The advantages of bespoke software

There are many advantages of bespoke software - and a few disadvantages too.

Make the best use of your resources

Without bespoke software you're either making do with an 'off the shelf' package or one of your team has written a system for you. If you're using an off the shelf package and it doesn't quite fit your business or do everything you want it to do, your staff are probably wasting time doing things manually that could be automated, or entering things two or more times into different systems.

If someone has written something for you in-house there are different problems. If they're not a trained programmer, what they've produced might not be that good, despite their best efforts; and they almost certainly won't have documented any of it. They are probably neglecting their real job as well, the one you originally employed them to do in the first place. Most importantly, you become reliant on them for support and enhancements. What happens if they're off sick or they leave?

A professionally developed piece of bespoke software will enable your staff to do what they're good at, more efficiently. And as your business grows it can enable you to handle much greater volumes of business, more effectively, with the same number of staff.

Improve staff performance and morale

Staff who have an input into the development of a business have an increased sense of involvement in that business and put more effort into making it a success. The same is true of bespoke software. We find that when people are encouraged to make suggestions about how the software could work and think imaginatively about how the software can help the business, they often have really good ideas and feel a great sense of ownership of the system. This means that they take it on board much better than if they had had it thrust upon them. 

An added advantage is that the amount of training your staff will require will be minimal, because the system is written to mirror or improve your business processes. This means that introducing new staff to the business is easier too.

Impress your customers

Many of our customers take great delight in showing their customers their software. It proves that they run an efficient and effective business, and that they are prepared to invest in the systems they need to make sure their customers get the best possible service.

Innovate

Sometimes the software we write allows our customer to achieve something really new, something that no-one else has done before, and it gives them a huge competitive advantage in their marketplace.

Disadvantages

As with everything there are downsides to bespoke software as well.

• It's expensive. However that doesn't mean you can't get a quick return on investment (ROI). One customer's system paid for itself in just 5 months.
• You need to know what you want it to do. Bespoke software is not suitable for startups or very small companies who do not have well-defined procedures in place, or where their procedures changes frequently. It's also not for businesses who are expecting their software to tell them how to run their business. You will need to explain to us in detail how your business works, and why you do things the way you do, before we can build you a good system.
• You're reliant on us, because if you want something changed we have to do it for you. We do try to make as much as possible user-configurable, so that you have as much control as possible, but you need to understand that if the functionality of the system needs to change then we need to make that change for you. We don't give you the source code of the system so that you can do it yourself. However the people who know us know that we are friendly, reasonable and accommodating people so as long as you're reasonable too this should not be a problem, and we offer an escrow facility to protect our customers where required.

Building a bespoke software system is very much a partnership situation rather than the traditional customer-supplier relationship. We get to know each other very well, and we have to treat each other professionally and reasonably. We aim for a win-win situation; our software helps your business grow, which in turn brings us more work if you need it to change to accommodate your expansion, and so on. 

Please see the next sections - about our Windows and Internet database applications and our typical bespoke customer - for more information on this subject.