Each organization is different and there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution – being completely aware of this fact IPS Technology Services offers custom application development services in Michigan. Custom application development is the designing of software applications for a specific user or group of users to address specific needs within an organization. As the business requirements are getting complex and consumers are changing, customized software solutions can do wonders to meet these unique requirements.
Off-the-shelf software consists of a packaged software application that offers the same features to all and often falls short of fulfilling the business requirements of the clients. Whereas, customized software development can offer some of the significant advantages over the unique solutions that entails the commissioning, development and release of a software product tailored to a single entity.
Advantages of Custom Application Development:
With the emergence of new technologies, increasing competition and frequent shifting mindset of the consumers – custom software has become critical to evolving business strategies and requirements. Here are some advantages of custom application development:
- The application is designed with your company’s needs in mind and provides features that off-the-shelf software doesn’t. This leads to a huge level of productivity once the solution is properly implemented.
- Custom applications automate repetitive tasks. They have the ability to take your personal data and accordingly transform it into the formats you need it in and make the task much easier by automating the process.
- Custom apps facilitate easy collaboration making organizations more dynamic and agile while freeing up time for employees to invest in doing other things that help the business.
- A custom-built application might auto generate report that contains all the information you’re looking for in your monthly board update and thus everyone can access the data they need without wasting further time into pulling together data from disparate sources.
- Custom application provides better security.
- Custom application development can help companies maximize technology investment by using tools people already know and consequently, the adoption goes much smoother.
How to ensure success:
Here are some best practices for a successful custom application development project:
Know your requirements & goals:
It’s critical to define what you want the software to accomplish for your business. Analyse your current process thoroughly and define your expectations and measurement of success. What changes you want to make – is it expanding your company’s productivity without hiring new staff members or reducing or eliminating errors in your business processes through automation. Sketch out desired workflows or other processes where you need the software support.
Make a realistic business plan:
Create a realistic road map for the project after discussion with your team about day-to-day operations and the pain points that employees might face. Define your goals and milestones to keep the project on track.
Incorporate business specific features:
Consider the industry laws and regulations that you deal with and make your development partner familiar with the specific rules and requirements. Updated version of software without any security vulnerabilities is often required for many industries. So, a sanity check must be done at least annually by your development partner and they must be informed about it.
1. Conduct testing:
Before implementing the software, conduct thorough technical testing to make sure that the foundational elements are working. Business beta users can tell you if the software works as expected and desired.
2. Document the process:
Strategy, stages of development and implementation – all should be documented properly. A test plan and checklist, statement of scope, implementation plans defining who begins to use the software, and when along with a training plan and detailed user documentation – in short, the entire process must be documented so that there is no confusion.
