How to Develop Customized Software and Business Tools

For any business the digital assets and infrastructure is very crucial for success and profitability. Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE have a very deeply integrated IT and digital infrastructure. No matter how big or small a business is it must be using some kind of software solution and business tools, to maximize the efficiency and quality of work for various business processes and functions. In the modern age of digitalization and modernization, the entire country is rapidly adopting to innovative digital technologies. Whether you are a B2B business model or a B2C, your customers would be very familiar with the use of digital channels, hence the digital customer experience can provide you an added advantage over your competitors. Moreover, the business tools and software offers innovation and automation, which help businesses significantly improving efficiency of their resources and also help them minimize the consumption of the resources as well. This have great effect on profitability and growth.

That is why businesses implement various types of software solutions and business tools to improve their production, product development, services, customer relations, supply chain, HR department and each and every business process. The digital integration, software and business tools provide management more grip, easy control and in-depth monitoring of each and every moving part which allow them to improve the business strategies, plans and methodologies. Hence software and business tools plays a crucial role in business’s success. When it comes to acquiring software, business tools and IT services for your business, the first thing that came to mind is whether you should chose an off-the-shelf solution or a tailor-made customized software tool? In this blog we will discuss why the customized software and business tools development is better and how a business should develop those tools and software.

Off-the-shelf Solution VS Customized Software and Business Tools Development

Whenever a need arises for a software or business tool the businesses thinks of two possibilities, one is off-the-shelf solution which is quick, easy to commission, not much efforts are needed, and the consultant or the service provider usually suggest an appropriate solution. However, when a business thinks about going for a tailor-made customized software or business tool the very first thing that came to their mind is why should they go through all this hustle to acquiring a software development company in Dubai or UAE and then intensive requirement gathering, production and testing cycles. Well, here is the answer why the customized software development is much better than the off-the-shelf software solution or a ready-made business tool:

Why Off-the-shelf Software and Business Tools?

1. It is quicker to deploy, usually it take only a day or two to get the system up and running.
2. The upfront cost is lower, the business can have an operation software or business tool very quickly at a lower commissioning cost.
3. Off-the-shelf software and business tools already have all the standard options, features and tools necessary to cater average needs of your industry.
4. The system management and maintenance is the responsibility of the service provider, hence no hustle or additional resource needed for the management of the tool.

Why Not Off-the-shelf Software and Business Tools?

1. The user interface, structure of the software and the work flow is very rigid and is hard or expensive to customize.
2. The off-the-shelf solution could not help you with your very unique or specific needs.
3. Its rigid structure might require you to make adjustments to your existing business processes and methods. Which makes them hard to use for the employees and could have counterproductive effects on them.
4. The operational or running and upgrading cost is too high. The maintenance is also expensive.
5. Integration with existing or other software and business tools is very difficult and problematic. If a business already have an ecosystem of corporate software and business tools, the full level of integration is very hard to achieve and in some cases it is impossible.
6. Scalability is expensive and difficult, the evolution is very slow and unpredicted.
7. The features and tools of the software came as a bundle, you will have to pay for all of them no matter you use them all or you utilize just a few.
8. Sometimes the support and problem solving is difficult too.

Why Customized Software and Business Tools?

1. The customized software and business tools are intuitive and tailor-made for your needs, hence the UI and the structure is very friendly.
2. Customization allow you to build solutions for your very specific and unique needs.
3. You only pay for the features and tools that you actually need. No unwanted tools or features are bundled with the customized software and business tools.
4. The customized software and business tools are designed to magnify the efficiency of your existing business processes and methods, hence they don’t push anything and are completely aligned with your existing internal work flows and management policies.
5. The business can have proprietary rights which allow them full access to the source code and the core of the software and makes it a lot easier to further scale, customize or manage the software.
6. Customized solutions can be molded as per the needs and requirements, which makes them ideal for the integration and data synchronization with existing and other software and tools.
7. The future scalability, upgrade and further customization is relatively easier, cheaper and convenient.
8. The operational or running cost is very low and the maintenance is also very cost-effective.
9. There is no dependency on a single service provider, hence getting support or making iterations is more convenient and cost-effective.
10. The software lifecycle is relatively extended than the off-the-shelf solutions, hence it provides better ROIs in the long term.

Why Not Customized Software and Business Tools?

