Bespoke Software Development for Business: Advantages and Disadvantages

Every business has some specific needs. These needs are defined as per the particular need of the business and therefore it requires bespoke software development.

As businesses have become more specific to serve the requirements of users, tailoring the services to meet end user’s requirements is paramount today. Tailor-made software or solutions can exactly fit the requirements of the businesses and users providing them with a competitive advantage.

Bespoke software development is highly scalable and can perfectly adapt to the current working methods that can easily be integrated with other systems. It offers no limitations when it is compared with off-the-shelf software solutions. In addition to this, there are a number of pros and cons that businesses can have with tailored software development.

In order to understand the significance of bespoke development, it is first essential to understand what bespoke software development is and how it impacts a business providing app/software development services. The blog post will talk about everything that bespoke software development encompasses along with the pros and cons of the same.

Let’s explore the insights of bespoke software development starting with what bespoke software development is.  

What is a Bespoke Software?

Bespoke software development refers to a tailor-made solution crafted specifically for the requirements of your business.

Bespoke software services are intended for the development, growth and expansion of services and products that a company deals with. These custom-made solutions give the right platform for broader exposure to companies looking forward to global expansion.

In contrast to bespoke software development, many companies don’t invest in custom-made solutions and settle for an off-the-shelf software. Since a bespoke solution meets the specific needs of the business that a ready-made software cannot meet, it makes running a business easier, efficient and at the same time removes the restrictions and frustration that are usually associated with ready-made applications.

Bespoke software development when utilised for the development of services offers a number of added benefits to the company. These include growth in terms of flexibility, security, ownership and everything in between.

Developing solutions for businesses should always be imitated by reviewing the entire business and the requirements of the same. This helps bespoke software development companies to work ideally and towards the intended growth of the business.

Bespoke development has more benefits when the services are well-defined as per the requirement of the development firm. We will discuss both aspects of bespoke development (pros and cons of bespoke software development) starting with advantages of using bespoke solutions:

Let’s get started!

Advantages of Using Bespoke Software Solutions:

• Complete Ownership

Creating your own software differentiates your business and gives you complete control over the solutions that you have created. Based on your needs, you can decide how and where it can be implemented and you have full rights to it. You can use it for many employees and need not worry about the additional costs or upgrades. With bespoke solutions, you can decide on any additional features or customisations that are needed to grow your business.

• Unique Individual Solution

Bespoke software is developed entirely based on the specific requirements of your business, allowing you to craft a one-of-a-kind solution. Furthermore, the resulting solution remains exclusive to you, with no other entity having possession of it. Therefore, the solution is unique to the business and thus offers exclusive competitive advantages to the business.

• Paying for Exact Services

Opting for a commercial solution may result in a scenario where you either lack essential features or have functionalities that go unused. While you may not have the choice to opt out of paying for the complete solution, bespoke software provides the advantage of paying exactly for what you have selected to develop with your specific product. Therefore, investing in a bespoke solution makes it competitive and affordable solution for the business.

• Scalability and Flexibility:

If your company has plans to grow and expand to cover other marketing sectors, then an off-the-shelf product may not be able to cope because you don’t have any idea about the way the system develops with time. But with bespoke software, you can easily develop and grow together with your business, make everything simple and even change the program wherever needed. The flexibility of the software allows your business to expand as needed and meet the business objectives.

Also Read: Why A Bespoke Ecommerce Platform Is Best for Your Business

• High Security

Because the software that you are using is one of a kind, it is very difficult for cyber criminals to hack it. Usually, hackers avoid hacking a single system as it needs hours of hard work and that is why the hackers usually target products meant for the mass market. Choosing a bespoke software solution can therefore protect your data.

• Automation

There are many companies that work manually to complete various work processes and tasks. Nowadays, automation is not seen as a choice, but it is an opportunity that helps companies to stay competitive in the market. It is by supporting these processes that bespoke software development companies can bring a great change in:

• Time: There is no doubt that manual work may have errors, but proper automation can save you and your employees hours of exhausting work.
• Reach:Another advantage of using the bespoke automated solution is to enable its users to go beyond the limits. This saves time and helps to expand the database and reach out to more customers thereby increasing sales.
• Quality: Bespoke developers can create applications that are of high quality as they know the processes to be used. This finally helps to avoid all the errors and enhance the quality of the application.

Disadvantages of Bespoke Software:

• Initial Costs

The up-front cost, which is associated with bespoke software solution is the biggest disadvantage. The software project may cost you more than off-the-shelf solutions, due to the amount of time and effort required to create it, but it can be said that the long-term benefit is worth the investment. As the initial investment seems higher the solution overall may be a considerable expense for the business.

