The modern day businesses depends heavily on various software applications and digital tools. In fact the operation of today’s business is nearly impossible without utilizing technology. The software applications range from a simple accounts tool to a complex HRMS and a full-fledged complete Business OS (operating system). Different businesses have different needs, different industry sectors have different norms and standards, hence different level of software are required. However, one thing is sure that all modern day business are using some sort of software tool. It could be even a humble email client, like outlook, that too is a software tool. Or it could be a highly sophisticated ERP system to manage thousands of employees and huge business operations. Businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE tend to be early adopter of the modern technologies. Furthermore businesses and companies from all around the world have presence in Dubai and all around the UAE which raise the competitiveness and diversity of the business landscape in the country. It is the strategic location of the country and its ports along with its highly business-friendly government policies which is and which will keep attracting more businesses, therefore it is important to make your business as much competitive as possible.
The Importance of Technological Advancements in Business
The technology help businesses boost performance and productivity, it streamline internal processes, enhance customer experience, improve product/service quality and it offers better monitoring and tracking capabilities. That is why it is crucial to leverage technological advancements to remain ahead of your competition. When it comes to the software solutions, there are two distinct ways to do that, the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) solutions and custom software development. Both have their pros and cons, businesses are using various different types of software on different levels and with different complexity and sophistication. For example, if you need an email client, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you can use any off-the-shelf email client. But if you need an ERP, HR System, or a document processing system or an intranet application, CRM, or other such tool, then you should seriously consider your requirements, goals and objectives and then decide which software solution type will serve you best. Every business evolved differently, and it is this difference which attracts your customers. This also means that every business have different goals and objectives with exclusive needs and requirements. Which can only be fulfilled with custom software development, the COTS are standardized applications and doesn’t offer much room for customization.
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development for Businesses in Dubai
When business owners, managers or decision makers go with the custom software development they are usually doubtful about the impact of this project. Most of the time businesses are reluctant to go with custom software development because it requires much more time, efforts and in some cases initial cost is also higher comparing to available commercial off-the-shelf solutions available in the market. Here are some key benefits of custom software development for business in Dubai, which will assure them higher success and greater impact than the counterpart COTS.
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Customization
One thing that businesses can never achieve from commercial off-the-shelf software solutions is the ability to perfectly align the software with their unique needs and ability to addressing to the very unique challenges they are facing. However the custom software development not only personalize the software solution as per your business needs but it also helps you to address the unique challenges you are facing and tend to deliver exclusive advantages which can gain you great competitive edge. The custom software development project starts with intensive requirement gathering drive, which help the development team to understand all your needs and challenges. That is why the custom software development can deliver more effective software solutions. Furthermore when a software solution is built exclusively for your needs it will also allow you to choose the features, technologies and work flows as per your needs. This also help integrating custom software with your existing IT infrastructure in a nearly seamless manner.
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Cost-Effective
It is a common misconception that the custom software development is expensive, however, that is not true at all. It might seem that the initial cost of the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions is less and they can setup immediately, even within a day or two, however, the COTS have recurring cost, which diminishes with long-term cost-effectiveness and even it makes them much more expensive than the custom software solutions. The initial deployment cost of the custom software development is quit higher, it also require a lot of time and efforts to breathe life into an idea. However, the customized software solutions offers better and cost-effective scalability, customization and very less maintenance cost. There is no recurring cost and you can always get them managed and customized from your internal IT team or any vendor of your choice, thus you are also not limited and stuck to a specific vendor. All these factors results in an exceptionally higher ROI and great future readiness.
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Security and Reliability
The security and reliability are few of the most important and crucial factors to consider while deploying a software solution for your business. One of the biggest advantage of custom software development is its ability to let you chose the features and technologies. With the custom software development businesses can chose the top-notch technologies and platforms to ensure highest level of security and reliability. Especially when you want to meet the highest industry standards and regulatory compliances, the custom software development is the best choice. Businesses can not only customize the features but also the frameworks, platforms and hosting environments which assures highest level of data protection. Any security breach or leak of customers’ data can completely ruin your reputation. As the custom software development involves intensive requirement gathering and rigorous testing which makes your custom software apps more secure, reliable and less sensitive towards common technology challenges.
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Flexibility and Scalability
In the modern fast-paced business landscape of Dubai, businesses needs are not fixed and businesses have to accommodate for the impact of ever-changing customer needs and technology advancements to remain competitive. The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions can provide a good quick fix to your current needs, but doesn’t offer the flexibility, development and customization that you might be needing in the coming years. On top of that the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) are designed for masses hence lack the personalization and ability to customization to address your exclusive challenges. However, the custom software development on the other hand can offer great flexibility and scalability. Whether you need to address your unique challenges, or you have sophisticated business needs, you can mold the customized software they way you want. As time pass and your requirements changes or your needs grow you can further add more features and increase the capacity of customized software.
