6 Types Of Custom Software That Can Be Helpful For Your Business
Custom Software is touted to be one of the most user-friendly solutions for specific business needs. It brings exclusivity to the business by providing unique features which one generally doesn’t get in off-the-shelf software’s.
Be it any industry, business holders need a platform that helps to streamline their operations but are unaware of their options. Well, if you are cohorts who want to get their website or application customized but are indecisive about how you will do it, you first need to learn the “levels of customization.”
This blog will also give you an insight into some good examples of custom software that may fit your business requirements.
Level of Customization
The category of customized software is defined by its level of customization.
Level of customization is a defining stage of bespoke software development that identifies the customer requirements. It is segregated into 3 types – Completely Tailored Software, Semi-customized software, Copied Software.
The development team works meticulously to decide the category the software will fall into, considering the extent of customization it would need. Once the category is decided, the development procedure is carried forward.
Here is a brief description of those three categories –
- Completely Tailored Software: This kind of software is completely built from scratch. Conventional methods of creating software are applied to build a solution that caters to every specification defined by the customer.
- Modern/ Semi-customized software: As the name implies, semi-customized software doesn’t change the basic code of your already existing software. It makes use of the same framework to develop or tweak the code in order to add special features to your otherwise normal software.
- Copied Software: At times, businesses who belong to the same industry often require almost the same features which other competitors are already using. In such cases, the source code of the software that the competitor is using is copied exactly as it is with some tweaks to make their own software.
So, whether your software will be a completely customized solution or a semi-customized one totally depends on your requirements.
Let’s look at some of the best examples of custom software solutions that cater to various industry verticals and have stood the test of time.
1. Content Management System (CMS)
Content Management System provides the basic infrastructure to build a website from scratch. One doesn’t even require to have the knowledge of coding language like HTML to create and manage the website built using CMS.
Integrated with a framework to allow storage, retrieval, access control, format management, etc, CMS eliminates all the tedious tasks like – creating webpages, formatting, editing, publishing or reporting the content for the entire site. All one has to do is, add the content in the easily navigable and extremely user-friendly system.
In addition to this, the major benefit of using CMS is its content delivery application (CDA). It is the back-end of the software, which is highly organized and ensures delivery of content exactly in the manner you want it to reflect on your website. The front-end, on the other hand, is made of a Content Management Application(CMA) that allows all the inputs smoothly.
Apart from content management, CMS can also be used to assist online campaigns and can be integrated with the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
For instance, WordPress is a popular CMS that can be used to create social networking sites, e-commerce websites, portfolio management, etc. Besides this, Joomla, Magento, Drupal, Squarespace are also some Content Management System (CMS) examples that you might have heard of.
2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
As the name suggests, CRM is a bespoke software that helps in gathering vendor, prospects, or customers’ information to collate, manage and analyze their respective data. Moreover, the tool can also foster planning of marketing strategies like – bringing leads, monitoring trends, managing appointments, and drive sales to generate revenues. The application also contains a dashboard that has various analysis like – details of customers that are bringing more sales, what kind of orders are frequent, etc. Furthermore, it has reporting options integrated for maintaining customer relations.
One must also know that the sales team and customer representatives can access the data on the run if CRM is cloud-based.
Salesforce is a popular example of cloud-based CRM that eliminates the need for hardware which in turn curtails the overall cost of accessing the platform as well.
3. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
ERP is used to integrate all the verticals of the business processes into one platform to manage the entire data through a single software. It helps collaborate different departments like finance, production, sales, human resources with each other to get a peek into their status of work. Moreover, ERP platform can be customized according to the business requirements.
However, there is one pullback while using ERP – the company should not refrain from implementing the new technology because holding on to the conventional methods can deride the whole purpose of setting up the ERP in the first place, and the outcome wouldn’t be as anticipated.
Moving forward, there are typically 3 kinds of ERP systems that cater to businesses of various sizes and types –
- On-premise ERP – ERP system is installed on the servers of the buyer company with a charge of one-time perpetual license-fee. Since it is a capital expenditure upfront, the security, maintenance and updates are done by the enterprise itself. Nonetheless, support is granted by the vendor for any upgrades.
- Cloud-Based ERP – These kind of ERP systems run on the servers of vendors and the company can access the platform using a secure connection. Since it is a cloud-based platform, the customer doesn’t have to worry about its maintenance. Cloud-based ERP is also cost-effective to the company as the vendor takes up all the responsibility of maintaining, updating, and safeguarding the platform. The purchaser has to pay a monthly or annual subscription fee and that is it. Saas – Software as a service is one of the renowned examples of highly-efficient cloud-based ERP.
- Hybrid ERP – also known as a bimodal or two-tier model, hybrid ERP provides the benefits of both cloud and on-premise ERPs. It liberates the company from infrastructure costs and the cost of training the team. Certain important applications are chosen from the system to work as on-premise, and the rest are available on the server. The responsibilities are thus halved between the vendor and the buyer.
FEDex, Blueshield are some of the best ERP platforms provided by Oracle.
4. Operations Management Software
OMS – Operation Management Software is a potential platform that streamlines all the operations of a business. Having a tailored software like OMS for your company can automate and customize many tasks. These may include – employee onboarding, training sessions, workflow management, etc…while simultaneously tracking the productivity of your projects and the team. This platform also helps you manage the purchases, deals, logistics, pre-sales, invoicing, and all other related functions that are apparently performed in a business environment.
It is the business owner’s prerogative to run the company in a structured way. However, if you have OMS you don’t need to worry about micro-managing every operation because it gives your operations an organized structure. OMS provides ease of business and hence must be taken into consideration when opting for a custom software solution.
ProofHub, StudioCloud are some of the best examples of OMS you might be aware of.
5. Bespoke e-Commerce Software
E-commerce software is one of the best solutions to uplift your business by multifold. Vendors who want to sell their products online can make use of this platform to increase revenue. Though the market is flooded with umpteen generalized softwares, the use of customized e-commerce software with exclusive features makes your operations more flexible, user-friendly and scalable. For example, unique features like live-chat with the dealer, email marketing automation, or customer history analysis can push you one step ahead of your competitors. Thus, it is advisable for B2B or B2C businesses to use bespoke e-commerce solution to augment their sales drastically.
6. Bug Tracking Software
Imagine having your site going down on the peak sales period… it’s scary, right? Well, then it is essential to have your site bug-free. A customized bug tracking software allows you to perform multiple operations simultaneously, using one-platform. It can be integrated with tools that ease agile management of projects, ticket generation as well as management or backlog organization. Such bespoke bug tracker platforms assist in capturing development or process issues with ease and help in delegating and coordinating tasks within the team.
For instance, Jira, the top-ranking bug tracking solution is integrated with best-in-class features that makes a herculean task of project management a child’s play.
The Bottom Line
Customized Softwares are the next-gen operation managers that can help you sail your venture exactly the way you want.
They streamline the business processes, automize monotonous tasks, bring flexibility to the operations, and improvise connectivity by providing smooth interactions. Thus, if you own a business and have been thinking to streamline your operations, custom software is the way to go. What you only need to do is – look for a good custom software development company that understands your requirements well and offers good quality software within your budget. Sigma Data Systems is one celebrated brand that can help realize your expectations.