Custom Software Development Dubai Archives - Page 5 of 5 - RSI Concepts - Top IT Solution Provider Company in Dubai, UAE

Businesses have to grow they have to compete and they have to evolve to stay relevant in the market. The market trends, customer’s needs, internal processes and a lot more factors demand businesses to keep improving their performance and efficiency. For any business the ideal situation is to maximize its productivity, performance and operational capabilities at the same time, optimize the cost and resource consumption. On top of that, with the passage of time, the businesses keep expanding and growing, which make the management and operation more complex and sophisticated.

Now a days’ in Dubai or anywhere else in UAE the businesses will have to be more efficient and productive in order to sustain growth in such a competitive environment. The business software, applications and systems help digitalizing the business processes, automate several steps and streamline communication and workflow. If all these tasks are done manually they would require a huge amount of resources and time which not only increase the cost but also delay the work and make things more sophisticated and difficult for the employees.

Another great benefit of using the software and digital systems is the capabilities of monitoring and capturing the data. With manual processes and paperwork it is very hard to process data and perform analysis but with the software or digital systems the reporting, problem solving, problem identification and data analysis have become a very simple and swift task. The software and application doesn’t only effect large-scale operations, in fact they can boost performance and efficiency from individual employee level to the overall performance of the entire business. There are so many different types of software a business uses such as HR & Payroll Software, ERP Systems, POS/Sales System, Inventory Management System, Internet Applications, Supply Chain Management Tools, Production Tools, etc.

There are so many different tools and software that a business might need to operate properly. There so many different types and kinds of these software and digital solutions, however all can be classified in two major groups, the standalone software and the integrated software. It could be confusing to choose a solution from any class. In this blog we will discuss both the standalone and the integrated software to provide our audience a brief understanding of both to help them choose the best software type for their business.

What is a Standalone Software?

The simplest definition of standalone software is the software which can work at its own and doesn’t come in a bundle software or doesn’t need any help from any other software or computer process to run. There are further several more types of standalone software such as the software or apps that doesn’t require internet, software which are not part of a bundle package, a portable software/application, USB or media based software that doesn’t need to be installed on a computer, and a software that doesn’t require support from any other software or computer, are all standalone software.

Traditionally the standalone software are installed on a local system or local network and businesses used such application to limit the access. Now a days the standalone concepts have evolved slightly, the modern day standalone software is the software or applications which is not linked to any other software, system, application or central information center of the enterprise.

What is Integrated Software?

The integrated software is not just a single software, in fact it is a collection of software packaged in a single bundle/suit or a modular based software application which can have several modules at a time and data flow and information sharing is superfast and possible among all or desired modules. Usually all the software are deployed in an organizational network with the aim to increase data sharing and information flow. Businesses need this to connect several functions and processes and to make all information available for everyone without requiring any format conversions or such problems.

Usually integrated software used a single centralized information center, even if there is no unified central information center, each software’s data can synchronized and made available for the other instantly via several integration techniques and modes. Such software are usually hosted in a single network or interconnected networks. The software bundles such as ERP can have various tools and modules for different business functions and group of users is also an example of integrated software.

Standalone Software VS Integrated Software

Now that we got a full understanding of standalone software and integrated software, we can easily compare them on the bases of pros and cons for more clarity:

Pros of Standalone Software

Cost-efficient and longer lifecycle
Customized and tailor-made solution
Perfectly match with business needs
Offer better functionality and simpler operation
Offer superior security
Simple upgrade and scalability

Cons of Standalone Software

Very limited scope of operation
Businesses need multiple standalone software
Integration is difficult, problematic and costly
Manual data transfer and conversion is prone to errors
Multiple solutions make daily tasks difficult
Decrease overall productivity of the business
Businesses will have to manage multiple vendors
Multiple solutions and multiple vendors raise the overall cost
Often work offline and in local network which limits the usability

Pros of Integrated Software

Centralized information center and unified database
Multiple software and tools can be acquired as bundle or suit
Business can easily add more modules or add-on whenever needed
Low cost of the overall business management solution
Instant data sharing, faster operation and simpler interface
Intuitive and unified interface increase employee performance
Provide better monitoring and significantly improve management
Seamless, automatic and error-free data integration, no manual work
Instant access to information and functionality for all employees
Efficient workflow aid day-to-day tasks and boost productivity
Easy upgrade, scalability and cost efficient customization
Share usually same technology which reduce maintenance and operational cost

Cons of the Integrated Software

The biggest drawback is security, one compromised system can compromise the entire company data
Businesses can stuck with one vendor which can result in disputes, problems and delays over the time
Initial cost is high, the deployment requirements are complex need larger IT infrastructure
Upgrade and customization may require changes in several modules and sections of the software
High security requirements and complex network needs pose additional cost and expense
Unified database means errors and mistakes can have larger impact across multiple functions

When a Business should use Standalone Software and Solutions?

