Types of Software Development: What You Need to Know?

Every business, no matter how big, needs software to manage data, improve customer service, and improve internal processes.

We at S-PRO have more than 8 years of experience in software development and can fulfill any of your desires related to the creation of quality software. Our software development company will allow you to start using the MVP of your project in a few months.

We will create the best software for you in the shortest possible time and provide its further technical support.

Today, let’s find out what custom, own and ready-made software are and what advantages and disadvantages are inherent in those types of software development.

What is Custom Software?

Custom software solutions are created according to the needs and requirements of a particular business, so they are always unique and interesting for the end-user.

Such software allows you to quickly adapt to existing business processes and start implementing new ones without any problems. Also, the interface of such software is developed specifically for employees and clients of a particular company.

Custom software allows you to use only those features that your business really needs and not buy unnecessary ones. In this way, you can get the maximum efficiency of all processes.

Also, custom software allows you not to depend on third parties, which greatly simplifies the use of such a software solution.

Pros and Cons of Custom Software

Here we look at the advantages and disadvantages of custom software development.

Pros:

• You will receive a system created specifically for the needs of your company, taking into account the specifics of your business organization.
• Experience in creating software solutions of various types will help us create an information system that best manages the processes of your enterprise.
• The description of the functionality of the future information system is made by our employees on the basis of information obtained from interviews with your employees and managers, as well as on the basis of information received by our employees from the specialized documents of your enterprise provided to them.
• Documentation, both staged and user-generated, is always released.
• Cost estimates are made separately for the system modules, usually after the production documentation has been worked out. The risk of spending a significant amount in vain is minimal
• Experienced S-PRO employees will be able to understand the specifics of your company, recognize and describe the positive and negative aspects of your company’s business organization and build an information system that is not only convenient for your users but also transparent and objective for managers.

Cons:

• The term for creating a software solution is not known in advance, since the set of modules and the functionality of the modules are determined by the customer himself as the software develops.
• The total cost of the system depends only on the customer’s appetite regarding the set of developed system modules.

What is Ready-made Software?

A ready-made software solution implies the presence of pre-installed functions that you can use. But this solution is not unique. You just get the same application as hundreds of other companies. Usually, such software solutions are not very warmly received by users. But at the same time, ready-made software solutions are universal.

Of course, you can try to customize them for yourself, but such solutions do not look like something original and the end-user is unlikely to get all the functions he needs.

Pros and Cons of Ready-made Software

Now let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of standard software.

Pros:

• You get a ready-made, proven product at more than one enterprise.
• You are promised rapid deployment of the system.
• The system is usually well documented.
• The cost of the main components of the system is known in advance.
• Users treat the system being implemented as a normal tool with its pluses and minuses while understanding that no significant changes will be made to their requirements, and they do not spend time on this.

Cons:

• A step away from the logic of the purchased system may result in an unsolvable problem, or in significant financial and/or time costs.
• Your developers will not be able to provide high-quality support for the implemented system, since the source codes of most of the system components are closed.
• The documentation does not reflect the changes that were made during the implementation.
• The initial cost of a system usually increases significantly as it is implemented.
• In some cases, there is an unnecessarily complex reorganization of some work, associated with the need to adapt to the finished product.

What is Own Software?

This type of software is developed by companies themselves. To implement such a scenario, the company must have its own development staff. Such solutions are cheaper than custom solutions, but the cost of maintaining an entire department of employees is much higher.

Pros and Cons of Own Software

Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of in-house software development

Pros:

• Development and improvement of a software product can be carried out continuously for an unlimited amount of time.
• System users have the opportunity at any time to bring the software developer to the user’s workplace and see a demonstration of the system or get new system settings immediately.
• The system is “free” for the organization.

Cons:

• The result is often not achieved, the developers are mainly busy supporting the functioning of previously developed tasks.
• Developers use outdated methodologies for building systems.
• Documentation for the system is usually not released, when one or more developers are fired, “their parts of the system” are rewritten over time.
• Developers require constant payment, regardless of the need for the work performed for the enterprise and the quality of the work performed.
• Developers are forced to follow the lead of some users, and the development of the system can be complicated by the nature of the relationship between the head of the IT service and the heads of business units.
• As a rule, little attention is paid to the issues of delimiting user access to information stored in the system, as well as issues of preventing unauthorized access to information and protecting information from loss.

Summary

Creating custom software is always more beneficial for business in terms of the fact that the end-user of your software will use a unique convenient solution that can fulfill all his needs in a particular situation. Of course, you can use a ready-made solution, but such applications usually look cheap and unattractive. Or you can create your own product but it is much more expensive and more difficult.

If you are interested in developing high-quality software in the shortest possible time, then contact the S-PRO software development company. Our professional staff will bring to life all your ideas and desires!