Custom software applications place your business at a significant advantage over your industry counterparts who rely primarily on off-the-shelf software products. Purpose-built apps help improve your business workflows and keep your digital transformation plan on the right track. Despite all the contrary claims, no software solution is perfect. And this is especially true if you purchase it right off the shelf. Every business has unique IT requirements. Let’s assume a piece of software advertises itself as “plug-and-play.” This product will still require manual configuration a vast majority of the time. Before the solution can effectively connect to your software stack, expect to eliminate several inefficiencies, a resource-intensive process that can cut significantly into your return on investment. A large misconception exists among business owners that purpose-built software is expensive. Depending on the scope of your software requirements and broader digital transformation objectives, you could end up saving money through efficiency gains over several of your typical out-of-the-box selections. With that mentioned, let’s take a closer look at the top 5 ways custom application development can benefit your company:
1. Custom Apps Support Automated Technologies
If one of your primary objectives is to improve safety at your worksite by eliminating mundane, repetitive motion tasks while simultaneously reducing labor overhead, a well-customized automated software solution is the right choice. Purpose-built automated software is among the most reliable tools for helping businesses gain efficiency and cut costs. Customized apps let you manage multiple aspects of your business under a single glass pane, streamlining and enhancing the user experience of your operators under a unified interface. Custom automation software makes their work experience more pleasant while boosting overall productivity at your worksite. If your employees have grown accustomed to jumping from system to system to complete their day-to-day tasks, purpose-built software applications can collect your most valuable data under a single umbrella. This approach helps businesses establish more efficient workflows. Automating your data management in this way helps with decision-making and process improvements while allowing you to forecast long-term revenue predictions you can rely on.
2. Improved Communication
Businesses have been adopting complicated systems to provide their services at an increasing pace. This trend has shown to be unnecessarily disruptive to how companies communicate brand messages to the consumer public. As of late, company departments that were at once distinct have started to converge into new, larger teams that collaborate more closely than ever before. Businesses must remain flexible and be prepared to draw from multiple resources and areas of their organizations to deliver customer services under increasingly unpredictable conditions. The problem with relying on an out-of-the-box solution to streamline communication and invite more collaboration at your company is it’s often difficult and too cost-prohibitive to integrate with your existing digital environment. Custom-engineered software eliminates the need to jump from program to program. This arrangement often leads to inefficiencies and higher incidences of workplace accidents attributable to human error.
3. Better Security
An extended CMS or well-customized app is generally more secure than the systems you buy off the shelf. The better security is there because the software was designed specifically for your business, making you a more challenging target from a cyber criminal’s perspective. Likewise, hackers prefer attacking out-of-the-box software solutions because they can potentially gain further access to the sensitive data of any companies or individuals that partner with the businesses that deploy them. Depending on the nature of the information you store, for most hackers, gaining access to your private data alone won’t be worth their while. Your chances of getting into the sights of a network of threat actors are lower when you implement customized software solutions at your business.
4. Investment Protection
Custom application development helps extend the shelf-life of your CMS while placing you in a better position to protect the investments in your existing architecture and infrastructure. Simplified integration means your operations can continue using the tools your staff is most comfortable with, and you won’t need to invest hours of training into learning an entirely new software delivery platform. While there is a small learning curve with an adaptive system, starting from scratch with an off-the-shelf software product can be challenging, especially if employee morale and buy-in levels are low. Software that’s engineered with your existing tools in mind helps you develop more efficient workflows while keeping most of your current digital environment intact.
5. Streamlined Access To Valuable Business Data
Your back office likely requires a large amount of information, drawn from several different areas of your organization to remain functional. At the end of the year, your CFO needs access to accurate and detailed information to put together an annual report. The bulk of this research process usually entails several outmoded, paper-dependent procedures. But customized automated software, in contrast, lets you generate sophisticated reports from the data you choose, right from the purpose-built application itself. Are you planning a digital transformation initiative? Connect with an engineer at One Blink Technology after filling out our online request for contact form now.
