The Dubai and in fact the entire UAE is considered to be the heaven for new startups and entrepreneurs. Thousands of new startups got registered every year in the country, thanks to its infrastructure, government policies, free zones and many favorable policies that attract investors from all around the world. In the modern digital age, every business wants to leverage the technology and digital solutions to boost their operational efficiency and to optimize their expenses which will eventually magnify the revenue and profits. For startups there are certain challenges which mostly established business and organizations doesn’t face, such as limited budget, limited human resource, and infant IT infrastructure and not so well organized and optimized business processes. That is why startups need a solid software solution to maximize the outcome of their limited resources. The software and business tools can help startups to optimize various business processes, it can also help them to integrate various independent systems to work in coherence.
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The modern business practices and methodologies heavily relayon the digital data, it is crucial to maintain the data flow and information sharing within different functions of the business. For that different software are used. Businesses also establish a central information center which is linked with all independent software and main software app modules. The data and information can be leverage to simplify various business processes, avoid repetition of work, and to magnify the work efficiency and performance of relevant business processes and employees as well. For startup the business processes are much simpler comparing to established business and enterprises. That is why most off-the-shelf solutions doesn’t suit them. The off-the-shelf software and solutions are designed for generic requirements and sometime for a particular industry sector. That means they have a standard work flow and structure for each process, function or tasks. However for startups following these protocols could be very time consuming and require much more resources. That is why a customized software is the best solution for startups’ needs and specific requirements.
The customized software doesn’t require them to follow unwanted or unnecessary protocols, in fact it just help them to boost the efficiency of whatever they are doing and however they are doing it. This could provide them a greater edge. Here are some key advantages of customized software development for the startups:
Customized Software Development: Perfectly Match Your Business Requirements
Startups are small businesses in fact sometimes only with a few employees. Sometimes a single employee is managing multiple tasks, sometimes some tasks are managed in a very unorthodox way, and sometimes the startups develop a completely different culture or methodology to achieve certain tasks. Their main aim is to improve the quality of their products and services. They have limited resources so they must have to utilize them efficiently and effectively otherwise they won’t be able to satisfy their customers. That is why most of the startups develop new ways and new methods to perform certain tasks and they also build innovative strategies to achieve their goals. An off-the-shelf or ready-made software solution is not designed to support such needs, in fact it is designed to follow industry standards and popular trends. However, the customized software development let startups customize each and every aspect of their software and its features. The tailor-made solutions are also less bulky and more user friendly.
Moreover the customized software development also enable the startups to easily adopt to the most convenient trends and practices. For example, going online and providing mobile interfaces for employee portals and dashboards can be done easily. These days the mobile access and remote access to the company data is crucial for employees. It can be enabled easily with customized software development. For growth the data flow and easy access to the company’s central information center is crucial. It enables employees to perform their job roles and daily tasks with more efficiency and efficacy. With off-the-shelf or ready-made solution achieving such traits is not impossible, but it is very difficult and way too expensive. On top of that the digital eco-system is built by integrating several software and tools, integrating them and synchronizing data in a critical task. With off-the-shelf solutions, there are several limitations, and the process is lengthier, however, with the customized software development it is very quick, easy and cost-efficient. This enables startups to develop innovative features and support them with their modernized and untraditional methodologies.
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Customized Software Development: Better and Efficient Scalability
The startups grows rapidly, with growth and expansion of the operations the daily tasks, regular business processes and business processes become more complex and sophisticated. Which require upgrades in the software and digital infrastructure as well. Every startup business wants to grow as quickly as possible, they want to generate more revenue in a short time to support their growth and expansion. However, that growth can be halted or slowed down if the IT infrastructure and software tools that the business is using are not able to keep up the pace. With growth more employees got hired, more teams are forms and more departments and business functions are established. The off-the-shelf or ready-made software solutions are not designed to support that kind of growth, in fact they are counterproductive in such scenarios. Only a customized software development solution can help startups and businesses with such needs and specific requirements.
Another big advantage of the customized software development is that it is designed for a business hence the business also got the ownership of the software, its source code and resources as well. Which help them on later stages when they will need further customization or when they will need to add more modules or features in the system. The business is not dependent on a single vendor or solution provider, hence they can also manage in-house team to customize the software or they can chose another vendor to do the customization. This provide them a greater advantage on terms of cost and make the entire system much more cost-efficient and future ready. Furthermore there is no limitation or licensing fees, or any such additional costs, which means that they can add more employees at any given point of time without purchasing additional license or permissions from the system provider. The customized software development is the best approach to produce a long term solution and such software remain relevant and useful for several years.
Customized Software Development: Easy and Cost-Effective Integration
The biggest drawback of an off-the-shelf or ready-made software solution is that the integration capabilities are limited and are very expensive. Most of the time businesses end up having a poorly optimized work flow or business process due to such limitation. However, with a customized software development since the entire application is designed as per the business needs, the required integrations can be added while the development process and even on later stages the startups and businesses can request the system provider or the development team to provide integration functionalities as per the demand and needs. These is no technical limitation. This allow the startups to simplify the tasks and reduce the workload of the employees. Even employees can be provided a single dashboard or user interface to perform their regular tasks while all the data synchronization and processing is done on the background by two or more separate software programs.
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The software integration is an essential part of any IT infrastructure. A business needs various digital systems and solutions to work in harmony to achieve the maximum work and operational efficiency. If these systems work in isolation or doesn’t share same data definitions, there could be confusion among the employees, the data can only be shared by manual means, which also slow down the operational processes and require more human efforts. The integration on the other hand connect all the systems and tools to a single centralized information center, which automatically updates all the information and data on each and every relevant system. All employees receive same data and information and everything is updated in real-time. This also reduce the development work while developing those integrations thus the integration cost is also very low. The integration protocols can also be customized to further simplify the work and this also make startups and businesses able to design innovative features and methods.