1. If you have average needs that can be easily full-filed by any off-the-shelf solution.
2. If you don’t have time to go through the customized software development process and need an urgent solution.
3. The long term ROI of customized software and business tools is excellent but the initial/commissioning cost is high.
4. Initially a lot of time investment is required from the business and its relevant stakeholders.

Here is how you can Develop Customized Software and Business Tools

Now that it is very clear that the customized software and business tool development is much superior in terms of long-term ROI, operational efficiency and effectiveness of the solution as comparing to any off-the-shelf solution. Let us discuss how a business can and should develop a completely customized software and business tools to maximize their operational efficiency, employee performance and profitability in the long terms.

Discovery Phase – Identify Challenges& Set Objectives

The very common reason why most software projects failed is due to inadequate requirement gathering and problem identification process. This is very important that you are absolutely sure that you need a customized software and a business tool. The very first step is to observe the performance of the employees and the managers who are working in the relevant area or for whom the software is intended to support. For example if you need a new supply chain management tool or a full-on production management software, the very first step is to monitor the performance of those sections, then consult with the relevant managers and ask them to identify the problems within the existing system or methods that are being utilized by those departments. Then ask the employees and try to understand their point of view and identify the challenges that they are facing and how their efficiency can be improved.

This will provide you a complete blue print of your customized software or business tool. There is no programing or source code or any such frightening thing involved in this phase, all you need is to observe and then discuss the problems with the beneficiaries of the software or business tool that you are planning to develop. Then enlist all the objectives of the customized software or business tool development project and also enlist all the challenges that you want to eliminate from your business process to make your employee’s life easier and to boost their efficiency. At this point also consider the impact of the new software or business tool on the expenses and cost of the relevant business process and set goals and targets to achieve by the implementation of the new tool or software.

See More: What are the Key Features of an Enterprise Resource Planning Software (ERP)?

Acquire the Services of a Software Development Team/Company (In-house/Outsource)

Some large businesses do have in-house software development teams and IT resources who can support them with a certain level of expertise and software needs. However, that is very rare and only large enterprises and multinational businesses can manage such teams in-house. In most cases the businesses acquires the services of a professional software development company. Here are a few steps that will help you selecting a good software development company for your customized software or business tools development project:

• Step 1: Prepare a comprehensive RFP (Request for Proposal) or business requirements document. The document should have all basic ingredients such as:
  1. Your business’s introduction
  2. Project Introduction
  3. Your Goals and Objectives
  4. All challenges that you are currently facing
  5. Technical and Financial limitations and Expectations
  6. Your future plans for this Software or Business Tool
• Step 2: Short list at least 10 software development companies in Dubai, UAE (avoid off-shore service providers) and ask them to Sign the NDAs (Non-disclosure Agreements)
• Step 3: Share the RFP with the service providers and ask them to submit their proposals
• Step 4:Analyze the proposals carefully and short list at least 5 best of them all
• Step 5: Evaluate the software development company by analyzing its portfolio, testimonials, customer references, overall profile and experience in the relevant projects
• Step 6: Schedule meetings with short listed software development companies and help open discussions, ask them for their inputs and recommendation on the solution
• Step 7: Finalize at least 3 who you determined as the best among the others and ask them for their support matrices and their project execution methods
• Step 8:Discuss your financial and time limitations and see which one would be able to comply
• Step 9:Held interactive sessions and requirement gathering meetings with relevant staff and the vendor/service provider
• Step 10:Finalize the agreements and do the project sign-off with the finalized service provider

Obviously that is just a general guideline to select a better software development company in Dubai or anywhere in UAE where the market is full of such service providers and it is hard to identify the best service provider who can deliver as per your expectations. Businesses always have their own methods, techniques and policies to outsource a project. The point here is to make sure that the software development company you are selecting should be able to deliver the project as per the expectations.

See More: How to Develop Customized Supply Chain Software?

Held Requirement Gathering Meetings and Formulate the Scope of Work (SOW)

Before kick starting the project it is crucial to held interactive sessions with the software development service provider’s team and your team. Involve all key employees in the requirement gathering sessions and let the service provider gather the requirements in more details. This will help them to formulate a technical scope of work document which is also called SOW. This document will be the road map of the software that you will going to get. Make sure that the SOW document is also analyzed and agreed by all relevant managers, stakeholders and key employees. The SOW document makes the project execution a lot easier and prevent a lot of unwanted problems and disputes during and even after the software development phase. The SOW document enlists all the technical details, features, software development technologies and prerequisites and it provides you a crystal clear picture of what to expect from the project.