The standalone software and applications are simple, intuitive, easy-to-manage and low cost. Businesses use standalone software and application when they need to improve a particular business process or exclusively designed software for a group of people who have demand to use a customized application. Another great advantage of the standalone applications is the simplicity, cost-efficiency and security. As the standalone apps are completely disconnected from any other software or enterprise solutions, the chances of security breaches are none.

However, even if the standalone software got compromised, it will have no impact on any other part of the IT infrastructure of the business. Usually such applications are used when the security conditions are not fully manageable. Let say a business is organizing an event or a conference, for that they can acquire a self-service registration portal or an interactive kiosk. Which will be placed in a public place, and people might be able to connect media storage devices and other stuff, which can be used by cyber criminals to compromise any system. In such scenarios the standalone software provide a greater protection.

It is easier and much more secure to extract the data from a standalone application manually and plug it in to the main information center or any other relevant software. Another best scenario for having a standalone software is when the business doesn’t want to link any tool with their internal network or central information center. Same is applicable when a business wants to process highly sensitive data within the organization but want to limit the access to only a few users. In such cases standalone software are good choice as they are not linked with the main network, and usually standalone apps are also offline, so they can provide great security.

Specially in cases if the main network is breached or compromised the sensitive data can still remain isolated and protected. However, when a business wants to integrate a software or its data with another software, the standalone software are not a good option as they don’t integrate well with other standalone or integrated software. Businesses will have to use middleware, which are small application use to bridge the integration and compatibility gaps, which also have additional cost and complications.

When a Business should use Integrated Software and Solutions?

There are several scenarios which compel a business to seriously think replacing all its standalone software with a single and unified integrated business management software solution. When businesses start growing, their requirements also start increasing, over the time they deploy various standalone software and tools at various places. Down the road a time comes when all these standalone software become entangled with each other and the integration could become impractical. On top of that the standalone software solutions are designed to be isolated, they inherently doesn’t support integration.

That is when a business should seriously consider replacing all standalone and separate software solutions with a better integrated business management software solution. Another drawback of using standalone software or multiple software solutions is their impact on efficiency. Due to no or very low integration, the manual work is increased, the repetition, poor visibility among different business function could have devastating effects on the overall performance and efficiency of the employees in their day-to-day tasks.

Poor performance and efficiency not only cost a business time but it can also slow down the growth and a time comes when a business no longer able to maintain optimum productivity and performance to sustain growth. Businesses also face another big issue when using standalone and separate software solutions, which is that their data is stored in separate databases, which are isolated and built on different structures, which cause big time compatibility issues even when data is extracted from a system and uploaded to the another software manually.

This could cause a lot of problem which can have serious financial consequences as well. For example, the data formats have to match which require conversion and manual labor. The data duplication issues are there which could have impact on the performance and productivity. Businesses usually do such format conversions manually which put extra workload on employees and make processes inefficient, time consuming and expensive.

The integrated software and business management solutions can avoid all these problems. No matter if you are a small business or a large enterprise the integrated software could be the best option to leverage automation and digitalization. Businesses management software is considered to be the backbone of any business. In present day in Dubai and all around the UAE the businesses have become more efficient and the competition in the market is rising day by day. If a business want to make sure they scale smoothly and obtain maximum performance, productivity and profitability, the integrated software are the only solution.

The standalone software can’t support in such environments. Now a days the software development companies in Dubai, UAE like RSI Concepts can provide you a great integrated software and business management solution. Mostly the customized integrated software and commercial off-the-shelf software comes in modular structure. Let say if you only require accounting tools, you can only acquire that, later you can add customer relationship management software and tools, HR & Payroll tools, and many more one by one.

The integrated software are much more efficient and intuitive comparing to the standalone tools. In case of standalone software the employees will have to use multiple dashboards and UIs to perform multiple tasks, however, in integrated software the employees can access any data and perform any task utilizing in-built modules and a single intuitive dashboard. There is no additional integration problems and costs, there is no additional training requirements, and the business doesn’t need to deal with multiple vendors.

