The digital transformation wave during the COVID-19 pandemic is transforming businesses across the globe. This wave has completely changed the way technical teams see and treat custom software development. Today, custom software application development is all about improving the end-to-end experiences at different levels in a business.
According to a recent survey conducted by GoodFirms, a custom software development company usually takes 1 to 9 months to develop software while the industry average is 4.5 months. It also says that the average cost of developing software is close to $36000.
Today, the custom software development industry has become a multi-billion dollar industry. In the future, as technology is bound to change, this industry is all set to expand. Also, business owners must be willing to update their notions of custom software development to cater to the best needs of their end customers.
What is custom software development?
To understand the scope of custom software development in the future, let’s understand what exactly it is. Custom software application development is the process of designing, planning, developing, deploying and maintaining software tailored for a specific entity or purpose. For example, software developed for the finance department in any organization will be used by the finance department only.
Importance of custom software development
Custom software development is important as it helps you reach your unique business goals at competitive costs. You can greatly reduce the purchase, maintenance, and modification costs without compromising on your unique requirements.
1. Efficiency – Custom software development services are tailored to support processes swiftly and productively, without impacting other processes. There will be no requirement for fixing or adjusting the COTS applications either.
2. Scalability – A custom software application can be scaled in line with the organization’s growth and needs. As the software is custom-tailored, designers and developers can easily assess their future requirements as a part of their requirement list. These factors or upgrades are then incorporated into the software application without incurring additional costs, purchasing licenses or subscriptions.
3. Profitability – Most organizations make money with custom software. Businesses that develop their software can own it depending upon the terms and conditions of the project license. Once owned, you can sell it to other organizations with your branding.
4. Reduced integration costs – One of the major considerations while purchasing a commercial application is, whether it will work with your legacy applications or IT infrastructure. If it does not, you may have to incur an additional cost of getting commercial software that communicates well with your current infrastructure.
Custom software development services are rendered with the flexibility to integrate with your existing infrastructure.
5. Independence – Custom software frees you from incurring additional costs about price hikes due to an upgraded license and support.
In addition, some packaged applications require infrastructure upgrades after a newly added feature. This increases dependencies on a third-party technician who, if not available quickly may cause more harm than good. With a custom software application, you will have a team of in-house technicians who can be of immediate help.
Although independence is a bonus, chances are that supporting and maintaining custom software might exceed the costs that would be incurred otherwise. It’s important to evaluate the usage costs of custom software vs a packaged application before choosing a solution.
Development methodologies to consider
For custom software application development, consider the following methodologies after carefully evaluating your needs:
1. Agile Development – Splits complex requirements into simple and consumable functions. You can witness a rapid delivery on those functions in increments.
2. DevOps – A popular combination of development and operations, it is an agile-based approach. It brings software development services and IT operations under the same roof with design, development, deployment and software support.
3. Rapid application development (RAD) – It is a non-linear approach that blends design and code construction.
4. Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) – Using SAFe, you can scale agile methodologies to larger organizations. You can use this framework while extending agile methodology to a global team.
Custom Software Development Trends
Understanding the current trends is an easy way to expand your business. To reap the maximum benefits in this era, a business must be aware of the following 5 trends:
1. Open-source technologies
Although in the past most companies were reluctant to adopt an open source technology, now, only 3% of businesses worldwide aren’t using open source. Today, all leading application development frameworks like Java, PHP, Angular JS, Hadoop, etc. are open source.
If your business requires frequent technology changes, then you must consider open source as a priority.
2. Artificial Intelligence
As AI is already a mainstream element of almost every online technology, custom software developers must center their skills on developing technologies that could supplement AI actions. It would also help you create powerful databases and meaningful experiences for the business.
3. New dimensions in cloud technologies
The core technologies in the best businesses in the world are run on the cloud. At least 73% of the top businesses across the globe have implemented cloud computing. The benefits of cloud technologies are many, including scalability on demand, global presence, and world-class providers in all niches.
As a business, you must take this trend seriously to boost your ROI on technological investments.
4. Prioritization of security
With the rise of cloud computing, IT infrastructures are becoming more vulnerable to targeted breaches. Now, when developers have new worms to deal with on their plates, security aspects cannot be overlooked. Therefore custom software applications with extra layers of firewall are a must for sustainability.
5. Increasing customer centricity
Today, not only the customer-facing teams but the custom software development teams must inculcate the idea of end-customer centricity. Feedback systems must pass the responses directly to the core technology teams to create better user experiences.
Today, businesses of all sizes must consider these trends before signing a contract with a custom software development company. Failing to do so and lacking innovation will not take long for any business to invite trouble. Therefore investing in the right custom software company with the right advisory is crucial to attain success.