With a great number of off-the-shelf software solutions available out there, custom software might seem unnecessary, but there are many cases in which it can boost performance and efficiency. Besides, every company has a unique set of needs, some of which may not be met by using standardized, off-the-shelf solutions.

It is said that behind every successful business stands a powerful software.

Let’s have a look at the most important signs that point to the need for custom software development.

Your software is outdated

Business requirements grow and improve. You may have started your company with software that did an excellent job, but it has become redundant nowadays.

The solutions provided by your old software do not fulfill your business needs and standards anymore. At this point, your organization will benefit from features that your old software does not provide. Or, with the volumes of information you need to process, your program will not cope. It is clear that your company needs a perfect software solution, designed to grow with your business and help you stay on top in a competitive market.

You might notice a decrease in efficiency

If you are spending time and resources trying to handle a software framework that is slow or ineffective, you need to turn your attention to other solutions.

Rather than making it simpler for you, the whole process can be slowed down by your existing software. You must take into account that, as your business expands and evolves, a custom software solution has the flexibility to evolve and adapt.

You struggle with many repetitive tasks

It takes a significant amount of time to send emails, do payroll, create records, provide customer service, schedule meetings, and many other activities. As a result, these are negatively impacting your ability to work efficiently whether you do them manually or have different software solutions for each.

Custom software can be designed to handle all of these tasks without the burden of continuous manual data entering.

Your employee satisfaction is dropping

When employees have to work with a variety of off-the-shelf solutions, they will definitely struggle to maintain their enthusiasm and efficiency. So, if they are required to perform multiple manual tasks instead of focusing on their main duties, workers tend to feel dissatisfied.

Employee satisfaction is the secret to a healthy work environment and low turnover. By coping with simple routine tasks, custom software can lower the burden.

You use multiple databases and systems for everyday processes

You may need a customized solution that lets you get all your business activities under the same roof, if you are using multiple software products for different tasks within your company and feel that your data is dispersed and difficult to handle.

This way, in your business interest, integrated software systems work together to make management more effective and less daunting. Therefore, you can transfer information from one device to another while creating a customized program without spending endless hours entering data.

Your off-the-shelf solution is not working as expected

So, you purchased an off-the-shelf software, but that’s not exactly what you were expecting it to be. Your employees hate to use it because it is not intuitive, they tend to get lost or trapped in tasks, or because it always sends back bugs.

It could be a sign that your organization needs custom software development that is efficient and user-friendly.

You spend so much time solving the same issues over and over again

If you’re sick and tired of solving the same repetitive issues, perhaps it’s time to scale your software resources and save precious time by opting for custom solutions.

You want to be in control of your program

It’s easier to build a custom solution if you want the software to fit exactly to your strategy and business needs, not only now, but in the years to come.

This implies you own the product, and as long as your company exists, you can make use of it.

Custom software can work better with the current processes and will be easier to manage, more flexible, and easier to scale.

You need a high-security level to protect your business data

When a company holds a lot of valuable information, it must have a high degree of security: personal, consumer, banking, payment, confidential, business. The biggest objective is no bugs, no leaks, no fraud.

In order to effectively operate on the market, companies also have to comply with security requirements or industrial/financial regulations. There is no chance of hacker attacks when it is secured, which might cost you a lot of money and, maybe, the loss of reputation.

Custom software can definitely offer a high level of security.

Your business is growing

Many companies are affected by the restrictions imposed by off-the-shelf software they use. Standard software will not adapt to specific needs.

Custom software can grow with the business and can be customized to fulfill the growing requirements. If you are planning to expand your company, custom software can be a highly useful solution.

Read more about the advantages of custom software in our article: Custom Software vs. Out-of-the-Box Software

To sum up

By adopting software that completely meets your goals, you can solve numerous challenges. You can not only improve the efficiency of employees, but minimize human errors and reduce costs by automating manual, repetitive, time-consuming, and rule-based activities.

Analyze the existing processes to identify industry-specific requirements. This will help you see which of them can be strengthened. When you know your strong and weak sides, it’s much easier to understand what kind of software solution with what features you should implement.

If one or more of these situations sound familiar to you, just contact us, and let’s have a talk about the custom software solutions that could help you improve your business!

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