Custom Software Development in Digital Transformation

As we approach the start of the new year 2023, we are just a few months away from its arrival. Each year, technology continues to affect every aspect of our lives. With technology advancing at a breakneck pace, no area is unaffected.

Organizations need to be flexible and agile as they embrace digital transformation. As a result, it would be wise to seek out those new tools and technologies to help make your business more productive. You must adopt new technology or improve your business software to stay ahead of your competitors.

This is where custom software development is critical in meeting specific business-related needs, processes, and goals. Custom-designed solutions offer greater flexibility and efficiency for your business.

The market for custom software development is anticipated to expand by 11.3% by 2028. As a result, businesses have begun looking for customized solutions.

Quick Plug: Custom Software Development team at Netsmartz approaches digital transformation differently than most other companies. Our custom digital services aim to bridge the gap between the challenges and the solutions, enabling your organization to thrive as a modern, agile organization.

To proceed, let us understand the following-

What is Custom Software Development?

In today’s competitive market, it is necessary to meet specific business needs when developing software or applications. Custom software development means being aware of a business requirement, designing and creating custom technology to answer it, and including it in the existing process.

What does it have—

Software scaling and development to achieve company goals, prominent among which are long-term revenue generation and growth. Businesses can modify the software to meet the company’s behaviors, objectives, and needs.

Whether it’s backend marketing, sales, or mobile app users’ direct communication, the technology is tailored to the demands of the business and its target market. 

Custom software can meet specific user needs, making it more efficient than commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS). COTS targets a broader range of prerequisites and is suited to a wide audience. Off-the-shelf software is promoted for businesses to incorporate into their day-to-day operations.

Off-the-shelf solutions, such as Microsoft Office, allow companies to meet the global needs of a broader audience.

Pros of Custom Software Development

Targeted Solution to Business Needs

Typically, no two companies are the same; although similar, their requirements differ. Why would they require cookie-cutter solutions off the shelf for their businesses? One of the top benefits of custom software development is having targeted custom solutions that align with companies’ business needs. A custom-targeted solution contains all the essential features required for the company’s steady growth. It adds value and creates more clarity in the navigation of business needs. 

Sure, many companies prefer to add customizations to their applications based on various platforms and consider those custom additions to stand the test of time. However, they may not withstand the new updates and upgrades to the platform.

Along the same lines, Jenny Peng, CTO at Aptean, joined in conversation with Chris Harris and John McCurdy on their podcast Ready for What’s Next, Now,

“Many companies decide to work around the fact that they are operating on disparate platforms by applying customizations and custom integrations, but they’re almost always costly and very far from ideal.

One reason for that is they’re challenging to preserve when the software needs to be updated; you can end up going to a lot of trouble to get your systems to play nice with each other only to find out that in a few months, you are facing the same issues that you had before.

What’s more, the data conversions that have to occur for some of these custom integrations can take time and are prone to errors. When you consider the alternative—an organized and purposefully selected technology stack—we’re talking about night and day in terms of the difference.” 

Access to Innovative Product

Integration of custom solutions and features always gives the company a competitive advantage and is the ideal digital solution to compete globally. Custom solutions bring innovativeness to the overall product and are sought after for their unique abilities. 

Higher Return on Investment

The return on investment from custom software development is greater than that of off-the-shelf programs specifically designed for your enterprise. Extra fees, such as licensing, are not involved in developing your website using off-the-shelf software solutions. Because of this, custom software development may need a higher initial outlay of funds, but the ROI over time is more elevated. 

An easy integration process

Custom software makes easy integration with your company’s current software and applications. You may design software with the aid of software professionals, making adoption more accessible and boosting business efficiency.

Insight into Security

Custom software solutions incorporates additional security measures into the site’s code to safeguard your website from hackers and other internet risks. There’s no need to depend on the inadequate security features of any off-the-shelf product. When someone tries to hack your website, your custom development company will set up an alarm system to inform you so you can take the appropriate precautions. 

Freedom of Use & Control

Businesses may update or use applications developed just for them, giving them total control over the software. The customized software is your own, and you can modify it or use it however you see fit.

Creative Flexibility with Scaling Possibilities

Customized solutions provide complete freedom to design the website or application that engages your users and generates new leads effectively. The constraints of off-the-shelf solutions are numerous, and your company may eventually outgrow them. Your website’s bespoke development team will go to work if it needs to be scaled up.

