What is custom software systems

But you should remember that a course of events like this is only favorable when this custom software is bound to give you a competitive advantage over your competitors in the market and your business is expanding so that the expenditures on the costly software will be covered due to a larger client base resulting in a larger return on investment. If you do decide to go for a ready-made ERP solution, there are some well-known examples thereof that you should weigh in the first place.

It is a cloud ERP acquired by Oracle , the widely known corporation, renowned for its splendid cloud apps and services. Cloud computing is now almost synonymous with data security, flexibility, and accessibility. And when we talk about ERP software in the context of cloud computing, we mean a software-as-a-service delivery model.

NetSuite was one of the originators of cloud ERP. Since then, it has been gradually gaining strength. Moreover, with NetSuite, you may rest assured that you are always up to date using the latest version — your cloud ERP solution is being upgraded regularly by its provider.

This ERP solution is focused on areas like financial and asset accounting, material and quality management, production planning, HR, controlling, sales and distribution. Dynamics ERP. All five products have been purchased by Microsoft at some points in time.

They highlight different areas of performance, so your choice should be based on what area you need to optimize and where you want to have them hosted: on local servers or in the cloud.

Collectively, they are labeled Dynamics So, if you feel convinced enough to start the development of custom ERP software, now you need to know what steps to take in order to create the product capable of meeting all or at least most of your business needs. One cannot embrace the unembraceable. It is nearly impossible to get everything in one solution straight away even if it is customized. So, first, you must define the vision and scope of work to be undertaken in order to develop your future ERP solution and you should think over your software development in advance.

At this step, we outline expectations and discuss the ways in which the goals set can be achieved. The system is prototypical in itself — it is a frame that becomes meaningful after the modules are designed and added. After things are filtered, the needs of various departments are accommodated and prioritized, you and the development team have to picture what the system will look like.

This visualization can be done in several ways. You can create wireframes to get an idea of what the UI will look like or you can go for clickable prototypes so that the conversation between a development team and stakeholders could be more productive.

ERP solution can be hosted on local servers or you can take advantage of a cloud host. On the other hand, local servers require substantial investments in hardware and salaries for employers who will maintain it. As a result, many companies opt for the cloud. A great bulk of important business information is stored in a database. This data is tied to a packaged ERP business application or system and needs to be stored for future reference or analysis. It is advised that NoSQL non-relational databases should be used for enterprise resource planning systems since they are easily scalable, flexible, and quick to set up.

Integration of ERP modules with legacy apps. Usually, there are apps that an enterprise already uses. When the brand-new ERP software shimmers in the distance, those apps must be integrated with that solution and merged smoothly into a single IT infrastructure.

The same way is with the applied software. Sometimes teams can apply several types of software to meet all the needs or integrate them into the unified system. If some companies choose to sell goods on the eCommerce platform, others might prefer to build their own branded eCommerce app. Software development from scratch covers the overall process, from identifying specific needs to delivering necessary solutions.

In contrast, off-the-shelf software is often chosen for quick deployment. It takes less time as the team just needs to purchase the software, complete installation, and get ready to use it.

Cost — If we consider the initial costs, off-the-shelf software is obviously cheaper than developing a bespoke solution. And in many cases, it could cost more than even the custom software solutions.

The distinctive advantage of bespoke products is cost-effectiveness to eliminate wasting resources for some unnecessary functionality or unexpected expenses. Flexibility — A good reason to give it consideration as every team looks for the best solution while remaining flexible about arising needs. Therefore off-the-shelf software is far behind custom-made software. It becomes hard to support software advancement due to the growth of your business.

In fact, the team gets only the packaged features that may not correspond to your needs later. Whereas building bespoke software allows the team to scale the product due to arising requirements. Moreover, it comes with personalized support specifically for your software. As business needs vary from organization to organization, their choices are also different. Though we always recommend looking from the long-term perspective and choosing the solution that will grow along with your business.

Following the good market practice of building custom software shows that development efforts and up-front investments easily become advantageous and cost-effective over time. Check the case studies The following is an example of the exclusive requirements given by a client company.

