What is Custom Software Development? Types and Examples #1

Custom software

What is Custom Software Development?  

 

Humankind as a species is changing at a rapid pace that is mind boggling, and the heart of the change is technology. We have gone a long way since the stone tools to self-autonomous cars and artificially intelligent settings. This would not have been achieved without the innovation and problem solving, and software development.

A business report published recently shows that the global market size of software in 2023 increased to $325.21 billion as compared to the figure in 2024, which is at 415.26 billion with a compound annual average growth rate (CAGR) of 27.7 percent. According to 2025 forecasts, the market will exceed the level of 530 billion and will grow due to a high rate of digitalization, integration of AI, and high demand for scalable digital services. Custom software development, however, still acts as the major upward driver of this geometric rise- providing companies with bespoke solutions that fit their respective operation requirements.

Custom Software Development What is it?

Custom Software development is any process involving the design, development, implementation and support of a specific software application to a particular user, business or organization. A Custom software development company is a company that offers software development relative to the business requirements. They also attend to routine software updates and management, and quality controls all these accompanied by experts, scaleable teams, thorough project management, and monitoring aids.

Unlike commercial, of-the-shelf software (COTS), custom software development targets at easing of certain tasks as it is needed by a business or a firm. It is not a one that fits all working styles, unlike COTS. Instead, it serves larger clients and organizations with data processing and solution issues.


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Various types of Custom Software development
Depending on the needs of any corporation, custom software can be developed in three ways as described below:

  • Totally Tailored/Custom Software: This kind of software is made with consideration of the needs of the company in mind only. The application is uniquely developed with only one company and that only. Some of the examples of such tailor-made software include software applications created at Apple, McDonalds, Google et cetera.
  • Semi-Custom software: A company that does not have the desire to alter the total software offered to them chooses this type of software. They request developers to implement little modifications and features in the software as they require. Examples of some semi-custom software applications are Data Management applications added to CRM, Marketing automation applications added to CMS or even an existing upgraded CRM, CMS etc of a company. It is dependent on how far the company wants to alter the software that it is utilizing.
  • Ripped Software: Software applications needed by most of the businesses in the market are of the same type, and they are required to facilitate normal routine administration, logistic, and communication activities. Such companies use same software with very insignificant or no amendment to the code.

Pros and Cons of Custom Made Software development

The businesses choose Custom Software development more frequently, due to the multiple benefits of this choice. Among them, the best benefits of the Custom software development include the following:

  • Scalability: The program that suits a firm is adaptive, engineered, and can handle changes in the next decades. That is why tailored software is able to provide scalability to any enterprise, which invests in it.
  • Deep Security: Cyber-attacks will be detrimental to the well being of a business. However custom software solution possesses enhanced security features, its information is known only to the company. They are only Custom to one individual and hence they incorporate well-developed cyber safety solutions in them.
  • Good ROI: The Custom Software design is regarded to be costly during initiation but reliable in achieving good returns to companies in the long run.
  • Customization: Firms do not waste money through purchasing of unwanted tools that usually accompany COTS or commercial software. The customizable enhancement of the software will only accommodate the needs and wants of companies.
  • Increased Productivity: Productivity is a very important indicator in a business. Tailor-made programs guarantee a high level of productivity as manual administrative, communication, and logistic activities get simplified.

Custom software development has very few cons. Two most frequent cons that are said to be connected to a tailored software solution are:

  • Price: Custom software development is quite costly to a small and medium enterprise. There is indeed just the long-term ROI to rely on, and a steep price tag is enough to make business shun the best out of what the custom software development will bring them.

Talent requirement: There is need to have good knowledge in the software so as to enable the software to be regularly updated in accordance with the Custom software. This adds to overhead expenditure of a company.

Categories of Tailor-made Software Design

Custom Software solutions are numerous in variety that is available in the market. Some details of them are presented below:

  1. CMS Software Content Management System ( CMS )

When the internet was introduced so early in the 80s, the sites that had been developed contained just pure static information i.e. the sites did not need to be updated very frequently. Things however changed in the 2000s when the internet became very popular and the number of web surfers multiplied exponentially. This led to an increased demand of dynamic websites that had to be changed and maintained. CMS WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc entered the market and became the most popular software of building web sites and content sites.

What is a content management system?

Well, a Content Management System or a CMS is a kind of specialised software that not only offers the resources but also offers the platform to create a website fresh and sustain it. Among the greatest benefits of using the CMS system is the fact that one cannot be expected to know how to write a language such as HTML to both design and handle the website being established. CMS removes all the tiresome activities that involve the making of a web site like making the webpage’s, the editing and publishing of the whole web site. Add, update and preview content is easily done just like it would appear on line. The CMSs such as WordPress even allow its users to preview their mobile version of the sites and make the necessary alterations.

A content management system includes two applications-

  • Content Management Application or CMA: CMA is the visible part of CMS, the graphical user interface using which the users are able to create, design and publish content of a website without learning HTML language.
  • Content Delivery Application or a CDA: it can be described as a back-end system of CMS, which delivers and aids in managing content that is already prepared by the user in the CMA.

Besides these advantages, the other benefit of the CMS is that it can also be integrated with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system thereby easing up the overall process of content management whilst getting an important input as far as the customers are concerned.