In long term the ROI of integrated software solution is much higher than the standalone apps. For all business management solutions and system the integrated software is always a superior option. For small applications, which also doesn’t require integration and are for external users with limited scope the standalone software can work well.

Conclusion

In this blog we have discussed the standalone software and integrated software solutions in details. Each software category has its own advantages and drawbacks. The integrated software provide better operation, performance and more control and monitoring. The standalone software can offer customized functionalities and better security. Both are different from each other and can be used when the right need arise. For large-scale or core applications, the integrated software are the best solution as they can significantly improve workflow, data sharing and management across multiple business functions. The standalone software are usually used by a limited number of users and mostly required by a particular purpose or objective in mind.

In order to achieve better performance, security and cost-efficiency the businesses can utilize both integrated software and the standalone software to establish a high-performance IT infrastructure. RSI Concepts is a leading software development company in Dubai, UAE . If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to develop any type of software solution 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.

In Dubai or anywhere else in UAE businesses need to offer an excellent experience to its customers and they will have to establish their brand very well. In competitive markets businesses will have to offer something special which makes them unique and genuine. Over the time businesses establish their internal processes, methods and unique approaches to handle things differently, which gives them a great competitive advantage. It is this unique experience that distinguishes them attract more customers. Businesses these days heavily rely on the software and digital solutions.

Furthermore the businesses grow over the time and their internal needs for the IT infrastructure and software solutions also grow. The UAE market is very vibrant, the market trends are changing rapidly. This requires businesses to keep up with the market as well as manage scalability and in addition to that they also have to maintain a balanced productivity and efficiency. That is why businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE are always seeking software and solutions to support their journey.

Whenever a business decide to acquire a new tool or software solution, the biggest challenge the management faces is to decide between the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) and the custom software development. These software and solution can have a huge impact on a business’s performance, growth, productivity and profitability. The commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) might seem fairly reasonable in terms of initial cost, however, in long term they cost more than the customized software.

The biggest disadvantage of commercial off-the-shelf solutions is that it is designed for masses hence it is built to be a general purpose tool. That means it would never fit in as per the expectations. The custom software development on the other hand offers a fully customized and tailor-made solution for your problems. Hence custom software tend to greatly improve business efficiency and productivity. Here are some key advantages of custom software development:

1. Custom Software are Developed Exactly as per the Needs of the Business

The biggest problem with COTS is that they are designed for a mass audience. However, the biggest advantage of the customer software development is that it is exclusively designed as per the requirements, needs and specifications of the business. The solution is designed precisely to address the issues of the business and it is not a general purpose, one fit for all kind of application. The customized software are extremely efficient as they are tailor-made to solve certain problem for a business only. There is no unnecessary or unwanted component, which makes employee’s user experience very pleasant and satisfactory.

In fact the user interfaces are also exclusively designed to meet the needs of the users which results in great improvements in the performance and usability of the software. The biggest problem with the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) is that it is designed for a wide range of audience hence business usually don’t found all the features they need.

Talking about features, it is worth mentioning that the custom software development offer full freedom to include as many and whatever features a business wants and needs. This approach is very supportive for innovation and modernization. Business can gain a great competitive edge by including features which enhances their business process, produce better results and optimize the expenses. This makes tailored software solution more beneficial for growing businesses and help them mitigating rapidly emerging challenges.

Whereas the commercial off-the-shelf software doesn’t provide this freedom. In fact they usually comes in pre-packaged format, different versions or plan type have different sets of features. The upgrading and modernization process is very slow and mostly it costs additional fees and charges. Most of the time it is very difficult to get all the needed features. Businesses always have to make compromises in order to keep the cost under control.

2. Custom Software Development offers Full Ownership Rights to the Business

The commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) are still owned by the vendor or service provider, the business doesn’t have any right or authority over it. The policies and protocols are not managed by the business who uses the COTS. So the business is just paying fees and using a product which is owned and controlled by someone else. Obviously the commercial off-the-shelf software does offer some value and control to their customers but the ultimate control is not in business’s hands. The custom software development on the other hand offers complete ownership rights, the software a business built for themselves is fully owned by them as well.

