Organizations benefit from custom business apps, whether they are designed for mobile or the web. Unfortunately, when it comes to tech solutions, one size doesn’t always fit all. Having business apps that are not designed to meet your organization’s specific needs and size can lead to inefficiencies and wasted financial resources.
Many organizations choose generic packaged software solutions because they don’t fully understand the benefit of developing a custom app. This post will explain the benefits of developing custom business apps. However, it is essential to note that generic packaged software solutions are sufficient for some businesses to meet their needs.
Take the time to thoroughly review the benefits of custom business apps to determine if it is the right approach for your business.
The Reasons Your Business Should Consider Custom Apps
There are a lot of decent packaged software solutions. You might even find a few that work well for your organization. However, traditionally, businesses have believed that off-the-shelf software is a better choice than custom apps since the price tag is often smaller initially, and the software is ready to use immediately.
However, most businesses have at least one process that eludes the capabilities of these one-size-fits-all software solutions. As a result, organizations spend more time and money on additional packaged software, integrations, etc., looking for a solution that meets all their needs. This approach quickly gets expensive and challenging to manage. Businesses should consider custom apps because they offer the following:
- Functional flexibility
- Scalability
- Streamlined data
- Complete integration
- Improved security
- Better support
Functional Flexibility
The most important benefit of custom business software is its functional flexibility. A custom app can be programmed to fit any workflow, operation, or process your business wants to streamline. Custom apps are like well-tailored suits that can be crafted to fit your organization’s exact needs.
Off-the-shelf software solutions cannot match the functional flexibility of custom business apps. Custom apps built precisely to the specifications of your business processes make your operations more efficient and give your teams more time to focus on their core responsibilities. Whether your custom app will be used for internal purposes or be outward facing, app users have a better User Experience with custom solutions.
There is very little you cannot do with a custom business app. If you have a functional need that is not being met by packaged software solutions, chances are good a custom app will be able to meet your needs.
Scalability
One thing that is certain in business is that needs will change over time. Off-the-shelf software solutions struggle to scale because they are built to meet the needs of many companies. Custom business apps grow and adapt with your company. Instead of inhibiting growth and innovation, custom apps promote growth and innovation.
The ability to scale is critical to long-term success. Custom apps evolve with your business to meet future challenges instead of holding it back. As your business evolves and grows, your business applications need to stay relevant and helpful.
It might be cheaper in the short term to choose off-the-shelf software. Still, when your company regularly has to choose new software solutions as it grows, it quickly becomes evident that developing custom business apps is the better choice.
Streamlined Data
Modern enterprises rely on vast amounts of data. However, collecting, collating, and analyzing this data presents a logistical challenge to many businesses. Custom apps give businesses more control over their data and quicker access to data analytics. Typically, data must be extracted, transformed, and loaded into a data warehouse or cloud solution for analysis. This process takes time and slows down the speed of real-time analytic tools.
Custom business apps enable businesses to collect data that is ready to analyze. Since custom apps are built according to the exact specifications of your business, you won’t have to worry about formatting or extracting data from multiple data sources. Instead, your business can load clean, coherent data directly into its custom app as it is collected in real-time.
Complete Integration
One of the biggest challenges businesses face with packaged software is integration. Many tools are difficult to integrate, won’t integrate, or require an IT specialist to complete integration. In many cases, packaged solutions don’t fully integrate with one another, even when integration is possible. A significant benefit of custom business apps is that they can be thoroughly integrated with every facet of your business operations.
When you develop a custom app, you don’t have to discard tools and processes that you find helpful for your business. Custom apps can be built to directly integrate with any aspect of your operations you want. Custom business apps can push and pull data your operations require to create the perfect solution for your organization.
Improved Security
Custom apps are more secure than packaged software solutions. If you have a security-conscious development team, your custom app will enjoy even higher levels of security. This is because custom apps are unique to your organization. This means cyber attackers have less of a chance to know the ins and outs of your software. Packaged software is widely used, so hackers have more chances to find a way in.
Popular business software solutions offer hackers a large user base to attack and can be breached through trial and error. However, custom apps are far less likely to get targeted because they are different and only apply to your business. If security is an essential factor to your business, and it should be, custom app development should be strongly considered.
Better Support
Several packaged solutions offer excellent customer support to the businesses that choose them. However, the scope of support that even the best solutions offer is narrow. Custom apps offer better support because businesses can work directly with the developers who built them.
If a change needs to be made to meet your technical requirements, your business can speak with the developers and get the changes made quickly. On the other hand, off-the-shelf solutions are created to meet the needs of many. If you have an issue you want to change, it will be more challenging to do so because you have far less control, and providers won’t customize the software just for your business.
Final Thoughts
Packaged solutions are cheaper out of the box and can be used immediately. However, in the long run, custom business apps benefit organizations that want to streamline operations, innovate, and grow. If you want to learn more about custom business apps and what they can do for your organization, reach out to an experienced app development partner.