Customized Software Development: Online and Cloud Compatibility
For any system or IT infrastructure, commissioning the hardware, especially servers and data centers is very expensive task. It also require in-house team to manage those data centers which makes it extremely expensive. For a new startup or a small business investing in such areas is most likely not doable. The biggest problem with off-the-shelf or ready-made solutions is that they have very particular needs of the IT infrastructure which is expensive and if maintained in-house requires additional human resource and skilled team to manage it and keep it running and secure. However, the customized software development is a more flexible and user friendly when it comes to hosting the software. The customized software can easily be hosted on the online hosting and cloud servers which costs just a fraction of the investment required for the in-house data center or IT infrastructure. The cloud and online also enables the businesses to provide online and remote access to their employees. Which can make them more productive and can help employees to instantly access anything and everything whenever they want and from wherever they want to access it. That also improve employee experience and satisfaction.
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Customized Software Development: Security
For startups or for that matter for any business the data security and privacy is its top priority. It is not only important to protect the business but it is important to protect its customers as well. The data security and protection directly relates to the brand image, reputation and credibility. Think from the customer’s point of view, if you are a customer and you know in past a business’s data got breached, will you be confident to doing business with such organization? No. That is the reason the data security and privacy is extremely important for any software tool. In case of off-the-shelf solutions as the system is being provided to hundreds or thousands and even in some cases millions of users. This means that such software’s structure and source code could be available for thousands of people, that means they are more vulnerable and need higher security. For a startup higher security means more expenses.
However, with the customized software development since the application is designed particularly for a specific business and the business also holds the ownership rights, the source code or structure of such software might not be exposed that much, which means the security requirements would also be less hence the cost would also be less. Moreover the customized software development also enables the startups and businesses to integrate more security features in their system and they can also host them on online hosting and cloud which can also improve the security of the system and its data. These aspects makes the customized software more secure and less expensive to manage and maintain.
Customized Software Development: Budget Friendly
For any startup business the biggest constraint is the budget. Almost all off-the-shelf solutions come in a full package, sometimes different packages are also there, but ultimately it is a full package with a loads of unwanted or irrelevant features and modules. All these additional or unwanted modules not only cause additional cost but also makes the user experience more difficult. However, the customized software development is very flexible and budget friendly. Startups and small businesses only purchase what they need, they don’t have to pay a fix price or a subscription for a certain plan, and they only pay for what they need. That is what make the customized software development more budget friendly. Moreover the off-the-shelf solutions and software also have annual fees, subscription fees, renewal fees, maintenance fees and several other fees, which in some cases could be just a simple rip-off. However, with a customized software development there is no such fees or any hidden charges, the startup business owns the software and they don’t have to pay for any licensing fee or any other such charges.
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Moreover the biggest advantage of the customized software development is that the startups can start with a few modules due to their budget limitation at the beginnings, then later on they can keep adding more modules and eventually they end up purchasing in chunks which doesn’t put any load on their budget and even make it more easier without compromising the quality and features of the software. For example, a startup needs to have only a few modules to start, such as accounting, sales, and CRM, however after sometimes they felt the need to have an HR tool, and after let say a year they might require a supply chain management tool, and so on. As the startup keep growing so does their needs and on the bases of those needs they can keep adding new features and modules to their customized software. Hence they don’t have to bear large expenses at the initial stage like the off-the-shelf or ready-made software solutions. As most of the ready-made software includes many modules that are important but at the beginning a startup can function without them and only at later stages it might need them. Hence the initial cost is also very high for off-the-shelf solutions.
Customized Software Development: Low Operational and Maintenance Cost
For a startup business the commissioning cost is not the only worry, they should also consider the operational and maintenance cost. For the off-the-shelf solutions the operational cost could be higher, such as whenever a new employee on-boarded there could be a licensing fee, even monthly subscription fees and or annual maintenance fees are also there. On top of that if the system is hosted online or cloud, the access and control to the source of the software is restricted. The customization and system integrations are also very expensive comparing to a customized software. The customized software development provide more freedom and doesn’t require any monthly or regular fees, the business can add as many employees they want without paying any additional fee. The upgrades and customization is also relatively cheaper. The customized software can easily be hosted on cloud or online hosting, which is very cost-effective and it costs just a fraction of the cost for the off-the-shelf solution.
Moreover the maintenance is also not as that expensive, as it can be availed from the vendor as well as in-house team or person can take care of the maintenance. However, for the off-the-shelf solutions the maintenance and hosting, etc. everything is already included in the package. That is why the customized software are very less costly comparing to an off-the-shelf or ready-made software.
See More: What are the Key Features of an Enterprise Resource Planning Software (ERP)?
Conclusion
For startup businesses there are several factors that makes customized software development much better than the off-the-shelf or ready-made software solutions. One thing that every startup wants to do is to grow rapidly, they want to maximize the efficiency of their resources and employees to achieve their ambitious goals. For that software are needed, in fact in the modern era any business can’t function without relying on software and tools. The startup businesses have limited budget, limited resources, untraditional work flows and business processes, and very specific needs. The customized software development is very budget friendly and is far better on providing desired features and customization. The off-the-shelf solution have huge initial cost, followed by big maintenance fees and other charges. The tools always remain the property of the vendor and businesses are just renting it.
However, with the customized software development the startups and small businesses get full ownership right which make them free to dependence of a particular vendor and even allow them to manage, maintain and upgrade the custom software by in-house team or any other software development company. For startups the customized software solutions are the best in terms of budget, work efficiency, user friendliness and operational and customization cost as well. RSI Concepts is a leading customized software development agency in Dubai, UAE. If you want to learn more on the subject or if you have an enquiry please feel free to reach us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.
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