• Experience

To receive a 100% useful bespoke solution, it is important for you to know your business and specifications very well.  Ordering some tools and hiring resources without knowing what your company needs may be a great waste of money. On the other hand, it is also a benefit to know your business goals at the same time. To fulfil all these requirements, it is important that businesses have resources that are well aware of the trade. It also asks for hiring outside resources that are experienced. Hiring such a resource for the business is an added expense.

• Considerable Development Time

Another disadvantage of a bespoke software solution for your business is that the implementation of bespoke software is considerably more time-consuming compared to a commercial solution. As the software is meticulously designed and constructed specifically from scratch, a significant amount of time is naturally required for its development. Subsequently, the software must undergo an installation process, a step common to off-the-shelf solutions as well. In such a situation where an urgency has to be maintained to install the software, bespoke software solutions seem to take considerable development time.

• No Existing Forum Support

As a bespoke solution needs development from scratch, the developers may not have resources available for development or installation support. Added to that, as is the case with other software solutions, community support cannot be obtained until the software has been developed. More to this, no reviews exist for your solution (to be developed) and therefore, developers may lack the required support if needed during the development.

• No Previous User Experience Exist

As the nature of your product is bespoke, meaning it has to be developed keeping the bespoke requirements in mind. Much like the fact that there is no development support, similarly no previous user experience exists for the same. This means there is no guide available for the fact that how the system will be integrated and how users will feel about it. All this makes your solution a little doubtful for everyone using it.

• Fewer Possibilities

Compared to off-the-shelf solutions bespoke software is not developed for the masses. However. The case is entirely different with off-the-shelf solutions. They are developed to cover the requirements of the masses, meaning they offer solutions to a number of businesses, which is not the case with bespoke solutions. Added to that, as bespoke solutions are made with functions to suit the exact requirement of the business, it has features specific to a particular business and applicable to that business only.

When to Choose Bespoke Software Development Services?

The most common use cases for bespoke software development solutions include creating specific business solutions with précised business requirements to be fulfilled, beating the competition with a unique solution, integrating a business-specific solution in your trade, and more. Here are more use cases of a bespoke software solution.

• Addressing Specific Business Requirements

Meeting a distinct business requirement that off-the-shelf software cannot fulfil is a reason for businesses to choose bespoke software development. Engaging a bespoke software development team enables collaboration with the business to comprehensively grasp its unique needs and construct a tailor-made solution precisely aligned with those requirements.

• Providing a Unique User Experience

Bespoke software solution development is known for providing a unique user experience. The experience is personalised for the business and the users, which makes it much better than existing available solutions. The services include uniquely designed templates, and unique functionalities that are not available in prevailing commercial solutions.

• Validating Business Idea

Start-ups and emerging businesses need resources and affordable access to cost-effective solutions to validate their concepts swiftly and cost-effectively. Utilising bespoke software development facilitates the creation of an MVP (minimum viable product), and enables businesses to test the market, collect feedback, and iterate accordingly to find out the effectiveness of their solution.

• Integrating Multiple Existing Systems

Sometimes businesses need multiple solutions to integrate into their existing system. Having all these solutions developed individually is a lot of expense for the business. Therefore, to get such a solution developed at a competitive price, bespoke software is the answer. The resultant solution will have the capability of streamlining the processes and offering an easy and effective way for businesses to operate the services.

Pre-requisites of Initiating Bespoke Software Development

Starting a bespoke software development service may seem a challenging process. However, the right approach towards development can make the entire process much easier.

More to this, investing in bespoke development services can be a rewarding experience for the business if the following pre-requisites of starting bespoke software development have been followed strictly.

• Defining Project Scope and Requirement

Defining project scope and requirements beforehand ensure functionality is developed the way it is needed.

• Gathering a Team

Having a team of experienced developers, designers, project managers, and business analysts ensures the team is capable of providing the required services.

• Choosing Development Methodology

Deciding on a development methodology like Agile, Scrum, or Waterfall will help to develop the final product on time.

• Developing the Plan

Creating a detailed plan for the project that includes timelines and deliverables is required to deliver the project on time.

• Development

This stage includes wireframing, coding, creating interfaces, and validating the developed product for users.

• Testing

Testing includes thoroughly testing the product/ software to ensure the final product is reliable and performs as required.

• Launch and Support

Once the product is thoroughly tested, it is now time to provide continuous launch and support to the product.

In conclusion.

Bespoke Solutions are essential for businesses in today’s competitive business ecosystem. Businesses evolve and therefore the development requirements keep on changing. Investing in bespoke software development is an equally rewarding and affordable solution as suits the required business needs.

Despite the number of disadvantages associated with bespoke software development, the list of benefits is quite impressive for a business to flourish.