  1. Software Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

It is not secret that customer service is the central issue of any successful business. In a 2018 survey conducted by HubSpot, six out of every ten consumers reported that they are ready to spend extra bucks on the product and services of the brand that has a history of providing good customer service experiences. Businesses, after learning this point are entering into massive spending to maintain its customers in terms of good customer service. CRM software is one of software that companies are investing and do it a lot on customer relationship management software.

Customer Relationship Management Software, or popularly known as CRM software, are those products and/or software products that are designed to facilitate, organize and synchronize all the facets of customer contact of a small, medium, or large-sized enterprise. Businesses can regulate with the aid of the CRM software.

  • Leads generation,
  • Contact management,
  • Emailers,

Analytics of marketing sales, ecommerce, customer service etc,

Automation of working process and managing sales cycle

  • Forecasting
  • Proposal management

And amongst many other functions. HubSpot, Click Up, Zendesk, Fresh works, Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce, etc. are some of the most desired CRM software to buy in the present market.

  1. Software Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

The second good example of a bespoke software solution is Enterprise Resource Planning Software abbreviated to ERP software. Businesses usually make use of ERP Software to accelerate and control everyday operations such as sourcing, managing projects, accounting, risk management and supply chain guidance. Several ERP software’s also enable companies to map their performance and assist them to plan, budget and forecast revenues and expansion of a firm. The software facilitates the integration of all the verticals of the business process to make it open to use on a single platform.

A lot of functions of ERP software assist in making business processes simpler. It is also called the system of record of any organization because it can control the above-mentioned administrative and logistical processes. Among the major representatives of ERP software one can distinguish the following examples:

  • SAP Business One.
  • Tally Prime.
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
  • NetSuite.

Sage Intacct.

  • SAP.
  • Acumatica.
  • SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
  1. Order Management Program

When a business accepts more than 10-15 orders in a day or implements multiple channels (the online channel, brick and mortar store, marketplace, etc.) to process sales, investment in order management system is inevitable. Order Management System software (OMS software) as the name implies is tailor-made software meant to manage orders and stock within a sales cycle. This includes the taking of orders, verifying the data obtained at various warehouses, the procurement of the item, preparation of bill and even third-party freight arrangements all to deliver the order. Some of the other functions of OM’S software are given below

Payment Tracking

  • Stock, or reporting inventory

Organizing Suppliers

Monitoring and making returns and refunds

  • Involver first-rate invoices

Packing, shipping, sourcing

  • Liaising with third party logistics
  • Monetary unity
  • Reporting and analytics

The market is full of trustworthy OMS software. They include some of the following –

  • QuickBooks Commerce- It is the best match in small firms that grew out of the house
  • Bright pearl- It is good where the size of the enterprise is medium since it can easily be integrated with large sales like Amazon, eBay etc.
  • Veeco- The medium sized businesses are most suitable to Veeco which lessened the missed orders and overselling.
  • Adobe Commerce (previously Magento)- Big companies have adopted Adobe, which offers BOPIS (Buy Online and Pick-up in store) facility
  1. Ecommerce Software

The world currently contains up to 24 million online retailers. Although the numbers of online stores that are being closed are minimal, the number of online stores that are sprouting up in its place is overwhelming. It is estimated that the ecommerce market would reach 7 trillion US dollars by the year 2023. This growth is being led by personalized Ecommerce software solutions, and which can only be expected to grow exponentially in the following years.

Covid pandemic increased the Custom ecommerce software development industry by a huge margin. As the physical stores closed and the number of people visiting most of the stores dropped to zero, firms and individuals adopted online business rapidly. An eCommerce Software is as good as the physical stores are minus the space used by the latter. The following are some of the attributes of the Ecommerce software that makes businesses gain a competitive advantage over their counterparts.

The ecommerce software enables its users with:

  • New marketing instruments
  • One unified database of all the customer and company information
  • Automatized checkout
  • Analytics of sales and purchase
  • Improved Inventory control and so much more!

There are not very numerous good ecommerce custom software solutions, but these include Shopify, Adobe Commerce, Wix, WooCommerce, BigCommerce etc. Custom-made Ecommerce software solutions are conquesting the world because of their reliability, flexibility and easiness to get the business going. As it is projected to figure out as 2.5 billion digital buyers in the year 2023, many businesses will soon pay a visit at Ecommerce software development as the next pit stop.

Conclusion

Many businesses are on the internet, which is why it is impossible to emphasize the value of custom software development. By harnessing the strength of offering personalized services and automating all its core process, a business can perform well. Custom software development is the solution to the hour as businesses need transformation in their operations. Companies have come to realize this need and perceiving that some of them are in the process of even employing software developers, others are even outsourcing their software development projects to the software giants in this sector.

Do you desire to create your own special software?

DW Solution Online LTD is one of the best Software Product Development Companies tracing a sound history of successful implementation of state-of-the-art software development services. We have all the needs of this world under our care and can convert our expectations into reality at DW Solution Online LTD. Using our 500+ top-level developers and 1000+ completed software solutions, we can effectively design the software you desire and what your organization requires. We sent as well reputed in software outsourcing services and we can offer you your needs better than any other software developing company in the market.

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