Technology is growing at breakneck speed, sweeping everything in its path. As organizations embrace digital business transformation, they need to be[BP1] flexible and nimble-. Embracing new technologies in all areas of business demands systems in place that can absorb the shock waves of change. In this context, the classical debate over the capabilities of ‘off the shelf’ vs ‘custom software development’ to absorb this change continues. Glaring issues often crop up over a period of time due to the continuous use of ‘off-the-shelf’ systems. Many organizations are clogged with such products. They inadvertently build a wall with systems placed one over the other like bricks. Each system comes with its own support team, mostly from 3rd party vendors and a few in-house.

Companies usually purchase these ‘off-the-shelf’ products without much afterthought for the capability of a quick fix and modifying them to suit their needs, missing out on flexibility in the process. As the company grows, changing its processes over time, the product becomes obsolete. However, they realize that eliminating the product would compromise the organization’s processes, so they get another product with built-in interfaces to talk with the original product. Piling up systems in this manner ultimately costs the company heavily in maintenance and results in process inefficiencies.

Custom software development has the answer to all these issues. Digital transformation companies today rely more on software that is built for their unique needs. Such systems are often capable of seamless upward and downward integration. Below we discuss some benefits of using custom software development for the best digital transformation experience.

What is Digital Transformation?

To put it simply, digital transformation is the integration of digital technology in all areas of business, thereby delivering better value to customers. Embedded in this definition is the fact that digital transformation involves a change in business processes. More fundamentally, it’s a cultural shift in how the business operates and interacts with its stakeholders, which can include employees, customers, investors, suppliers, and others. It aims at streamlining time-consuming processes and increasing productivity. So, how is it done? Tapping into possibilities opened up by new technologies, building agile teams instead of the usual compartmentalized setup, and adopting DevOps practices, are a few of the methods recommended by digital transformation companies that can improve the project bottom line by leaps and bounds. In other words, a digital transformation company would help organizations to continuously change and question their status quo.

How does custom software development make digital transformation easier?

Digital transformation is synonymous with the flexibility of your IT systems. The primary element that any product needs to be built into its core is flexibility – a function made immensely easier through custom software development. ‘Off-the-shelf’ products come with limitations to provide workarounds for many clients. There have been instances in the past where software companies, often smaller ones, bid for a project with products they already have. Upon winning the bid, they end up providing umpteen numbers of workarounds to meet the client’s tight deadlines. Here, custom software rises to the occasion, promising to serve all requirements to meet digital transformations head-on.

Following are the main features of custom software development that support digital transformation.

No two businesses are the same. When you customize the software development of a client application, it has the ability to meet all their specific needs without any major workarounds. The company gets a platform that has been tailor-made to respond efficiently and smoothly enabling its work processes and functionalities. Such platforms can respond to process changes more easily and quickly as they understand the businesses’ core operating model perfectly.

As the business grows, its processes also grow and change. It is imperative that systems that back up the business processes also grow. Digital business transformation requires platforms to embrace technologies more easily when compared to traditional ‘off-the-shelf’ products. Custom software development makes this possible without incurring heavy costs on product modifications or license renewals.

One of the key benchmarks for successful digital transformation is an increase in employee productivity. When there is an efficient system that supports their job needs, the workforce will be more efficient. Custom software development allows platforms to gel into the job processes without needing the employees to make any drastic changes to the way they work. This improves their productivity and efficiency and helps them better focus on their core expertise.

Today as businesses scale there is an increasing shift into mobile and cloud technologies. Custom-built software is better equipped to integrate seamlessly with cloud and mobile platforms with minimal downtime. It also offers a much-needed competitive advantage to the business. Regular bugs caused by integrations are a problem that many ‘off-the-shelf’ product companies try to hide.

Production support is unavoidable in the software business. The largest piece of the revenue pie is brought in through production support contracts by most of the ‘off-the-shelf’ product companies. This is a major source of revenue leak for many businesses which run their operations through ‘off-the-shelf’ products. Custom development plugs this revenue leak. With an in-house team available, production support can be met at minimal cost with no need to renew any contracts.

Our team at Expeed Software can discuss in more detail with you the advantages of custom software development in digital transformation. As one of the top digital transformation companies in Ohio, USA, Expeed has helped many companies move and scale their businesses digitally, especially with the help of custom software development. Our team of developers and data experts work in sync to create technologically superior and smarter platforms tailored to the specific needs of our clients and their stakeholders.

Expeed Software

Expeed Software is one of the top software companies in Ohio that specializes in application development, data analytics, digital transformation services, and user experience solutions. As an organization, we have worked with some of the largest companies in the world and have helped them build custom software products, automated their processes, assisted in their digital transformation, and enabled them to become more data-driven businesses. As a software development company, our goal is to deliver products and solutions that improve efficiency, lower costs and offer scalability. If you’re looking for the best software development in Columbus Ohio, get in touch with us at today.