Unlike COTS there is no monthly or rental fees. The business have to pay one-time to build the software and then there is just the running or operational cost. There is no additional cost. On top of that the ownership allow businesses to manage, update and scale the software as per their needs and requirements. Which provides them more freedom and control.

Here I would like to give an analogy of a rental and owned house. The difference between the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) and the custom software development is the same. Businesses hire a customer software development company in Dubai, UAE who build the software and deliver it to the business. The business is not even dependent on the same software development company for the maintenance, further customization and scalability of the software. Business in Dubai and elsewhere in UAE also kept in-house teams to manage their customized software, which significantly reduces the maintenance cost and allow them to keep updating and upgrading the software without any additional cost.

For those who don’t or can’t manage in-house software development teams, they can always hire a third-party or the same vendor to manage and improve their software at a very reasonable cost. The ownership of the custom software also enables businesses to allow their partners, customers, and subsidiaries without any additional licensing or any other cost.

3. Customer Software Development Offers Higher Security

For any business the data protection and security is a matter of life and death. In the modern data driven world the data security and protection is at the at most priority. If a data breach happens, the first thing a business will lose is its reputation and credibility. It will can have a long lasting impact on your customers and reputation. Mostly businesses couldn’t fully recover from such incidents. The data threats are very abundant and there has been millions of attacks at corporate and other sectors each year.

The commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) are not inherently insecure or less capable, it is the fact that they are widely available all around the world and their structure and technology is also well-known. The fact that thousands if not millions of people are already using the COTS solution which makes them easy target for these data pirates and internet hackers. These people usually target COTS to gain access to their customers, employees, and financial data which they can use for their own agenda.

However in case of custom software development, someone will only attach it if they want to attach a specific company or business which significantly reduces the threat level. However in case of custom software development, someone will only attach it if they want to attach a specific company or business which significantly reduces the threat level. Mostly the software structure, backend programing and various other technical details are concealed which makes it even more difficult to attack and breach it.

On top of that it is only the business who have access to their data, there is vendor, technical team or anyone else can possible access your data. Your data will be stored on the servers of your choice, and only the business and its designated employees can gain access to the data. This makes customer software development more desirable for businesses. Businesses can always higher a cyber-security professional in-house or they can do cyber-security testing and analysis from a third-party company to further improve the security and safety of their precious data.

4. Customer Software Development Offers Flexible Integration with Third-Party Tools

Every business has multiple layers of digital and IT infrastructures. The accounts must be running a financial software, the production must be running their tools, and the marketing department would be using different sets of software and tools, and so on. There is always an ERP or a centralized information center which converges all these tools and software to a single unified data base which is utilized by the decision makers and the senior management. All these tools are linked to each other at some extent.

This link is established using integration techniques and technologies. A commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) also provide data synchronization and integration, however, with a very limited scope. Usually it is very difficult and expensive to link the COTS with other systems. As they are built on a pre-defined structure which the business can’t alter and it means the desired or optimum level of integration can rarely be achieved.

Businesses always have to alter other tools too, which add up to the cost and make the integration a very costly and difficult task. Sometimes in order to achieve the optimum level of integration businesses might have to introduce intermediary tools which are commonly known as middleware. These tools took the data from one software or database and make it workable for the other and vice versa. That is also a costly endeavor and even then the desired level of integration is very difficult to achieve.

However, with the custom software development businesses have a chance to build the application as per the requirements and limitations of the existing IT infrastructure to achieve the maximum level of integration. Furthermore it is very cost-efficient to modify the custom software and upgrade them to improve their compatibility. This provides businesses with a greater advantage and allow them to introduce innovative features to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the custom software without worrying about the cost.

5. Custom Software are Easy to Scale with Ability to Extend Lifecycle

The custom software are far superior then the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) in terms of scalability and longevity. It is all about the ownership of the software. The off-the-shelf software are developed by the service provider and the business have almost no control over it, if the service provider decided to pull the plug, business have no choice but to move on with an alternate. For example, Office 365 is a popular Microsoft tool for businesses, let say in coming 5 years, the Microsoft decided to replace it with a new one and within another couple of years they stopped support for the tool, the businesses who are using it, can’t do anything. They must have to switch.

However, in case of custom software development the business owns the software, it have full control and authority over it. If the business wants to modify it or upgrade it they can do it and if they want to use for extended period of time, they can do that too. There is no barrier, limit or restriction.

The commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) offers good scalability but with a very hefty price tag. The custom software doesn’t require any additional cost and offer excellent scalability support. Each business is growing, for example, last year the business had 250 employees and now they reached to 300, they will have to acquire the licenses for the new employees which will cost them a lot. However with the customized software there is no such limitation, businesses can add as many users they want without worrying about additional fees or any such thing. Furthermore the customized software can be used for as long as the business wants.

The biggest reason of changing a software is due to its limited features and over the time the usefulness of a tool also decreases. The COTS doesn’t address this issue seriously and eventually businesses will have to make a shift from one solution to another. But the custom software offers great value and businesses can easily upgrade and modernize them by modifying existing features and introducing new features which increase the lifecycle of the software to several more years and save a lot of cost and effort of switching to another software.

Customer Software and COTS Cost Comparison

Apart from advantages and features the custom software have excellent ROI (returns over investments) in the long term. It is a common misperception in Dubai, UAE markets that the custom software are expensive. However, that is not correct. The commercial off-the-shelf software’s initial cost is low and businesses can deploy them very quickly however, in long term the COTS are way too expensive, the scaling is very expensive, the integration is difficult which increase its time and cost. Sometimes intermediary tools or middleware are used to bridge the gap between the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) and other tools to improve the integration process which is fairly expensive and time taking task.

It is very difficult to find all the required features, as the needs grow business will have to upgrade them. In some cases businesses hit the road block where the software can no longer support the needs and eventually they will have to move to another comer off-the-shelf software or customized software solution to meet the needs. This all have additional cost, efforts and even disruption in regular work flow which also tend to cost money and time.

The custom software development is a very flexible solution, it provides full control and allow much higher levels of customization, integration and scalability. Scaling doesn’t require package upgrade or additional licensing fees. The business have full control over the customizations and modifications in the software. The business owns the software, hence it is not dependent on any vendor. The businesses can even manage in-house software management and maintenance team which enables them to unlimited changes and modifications in the custom software. Businesses can also expand the software implementation to their subsidiaries, partners and even customers without any expense.

The custom software have longer lifecycle and can be modernized and upgrade to meet the growing needs and changing trends which eliminate the need of migrating to a totally different software solution and save a lot of efforts, resources and money as well. Hence in the long term the custom software is much more reliable, cost efficient and useful comparing to the COTS and that is the reason it yields far better ROIs.

Conclusion

The Dubai and all around the UAE businesses are facing many challenges, one of them is related to their IT needs. The markets are doing well, the overall economy of the country is growing at a smooth pace, which attract more investors. Hence the competition is also getting tough day by day. Businesses need to perform very well in order to stay relevant in the market. The modern day businesses are heavily relying on the IT and digital solution for their regular operations. This is where it could make a huge difference and provide businesses with a great competitive edge which help them stand out among the rest of the competition. Growth and progress is the primary goal of any business.

With growth the internal and external needs also grow, businesses have to scale at a much faster rate than that of their growth if they want to sustain a long term success. That is why businesses deploy different types of software and continuously upgrading their digital arsenal in order to boost productivity, performance and profitability. Whenever a new need arose or a business wants to replace an existing old system with a new one to boost the efficiency and to support the modernization and innovation, the biggest challenge for the management is to decide between commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) and the tailor-made custom software solution.

There is no doubt the custom software are far superior then the commercial off-the-shelf software in terms of productivity, adoptability, integration, performance and ROI. In this blog we have mentioned five biggest advantages of the custom software while comparing them with the counterpart COTS software solutions. If you need any more help about the subject or if you want us to help you build your next game changing customized software solution, 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.

BLOG OF RSI CONCEPTS

Category: Custom Software Development Dubai

Which one is better Standalone VS Integrated Software?

What is a Standalone Software?

What is Integrated Software?

Standalone Software VS Integrated Software

Pros of Standalone Software

Cons of Standalone Software

Pros of Integrated Software

Cons of the Integrated Software

When a Business should use Standalone Software and Solutions?

When a Business should use Integrated Software and Solutions?

Conclusion

5 Advantages of Custom Software Development

1. Custom Software are Developed Exactly as per the Needs of the Business

2. Custom Software Development offers Full Ownership Rights to the Business

3. Customer Software Development Offers Higher Security

4. Customer Software Development Offers Flexible Integration with Third-Party Tools

5. Custom Software are Easy to Scale with Ability to Extend Lifecycle

Customer Software and COTS Cost Comparison

Conclusion