See More: Key Features of an Enterprise Application Software (EAS)

Have a Detailed Project Plan

Having a project plan is extremely crucial for all types of projects, especially for customized software development projects it is very important to have a proper project plan that enlists all the milestones, such as designing the UI (User Interface) and visuals, Revision Time, Development Phase with all milestones and key points to track the progress, testing, UAT (User Acceptance Test), Soft Launch, Full Launch and post launch steps, etc. These all details are important for a successful and hustle free customized software development project. The project plan is usually designed by the software development company or vendor, but it has to be shared with the client before the actual project execution begins. The project plan not only help businesses to track the on-going progress but also ensures that the project will be completed in the timely manners and within the set budgets.

Wireframes and GUI Designing

The wireframes are the drawings and mockups of the features and functionalities. They used to represent how the actual software or application will look when it will be developed. The wireframe also explains the work flow and various processes which are very hard to understand by textual descriptions or explanations. That is why the software development companies provide wireframes to let the users understand the functionalities and provide them a chance to input their remarks and suggestions to make the final product more desirable and user friendly. Once the wireframes are finalized, then the GUI or graphical user interfaces are designed on the bases of the final wireframes. The UI designs are the actual visual looks of the software tool. Later the actual software or application will look exactly like the GUI or UI designs and the functionality and work flow will be like the wireframes. That is why this is a very important part of the software development and it can prevent a lot of hustle and repetitive work after the project completion or launch.

See More: What is the difference in Software Development and Web Development?

Development Phase

After finalizing the wireframes and the UIs the customized software development projects enters into the development phase, the development phase is the programming phase where the software development team write source code, build algorithms and logics and develop the actual functionalities by creating data base and information structures. Some project plans include various milestones which are used to track the development progress. However, some software development is done on a modular approach where the milestones are used to identify the completion of each module. Whatever the development method or approach is it is important to keep track of each milestone and make sure the project is proceeding as per the project plan. Another reason to track the progress and sharing the developed module with customer is to minimize the risk to revision after the completion. In case if the customer wants to change something, it is easier to do during the development phase rather after completion. Such changes become difficult, time taking and can also effect cost if done after the full completion. That is why the development phase is divided into different milestones.

See More: What is custom software development?

UAT, Soft Launch and Full Launch

The UAT, Soft Launch and the Full Launch are all the stages of a software project launch. The UAT means User Acceptance Test. The UAT is done after the development company, business’s in-house IT team, security testing team or third-party consultant have already finished their testing processes. The UAT is done while the customized software is hosted in a real-life environment but it is still at production servers. It means that only a limited number of people will be able to access the software or business tool. These people are usually the business management, stakeholders, key employees, and the vendor’s team who perform combined or separate testing on the software and check each and everything if it is as per the scope of the work and the project outlines or not. Once the customized software or business tool passed the UAT it is being moved to the live environment or at production server and is finally made available for all of the users and that is called the full launch.

Maintenance and Post Launch Activities

Since the customized software or business tool is exclusively developed for the business and the business owns the ownership rights to the software, they are no longer dependent of the software development company who have developed this software or business tool for them. That is why businesses are free to choose any maintenance policy they want. Businesses who have sufficient IT resources available can also take the matters in their own hands and do the maintenance in-house, absolutely free of any additional charges. Or businesses can also sign the AMC (Annual Maintenance Contract) with the customized software development company which could make it easier and convenient. Furthermore after the launch the businesses should also consider monitoring the effects of the newly deployed customized software or business tool. Businesses can also collect feedbacks and suggestion and measure several KPIs to track and monitor the actual impact of the customized software on their business processes, employee performance, and overall profitability and productivity.

See More: Customized Software Development for the Startups

Conclusion

Businesses need digital solutions, systems software and business tools in order to maximize their operational efficiency, capabilities, productivity and employee performance to be able to compete within the highly competitive market of Dubai, UAE. Whenever a new challenge arises or a problem occurs, businesses try to find a solution that can fix it and also prevent it from happening again in future. When a software need arises, businesses often got confused between the off-the-shelf and customized software solutions. In this blog we have clearly discussed, why customized software and business tool development is superior to the off-the-shelf software solutions. The purpose of this blog was to provide our readers a comparative analysis of both off-the-shelf and customized software development solutions and help them to guide them through the customized software development process. If you need any more help on the subject or want to discuss the requirements of your new software needs, please feel free to contact 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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