A modern day business in UAE and in fact all around the world couldn’t survive for long without integrating the digital and information technology in their business functions. Whether you are a small or medium size business (SME) or a large production factory or a multinational enterprise, these days the emails have replaced the letters, the difficult tasks have been replaced with automation and artificial intelligence (AI), and so on. Regardless of the size of the business, the information and data is the center point of each and everything.The businesses who don’t have reliable and efficient methods of sharing information and processing data can’t compete and even couldn’t survive in a longer run.That is why businesses use various enterprise management software and tools, such as ERP, Property Management System, CMS (Content Management System), HRMS (Human Resource Ministry Planning),Accounting Tools, Production Management Software, etc. Such tools are used to facilitate various business processes and functions which will help you to achieve higher performance.
With the passage of time the digital business tools and software have become technologically advanced, and somewhat challenging too. In most of the cases the businesses usually got confused between choosing an off-the-shelf/ready-made solution and going for a customized software development. Now a days, business are realizing the importance of the customized software development too. There are several technical benefits of having a customized software application or business tool for your business.The major reason why businesses are opting for customized software development is the cost-effectiveness and control over the features and functionalities of the software. Here is how the custom software development is cost-efficient than the off-the-shelf solution:
Custom Software Development: Commissioning & Installation Cost
The commissioning cost of a custom software development is relatively low, as the software is a tailor-made application tool so it only have features that are required by the system users, however with ready-made and off-the-shelf solution a business usually have to pay for a set of features or packages. Regardless of what feature do you need or not, if you are going for an off-the-shelf solution you will eventually end up having more than what you have been planning to purchase. Usually the ready-made or off-the-self software are divided into several categories or plans/packages. These categories and packages are designed to serve the need of masses. Hence the features are grouped on the bases of demands or relevance. That is the reason, sometime businesses might have to opt for the higher level of plans, just for a single or two features which are not available in the lower plans. However, with a custom software development, there is no such limitation. The business only have to pay for what they need, there is no compulsion or restriction to purchase any particular plan or package. Which is why the commissioning and installation cost of the custom software development is also less in UAE.
Custom Software Development: Maintenance and Long Term Cost
For any IT infrastructure or digital system every business also estimates the long term cost and maintenance cost when selecting between different available options. For off-the-shelf or ready-made software systems and solutions, most of the time the vendor is managing the IT infrastructure and is also responsible for the maintenance. The business have to pay a maintenance fee or charges and the rest is taken care by the vendor. However, that is not just all, the off-the-shelf software solutions comes in different packages along with subscription fees and monthly charges, which sometime includes the maintenance as well, and sometimes it is charged separately. Along with the maintenance, sometime the enterprise software solution providers dealt with their regional distributors and hire third-party service providers and sometime they also require additional charges to provide premium customer service and technical support. Which also add up to the long term cost of the off-the-shelf solutions. However, with custom software development there is no such fee or additional charges, the business have to pay for one time, the maintenance and everything else is fixed and is comparatively less comparing to off-the-shelf software solutions in UAE.
Custom Software Development: Scalability and Longevity
One of the greatest advantage of customer software development is the scalability and longevity of the systems and solutions. Businesses keep expanding all the time. For off-the-shelf solutions adding new users, departments, and such functionalities are always expensive. The businesses must have to pay for the additional licenses and registrations, etc. However, with a custom software development there is no limitation in the system, the business owns the software hence they can add as many users and dynamic features without paying anything extra to the vendor. That is why the customized software solutions are more friendly and compatible with future and scalability. It is this future compatibility and scalability that makes custom software more long lasting. The lifecycle of the custom software is always higher in UAE. Due to such future compatible and supportive functions the custom software development is considered to be more long lasting comparing to off-the-shelf solutions. With minor tweaks, upgrades and ability to customize the life cycle of a custom software can be extended for a long time in future.
Custom Software Development: Upgrades and Customization
When a business implement a new system or solution the most important thing to consider is the future upgrades and customization. The technology world is evolving rapidly. Each year brings huge changes in terms of the technologies, trends and user preferences. Customizing and upgrading an off-the-shelf software is extremely difficult and expensive. The upgrading and updating process of the off-the-shelf software and solutions is very complex and require a lot of efforts. As the off-the-shelf solutions are being used by hundreds and thousands of customers, making a simple change in user-interface (UI) could make hundreds of customers unhappy. Similarly any change in the core, algorithms, features and functionalities is also very difficult. Hence the vendors follow a very lengthy and sophisticated process to push any update or upgrade to the system that is why most of the time, the off-the-shelf solutions are very late to adopt to the new changes in the market trends and user expectations. That is why most of the time these upgrades and updates come with a price tag, hence impact the overall ROI of the system. However, a customized software can easily be upgraded, customized, and modified at any time a business wants and the cost is also very less in UAE.
Custom Software Development: Ownership and Trademarking
The off-the-shelf solutions and systems are always the property of the vendor and the business is a kind of renting it out. The software and solution provider reserves all the rights to the software tools and its functionalities and in some cases even the data is also stored on the vendor’s servers and the vendor can access the private data of the business. Technically the vendor can gain access but there is always a proper paperwork and agreements that prevent them to access your private data. However, with the customized software solution, since the software is developed exclusively for the business the business have full proprietary and ownership rights. Most of the time the custom software development company in UAE provide the full source code, resources and databases and everything else to the customers. Hence the businesses own the product/customized software. This empowers customer, provide them more freedom for customization and innovation and prevent their dependency on a single vendor. This help businesses to get competitive cost each time a need arises for customization, upgrade, integration or expansions.
Custom Software Development: Make Profit
Since the businesses own the custom software that is exclusively designed for the business. The businesses can use the same software to earn more profits. Businesses can provide the same product to its affiliates, partners and even businesses can launch it in the open market. As the product is exclusively designed for a business which belongs to a particular industry sector and category, that is why the chances are that other businesses from the same category and sector would appreciate your product and hence it could provide them more appropriate solution to their problem. This way the businesses can use the customized software application to sell it and gain more profit which can also be utilized for product development purposes and just to gain profits. Hence the customized software development can further improve its ROI in the longer run.
Conclusion
The custom software development is very cost effective comparing to the off-the-shelf software and solutions. The custom software development allow businesses to include only those features which they need and doesn’t bound them to purchase a full package or subscription like off-the-shelf solutions. Which save costs, and business have to pay for only what they need. The custom software development enable businesses to own the product they have exclusively developed for themselves. The vendor doesn’t have any ownership rights, hence the businesses is free from vendor dependency and the business can also chose any other vendor in future to further customize or upgrade the software for them. These privileges significantly reduce cost. However, the off-the-shelf solutions make businesses highly dependent on the vendor, the scalability and future upgrade is also expensive comparing to the customized software solutions. That is why the custom software development is very cost-effective in UAE comparing to the commercial off-the-shelf solutions.
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