You could find off-the-shelf solutions that do the same sort of things as scanning the QR codes program or processing loyalty cards. However, the client was expecting to see a program that unites the features and will also have its company branding.

The customer was expecting EXISTEK to devise and implement an easy-to-use solution for non-technical users that would enable the production of loyalty cards and quick, reliable scanning and tracing of loyalty card usage. The Customer Loyalty Software also had to be integrated with the existing POS to allow staff to apply discounts using loyalty bonuses. First, we needed to implement the real-time processing of the QR codes and Images.

Also, there should have been a database of customers with data about bonuses amount, which included the automatic calculation of the discount and the percentage of bonus accruals.

The solution for the implementation was found in a combination of image processing libraries for image processing and.

QR codes and account data is synchronized with the database. Any actions, such as card cancellation, are recorded. Considering this particular example, you probably want to know what is custom software advantage in this case. This project explicitly illustrates the questions of what is custom software and what is an example of bespoke software.

In this case, the customer had to acquire a custom-developed app due to specific requirements instead of simply buying an off-the-shelf solution. As you can see, the wide range of features is narrowly focused. You can barely find a solution to your similar requirements. In the end, the client has obtained all-in-one hospitality and loyalty tool that completely fills in the workflow gaps. Moreover, the cafe franchise had exclusive ownership of the application, which meant zero licensing costs regardless of the number of users, accounts, and terminals.

As a result, the cafe management, staff, and visitors really appreciated the final product. The final product required almost zero maintenance and was extremely reliable. It was a risky move on the customer side, but the relatively high price resulted in greater financial and reputational earnings from a long-time perspective.

When you purchase mass-market apps, you hand over the node to that software. As for you, you take the middle path concerning time, effectiveness, and working capacity. Here are some advantages of bespoke solutions:. The most obvious purpose of starting a custom development project is bringing profits to a company via the better organization of everyday processes and tasks.

First off, it eases the overall workflow, having only the features that are useful for this area while having no extras that will have little to no use in the future. For example, applications developed for the hospital will include personnel records, past medical history, visit data, etc.

Every point mentioned above helps the staff that works with the solution and the patients be aware of the healing regimens particular to that or another subject.

Of course, you may find the publicly available apps, but most of such tools are unified, which means they will not necessarily address all your needs.

Besides, any software requires the highest security level while being compliant with all the necessary regulations. There is probably software out there for pretty much every widespread application in the world.

Spreadsheets are amazing, and they can do a lot for you, much more than just collect and collate information. However, there are limits to what spreadsheets can do, and those limits are obvious very, very quickly. PDFs are great if you want to receive a document exactly as you designed it. To avoid this, finding software that can duplicate entered data exactly over a range of systems would be ideal.

These devices require advances and applications of voice recognition software. If you own a smart TV, your remote will have a microphone in allowing you to give a voice command which your TV will follow. We have mentioned one specific kind of bespoke software used in the banking industry above.

There are far more examples employed in this industry. From advanced custom-built software that monitors customer assets, or tracks monetary value across various currencies, and fraud detection software. There are dozens of applications of bespoke software. One of our previous projects you can see in our portfolio , where we made a new e-statements application for Lloyds and Halifax.

Remote dashboards represent a hugely popular and beneficial application of bespoke software. Depending on the services you provide, the ways you can use a dashboard vary. Generally, a remote dashboard allows customers or employees to view important data on a secondary device, and provides tools to enable them to carry out tasks wherever they are.

Typically used on a tablet or mobile, these dashboards enable anyone to access their data and digital tools wherever and whenever they are. For customers, an example could be viewing and managing your energy costs. Using a custom-built app provided by the supplier, you could view your energy consumption, and running costs.

It could even have diagrams and guides loaded in, to save engineers from carrying paperwork. A dashboard could also be the backbone of a paperless contract system, letting you create and manage contracts in the application, and allow customers to sign it on your phone or tablet.

Another example of bespoke software that has started a revolution comes in the travel sector. Apps like Uber, Lyft, and Kabbee have changed how people book taxis around the world. Again, the software in place works in several ways. There is a customer-facing app. This provides the user with a map, available drivers, their ratings, and the e-commerce tools to pay for rides.