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Seamless System Integration
In today’s modern world, the businesses and organizations have become more sophisticated and require a lot many different IT solutions and software tools. In order to effectively execute a task or to ensure seamless business processes for higher productivity and performance it is absolutely essential that all the different software, systems and solutions work in full harmony by enabling seamless communication between them. This communication means exchange of data, information and instructions. This is what is called system integration, it also known as integration or third-party integration. The custom off-the-shelf software solutions only provide limited integration capabilities. However, custom software development will enable businesses to build the software to be more compatible with their existing systems, databases, and IT infrastructure which makes them more compatible and integration friendly. Furthermore businesses can also customize them to achieve their integration objectives.
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Higher Productivity
The custom software development help businesses to achieve higher efficiency and productivity. There are several factors that help improving performance and efficiency, such as:
- Custom software development let businesses build the user-friendly software solutions
- Intuitive user interfaces (UIs) can greatly enhance user experience (UX)
- Ability to customize the UI and workflows help employees easily adopt the new system
- Customized feature help employees get their tasks done with higher efficiency
- Different user groups can have exclusive features which further enhance their efficiency
- System integration allow minimizing repetitive work and enhance performance
- Ability to integrate mobile applications can greatly increase accessibility and convenience
- Customized features and functionalities help improving workflows and business processes
- Ability to monitor and track performance offers higher visibility
Businesses can greatly improve employee performance by deploying customized software solutions. That is not all, the custom software development offers businesses full control over the working of all features and help them get the desired outcome which can greatly improve internal processes, workflows and help businesses gain higher productivity.
Why Businesses in Dubai should Invest in Custom Software Development?
As I have mentioned above there are several benefits of custom software development which makes it superior from commercial off-the-shelf software solutions. The custom software development help businesses digitalize their internal processes and maximize their efficiency by leveraging the automation. Furthermore when a software is exclusively designed for your business it will fully align with your needs, internal processes and strategic objectives. This makes it more impactful and productive comparing to commercial off-the-shelf solutions. Here is why a business in Dubai should invest in custom software development:
- The commercial off-the-shelf software only partially match your business needs, however, the custom software development enables you to design and develop an exclusive solution which fully aligns with your business needs, integrates with your existing IT infrastructure and it also offers long-term service and support.
- The development process of a commercial off-the-shelf software solution is slow, it only offers upgrades when a large majority of the users need it. However the custom software grows with business needs, any need can be met immediately either by customization or by adding more features and so on.
- The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions are provided by a vendor or service provider, which offers very less control over various important aspects of the software. However with the custom software development businesses not only have full control over their data, storage and software but businesses also have full ownership rights for their customized software.
- The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions are designed for masses and the vendor doesn’t have much interest in your exclusive needs or challenges, in fact the vendor follow the industry standards and market trends. However, the for the customized software solutions you get in touch with the software developers, designers and IT specialists who are designing your software application, thus they have better understand of you needs, concerns and challenges.
- Although the initial cost of the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions is relatively lower, however, there are several recurring expenses. The COTS offer very limited customization but it is very expensive, moreover the scalability too is very expensive. The custom software development of the other hand have slightly higher initial cost, but in long term have no recurring cost, in fact it offers full ownership rights to the businesses and offer more flexibility, customization and easy scalability.
As the market landscape in Dubai is very competitive and dynamic therefore businesses need higher productivity, lower operational cost and better tools to gain greater competitive advantage. And the custom software development can provide all of these.
Conclusion
In this modern and fast-paced market landscape in Dubai, where the customer needs are growing endlessly, rapid and sudden change are very common across all industry verticals, businesses need a proactive software development approach to mold and align their tools with the changing and growing needs. The custom software development is the way to design and develop software which are exclusively build according to the business needs and latest industry trends. Furthermore the businesses need to integrate various software and applications in order to improve their operational capabilities and to boost the employee performance. All this can only be achieved with a more flexible and controllable software development method which is only offered by the custom software development. The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions might offer lesser initial cost and are extremely easy to setup, however, in longer run neither they remain relevant nor cost-effective.
The custom software solutions on the other hand has incredible ability to grow as business grows and offer great ROI in long run. In this blog we have covered key benefits of investing in custom software development for business in Dubai and all across the UAE. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help with your next custom software development project, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.