Cons of Custom Software Development

Development Takes Time

Since business requirements may not always be as obvious as one may assume, it takes a long time to design a fully functional custom software application for business. Researchers invest a lot of effort in study and analysis to identify and resolve unclear or indirect needs.

High Development Costs

Businesses incur relatively high costs while building custom software, but market forces drive down the cost of off-the-shelf software solutions. The price of custom software often includes the cost of maintenance and support. Once deployed, custom software development is financially worthwhile due to its functionality.

Choosing the Wrong Developer can Pose a Risk

For most industries, the risk of doing business with an erroneous person or organization is a rampant problem. Your time & money may be wasted if you choose the correct vendor. Since there are many organizations offering custom software development services, you can select those that offer subpar or amateurish software development services. It is advised to take your time when selecting a developer. More time spent researching can help you avoid losses in the future.

Higher Upfront Investment

Developing custom software is estimated to cost between 24 USD and 35 USD per hour for each development team member. Because of the lower living expenses in their native countries, nearshore software professionals can charge much less. The cost of a license, security, and customization is still reduced.

Digital Transformation Tendencies for Software Development

Approximately 60% of G2000 companies will develop custom business platforms by 2023 to foster innovation & growth. By developing custom software products, companies can create customer engagement models that promote customer relationships, increase user value, and increase internal productivity.

In a constantly evolving industry, digital software transformation is driven by the need for custom-tailored technology solutions. As a result, we can observe specific trends as organizations embark on their digital transformation journey.

With a proven track record of delivering IT solutions, there are three key trends in app development:

• Mobile-first approach
• API-first approach
• Low-code approach

Let’s explore the underlying ideas of each of these principles.

Mobile-First Approach

1. The proportion of mobile traffic to all web traffic is 54.8%, which means that more than half of Internet users browse the Internet via mobile devices.

2. According to thinkwithgoogle, 59% of buyers claim mobile shopping is the defining factor when choosing a brand, according to Google. 

3. Salesforce suggests 75% of employees felt less productive away from their desks due to the lack of mobile apps. 

4. Only 22% of companies provide their employees with a mobile experience based on the PwC US Remote Work Survey conducted in January 2021. 

There is massive underinvestment here. 

Emergence Capital has conducted a study that indicates diskless mobile technology can increase employee productivity by 33% and reduce costs by 21%.

Companies must make the software solution for mobile devices available before scaling it up for desktop machines. With the help of this method, your business may increase its consumer base and forge closer bonds with them. It is also advantageous for firms that their staff members have access to crucial information from anywhere.

API-First Approach,

A worldwide survey of 2,000 knowledge workers found that the average knowledge worker utilizes up to six applications to do daily chores. That is a great deal of switching & navigating, which prevents employees from reaching their full potential. The constant switching between apps also leads to a loss of 32 work days per year due to continuous navigation.

API is a programming language that enables communication between two or more apps.

Simply put, it is a mediator between two software pieces transmitting signals and data.

The custom software development team aims to build a digital product with easier app integration. Instead of a code-first approach, the API-first technique focuses on the API. As a result, the business has an ecosystem of reusable and modular apps.

Low-Code Approach

It simplifies the development of custom enterprise software, resulting in a custom-made digital product in a shorter time. A low-code development strategy relies on using prearranged blocks of code to construct a new custom application, eliminating the need for hand-coding and testing new scripts.

As a result of this process, the development of custom software applications is accelerated, and the business agility to expand or maintain its leading position is increased. It is an excellent solution for startups and small businesses since it allows the creation of a customized application at a lower cost in a short amount of time.

Interested in hiring offshore software developers for custom software projects? Let Netsmartz help.

Knowing everything about custom software development gives you a better understanding of your business needs.

As the company grows, changing its operations over time, the product becomes obsolete. The business workflow operations would be jeopardized by removing the product. Buy a different product with built-in interfaces to communicate with the actual product.

Companies involved in digital transformation increasingly rely on customized software to meet their specific requirements. These systems can frequently integrate upwards and downwards without any noticeable gaps. These problems can be solved with custom software development, which can also deliver solutions across various languages and platforms.

This strategy will give you superior scalability prospects, increased customization, and control over your website. Suppose you want to hire a custom software development team at Netsmartz. In that case, we can offer you access to our extensive network of nearshore developers and signature vetting process.