins out because it’s qualitative and targeted at the needs of the client, their employees, and their own customers. Custom solutions allow users to spend more time being productive because they adapt to the way of work of the company.
To be able to remain competitive in today’s fast-paced world, bespoke software solutions are some of the best perks businesses can afford. They allow them to be more efficient, cut on operating costs and provide a unique experience for their customers.
