When it comes to picking and choosing the software that acts as the foundation of any business, there are essentially two basic options available to you. You can choose to spend the money to invest in a quality piece of custom software that was designed to support your business and the way it needs to operate… or you can spend significantly less and purchase something that already exists.
You may think to yourself “why do I need custom software? Solution X has been around for years and people like it just fine. It still does what I need it to and that’s all that matters. What could I possibly be giving up?”
The answer, as it turns out, is “quite a lot.”
In truth, you’re giving up a wide range of potential benefits when you buy stock software that are absolutely worth exploring.
The Problems With Off-the-Shelf Software
Perhaps the biggest challenge that an over-reliance on off-the-shelf software brings with it has to do with the fact that it is essentially inefficient by design. Everything about your business should be built with your organization in mind – from the people you hire to the projects they work on to the processes and procedures at the heart of it all.
The problem is that off-the-shelf software isn’t designed for this purpose. It’s designed to mass appeal to the widest possible audience. It isn’t the best solution for whatever it is you’re trying to do simply because it can’t be. Your business wasn’t a consideration when the solution was designed. Your business was an afterthought, more or less.
So at that point, what you’re left with is something that may allow you to do what you need, but not necessarily in the most efficient or even straightforward way possible. In the name of saving a few dollars over investing in a custom solution, you’re forcing your employees to jump through hoops and take more time to get less work done. Oftentimes they’ll spend so much time coming up with workaround processes to simply handle (what are supposed to be) basic administrative tasks that they’ve got less time available to focus on actually driving your business forward.
Relying on software that already exists simply in the name of saving a few dollars is also working against the competitive advantage you’re trying to build in your marketplace, not for it. If you and your biggest competitor use the same piece of off-the-shelf software, you’re working with an identical set of benefits and limitations. Anything you can do they can also do – meaning that it’s hard for either one of you to truly innovate, at least within the context of the assets you use and how you’re making use of them.
With a custom piece of software that was built for your specific business in mind, however, suddenly you have access to a powerful resource that your biggest competitor does not. Efficiency, collaboration and productivity gains come easier because the software was built to address your unique needs and solve your unique challenges.
If your biggest competitor is still relying on stock solutions to “get the job done,” they’ve got less time to focus on “getting it done properly.” This becomes a problem that you simply don’t have to worry about any longer.
In the End
Every business is a little bit different than the next. It’s working towards different goals, its people are different and its needs can vary wildly depending on the situation. But the key thing to understand is that this isn’t a problem. It’s an asset. There’s nobody who does what you do in the way you do it. That’s why your customers like you so much in the first place.
So why then would you take those unique qualities and try to cram them into a “one size fits all” box when it comes to software? This is perhaps the biggest thing that you’re giving up by buying stock solutions and it’s a practice you need to discontinue for all time moving forward.
Contact us today to discuss custom software for your organization!
