The software can make your business transformable. If you don’t look at ways to optimize your business using your data, your competitive advantage, growth potential, and profitability will be reduced.

The downside? Maintaining software. There are many custom application problems that have led to whole industries.

What can you do if your critical system goes down to get the most out of the software?

We worked together to develop custom applications for clients that range from small businesses to 500 companies.

Step 1: Look For Commercial, Web-Based Options

The developer’s investors, as well as the entire customer base, bear the development, testing, and maintenance costs for the solution that you require. Even if your needs are simple, you will find that an existing, proven solution is almost always cheaper and more effective than creating something new.

You should not hesitate to request customization from the vendor (or one of the vendor’s partners). Instead, explore the possibility of adapting your processes to accommodate this new software and still achieve your desired results. Excel can be used for manipulating raw data and creating reports.

Once you have convinced yourself that custom development is what you want, get an external advisor to help you make your decision before you actually pull the trigger.

Step 2: If Custom Applications Are Not Possible To Solve Your Problem, You Should Outsource It

If the solution’s purpose is to give you an advantage in the marketplace, or if the off-the-shelf solution doesn’t work for your needs, outsourcing is likely the best solution. Why would you rather outsource than do it yourself?

Lower price: Most vendors will charge a small-to-midsize company less than if they were doing it in-house. This assumes that your employees aren’t working too hard. Vendors benefit from the experience they have gained by working on numerous projects in the past and can even re-use their intellectual properties.

Speed: In-house teams often have operational priorities (hopefully, you don’t have full-time employees just sitting around), and new software development gets put on the “nice-to-have-if-we-have-time” list. Your custom development projects can be outsourced to help keep your team on track and get you better results.

Sustainability: Even though vendors may go out of business at any time, they have a process to ensure documentation. Make sure you get the source code or that the code goes into the escrow (if your vendor is leveraging their intellectual property) so you don’t lose any of your investment in the event that the vendor goes out of business.

Step 3: Make It in Your Home

This is an extreme option for small-to-medium businesses. Let’s face it; it’s unlikely that you have sufficient labor on hand to do the job. If you do not have enough labor, you will have problems.

Some companies are able to retain their staff because of the amount of work they do in-house, but larger companies can still use Greg’s service. If you are building something in-house, it is important that all employees are trained in its use and maintenance before they can implement it. You will become dependent on the developer who built it (small businesses have only one). If she leaves, you may need her help to fix any problems.

In conclusion, if you want to get all the benefits of software, you need to submit your software. By submitting your software, you will be able to get updates, access to new features, and bug fixes. You will also be able to get support from the community and the developers.