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So, your business invested in a ‘State-of-art’ off-the-shelf software to digitise and streamline the business processes. The decision was taken to go with off-the-shelf software because at that time, even though it was an off-the-shelf software application, the features and functions it offered felt like a tailored fit for current automation and integration requirements.
As time goes by (which in today’s competitive world is very fast, just like dog years) and the business competitive landscape changes, the tailored fit feeling will start to dwindle as customers and employees start to demand more from the business. So what should the business do? Well, there are two options here:
1. Software upgrade from off-the-shelf vendor
2. Develop bespoke software add-ons
So, which approach is the right one?
1. Software upgrade from off-the-shelf vendor
All major software vendors of off-the-shelf software applications release new versions and upgrades 2-4 times a year. These upgrades contain performance and functional enhancement and aim to bring the software up-to-date with the general demands of the target vertical. If the upgrade contains the features your business needs, then great! There is no better option than this one.
But, sometimes these upgrades and new versions will not cover all of your customers and employees demands and might be a few upgrades away and in today’s competitive world, this can mean the loss of revenue or taking a hit in the business process efficiency. So what should one do here?
It does not make any financial sense to replace the entire off-the-shelf software for few features. Sometimes, the answer is to develop a tailored software application that fills the gap between what off-the-shelf software upgrade offers and what your business needs.
2. Develop bespoke software add-ons
Gone are the days when developing bespoke software applications was an expensive affair. With the use of rapid application development tools, software development companies can often develop bespoke software add-ons which seamlessly integrate with the existing software applications and fill the integration and automation gaps left by them.
From a tactical perspective, if the gaps which can be filled offer a competitive advantage or improve operation efficiency, the benefits of developing a bespoke software add-on often outweighs the costs.
Schnell is a software development company which has helped many organisations maximise their investments in off-the-shelf software applications by developing bespoke software add-ons. Software developed by us not only allows our clients to achieve a higher ROI on existing software investments but also gives them a competitive edge.