Nov
What are the Special Features of a Bespoke Software Development?
Businesses are always looking for new and creative ways to improve their operations and obtain a competitive advantage in the fast-paced world of modern business. A strategy that has gained popularity recently is bespoke or custom software development.
A report from McKinsey & Company claims that companies that deliver customised solutions have more satisfied customers. That’s where bespoke software development helps. This blog explains the benefits of custom software and how they are developed to meet the specific requirements of companies.
What is Bespoke Software?
Bespoke Software or custom software is highly customised software developed for specific tasks that suit the requirements of an organisation.
Contrary to traditional software, tailor-made solutions or bespoke software offer all the necessary features that are relevant to your business and team. Bespoke software is specially made for businesses that cannot find solutions in commercial packages.
This software can improve the productivity of the organisation as it streamlines the process and removes any unnecessary features from the software that might hinder productivity.
Is Bespoke Software right for your business?
The freedom to add as many features as possible and customise them according to the company’s needs is one of the main advantages of bespoke software.
The Advantages of Bespoke Software are:
Solving the Exact Problem
Ideally, a solution is designed to tackle only one problem, but when you have clients, each one asks for new features and upgrades. While fulfilling all of the client’s needs, software ends up creating confusion. One of the advantages of having a bespoke application is that it targets the business needs specifically rather than handling all the solutions of clients at once.
Competitive Advantage
With bespoke software solutions, you gain a competitive edge and can automate processes, speed up decision-making, and reduce costs while your competitors struggle with generic solutions.
Long-Term Cost Efficiency
While ready-made solutions may seem cost-effective initially, they can become expensive as your business scales. Bespoke software is designed to scale your needs without making substantial additional costs.
Innovation
Bespoke software empowers you to innovate. You can create solutions that are ahead of the curve and address unique challenges. There are no limitations on this, and you can pioneer new approaches and add custom-made features with ease.
Revenue Generation
Custom software, if developed to perfection, can become a valuable product in itself. You can sell it to other companies, turning it into a source of additional revenue.
Seamless Integration
Bespoke software offers unmatched flexibility when it comes to integrating different IT systems. You can create a unified, efficient system that aligns with your business needs.
Continuous Improvement
As your business evolves, so can your bespoke software. You can add new features and enhancements without limitations, ensuring your software remains in sync with your requirements.
Data Control
With Bespoke software, you have fine-grained control over collected data. You can gather and analyse data tailored to your business needs, allowing you to make data-driven decision-making.
White Labeling
Custom software can be white-labelled with your branding, offering a seamless extension of your brand identity, which is often difficult with off-the-shelf solutions.
Gradual Improvement
Bespoke software allows for gradual enhancements, thereby minimising disruptions. Avoid the pain of migrating from one ready-made solution to another as your business grows.
Why Should you get Bespoke Software for your Business?
Let’s assume you are planning for a real-estate application development for your new business, custom software will allow you to add as many features such as consolidation of client, property, and transaction data in a single, secure platform, improved transparency and collaboration and many more. Some of the other reasons you should get a bespoke software for your business are:
Scalable architecture
While both the off-the-shelf and bespoke software are scalable, the nature of scalability varies in both. While the off-the-shelf is designed for people, the bespoke comes with a wide range of features. Bespoke solutions also give you the elasticity to tailor the software to suit your workflow. Apart from this, the freedom to make changes to your product the way you want is another greater benefit of custom software development.
More Security
Data protection rules vary as per different countries and industries, making it difficult for off-the-shelf providers. This makes it important to ensure that your software is built with complete privacy protection plans and follows industry standards. Bespoke software vendors prioritise your location and the data laws that govern them. Bespoke developers also ensure that your solutions are regularly updated to adhere to industry standards.
Seamless Integration
Bespoke software allows businesses to have customised solutions that specifically target their unique needs. This improved the workflow and operations and also improved the efficiency of the business.
Compliance
Businesses can have bespoke software when they have specific regulatory or compliance requirements. This helps businesses stay in compliance with industry regulations and also minimizes the risk of regulatory issues.
Top Customised Software Examples
Bespoke software finds applications across various industries, enhancing efficiency and streamlining operations. Some popular examples where customised software products are used are:
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): For comprehensive business management.
- Hospital/University Portals: Streamlining operations in healthcare and education.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM): To manage customer interactions effectively.
- Banking Applications: For secure and reliable banking operations.
- Content Management Systems (CMS): For seamless content management.
- B2B Accounting Programs: To manage finances efficiently.
- E-commerce Solutions: To power online stores and sales.
- Bug-Tracking Programs: For software quality assurance.
The Development Process of Bespoke Software: From Idea to Reality
Now that you know how Bespoke software can help your business, let’s take a peek at the development process to see how things are done.
Initial Consultation
There is an initial consultation before the development starts. This is where you go into depth about your company’s demands and objectives. To ensure that the developers provide a highly polished and optimised product, you communicate your vision to them.
Planning and Design
After the initial consultation, the development team dives into planning and design. This step involves sketching the blueprint for the software whilst understanding the intricacies of your business and how the software will streamline them.
Development
In the bespoke software development phase, a skilled development team work meticulously to bring your software to life. This includes building the software as per the business requirements and testing it to ensure it functions correctly. The developers will also ensure that they develop the software in the said timeline.
Testing
Before finalising the software, it goes through extensive testing to verify that everything functions well. Thorough testing helps in identifying and resolving challenges while providing a seamless transfer to the new system.
Implementation and Deployment
It’s time to integrate the custom software into your business operations when it has completed all testing and quality control. custom software development process allows smooth integration and deployment with the existing systems. Whether you are using an ERP or CRM system, you can integrate it with the new application and increase productivity.
Training and Support
The development team ensures you’re comfortable with the system and offers assistance/support when needed.
Ongoing Maintenance and Updates
To fix bugs and security flaws, your custom software has to be updated and maintained regularly. Developers keep a check on the software by providing regular updates, support, and improvements.
Conclusion
The final decision between custom software solutions and ready-made software is based on time, money, and the features that are needed. Developing bespoke software—either from scratch or by altering commercial software—is the best option when certain features are missing from already available solutions. If you want to develop a custom software solution, Ficode can be your perfect software development partner. Connect with us to get tailor-made bespoke software solutions.