When Do I Need to Look Into Custom Software Development Companies?

Small start-ups and established enterprises alike benefit from an examination of how software increases productivity and revenue for their organization. One of the places where an examination can start is with the question, “Do we need custom software?” Custom software development companies differ from development agencies using pre-built solutions not only in capabilities but also in their approach to digital product design and testing. 

Pre-Built vs. Custom Software

Pre-Built Software

Pre-built software is all around us. Everyone has probably seen an advertisement for Squarespace websites at some point or another. There are also widely available WordPress themes that some developers work with to deliver a finished product. More recently, there are plug-and-play mobile app development companies that deliver a standard app within an industry that can be branded to the user’s organization. These kinds of websites, web apps, and mobile apps are designed to serve a variety of common needs. Take, for example, the need for a one-page informational website. While the ability to wow users with a unique design may be limited, pre-built software developers and agencies fulfill the basic need of providing information on the web. Now, let’s take a look at how custom software companies come into play.  

Custom Software

Custom software is applied toward business needs that are either not met or not being met in the most effective way by pre-built software. Every organization’s needs are as unique as the organization itself and, sometimes, the website, web app, or mobile app needs to be equally as unique. Let’s take the example of an informational site again. Say the organization is relying on its site to convey a brand new concept around which they are providing value. Words on a page within a standardized design can only go so far in demonstrating something that has never been heard before. Custom software companies provide experts in user experience and developers who can create a site to match exact specifications. The end result is a site that fulfills the need of providing information on the web in a way that is illustrative and exciting. 

What Do Custom Software Companies Do? 

Custom design is just one of many capabilities of custom software companies. Here are more of the most common capabilities that help answer the question of whether you need custom software.  

Automation - Organizations across the board are looking for ways to increase revenue through automation. Custom software companies sit down with their clients and learn how a manual process works now and what goal the organization would like to achieve through automation before creating something unique to them. 

Scalability - A huge benefit of custom software is that it is built to scale with an organization. It is not uncommon to hear of an organization that started up with a pre-built site but has run into a wall after their business needs evolved to a certain point. Something like Craft CMS is a more apt solution for organizations that see their business growing and diversifying. 

Product Design - When an organization’s value lies in the innovative use of a website or mobile app, trying to customize a pre-built solution is like jamming a square peg in a round hole. The recruitment of custom software companies is vital to bringing a new digital product design to life. (Check out an example from our work). 

Increase Productivity - Not all benefits of custom software development are user-facing. To have a developer listen to how the team members of an organization would like to interact with the back end of a website is invaluable to the productivity of the organization once the project is completed. Imagine needing to reach out to the developer who used a pre-built theme every time the website’s content needs to be updated. Custom software developers ensure that the team is comfortable working within a user-friendly backend interface so that quick changes and updates are simple and easy.  

Integration - Solution-specific software, such as e-commerce integrations, can be highly valuable products and essential to an organization’s day-to-day operations. However, organizations can run into trouble if their website, web app, or mobile app was not built with the integration they need in mind. Custom software development companies investigate what integrations an organization uses or could benefit from most and ensure compatibility between their digital product and business tools.    

Designing and Testing Custom Software

Developers using pre-built software can only ask a limited number of questions about what an organization would like their website, web app, or mobile app to do because pre-built software only provides so many answers. Custom software, on the other hand, has the answer to virtually everything. 

The process of working with custom software development companies includes (1) an in-depth discovery of an organization’s needs, (2) a thorough discussion of how target users will interact with the site, and (3) the application of tools to test and monitor user behavior to contribute to an educated evolution of the site or app. When you work with custom software developers, your project is never one-and-done but rather a user-tested, fine-tuned business tool.  

Looking for Custom Software? 

If you’ve come to the conclusion that your organization could benefit from custom software, we’re here to talk. Our passionate team of developers are experts at diving into business needs, designing a plan to meet them, and executing software that improves the return on your digital investment.