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Building Customized Software: Challenges and Solutions

Building Customized Software

Introduction
Major Obstacles in Custom Software Development
Tools to Overcome These Obstacles
The Perks of Overpowering These Obstacles
Wrap-Up

Introduction

Can you imagine a business without technology in the modern era? Technology is everywhere. The bulk of the companies use software to facilitate their routine operations. There is readymade software and then there is custom-built software, specifically as per your requirements. In today’s dynamic business environment, readymade software packages rarely meet micro-level requirements. Businesses nowadays need to laser focus on the customers to stay on the hunt. On the other hand, businesses going for custom software development for their day-to-day needs face numerous challenges. The blog explains the key challenges the organizations face with their probable solutions to facilitate the custom software development process. Tackling these challenges heads on ensures the smooth onboarding of custom solutions fitting the bill.

Major Obstacles in Custom Software Development

There are various barriers to opting for custom software development, but it is worth the pain, given its benefits. Let us understand the common issues faced by the organizations one by one:

Understanding Business Needs

It is very important to explain your business thoroughly in detail to the vendor responsible for the development. Often the jargon that you use on a day-to-day basis in your business might be a major source of confusion for the vendor. Try to explain your business model accurately and elaborate on your requirements clearly. Explain to the vendor your priorities clearly to avoid any miscommunication. It is always better to have a Software Requirement Specification (SRS) document prepared and signed by both parties.

Choice of Technology

A key challenge faced by the organization is choosing the technology stack to be used for the development. The chosen custom software development companies sometimes will suggest the technology stack for which they have the expertise instead of choosing the ideal technology stack for your business. The client organization shall clearly state its integration concerns in case a legacy system is involved. The client shall also reveal any plans for scaling the business so that the vendor can handle the scalability aspect of the system as well.

Time and Budget Constraints

Most software development projects fail miserably due to incorrect estimation of time and money involved. Underestimation of cost and time required can be a big deterrent to the project’s success. Setting milestones and reviewing them regularly leads the team in the right direction. Mid-course corrections are bound to happen in any project due to external uncontrollable factors.

Lack of Specialized Manpower

It is of utmost importance to find the correct person for the job to avoid misfiring. Finding a skilled developer specializing in the technology stack being used, along with know-how of business aspects is a boon. If needed, software development outsourcing companies can be roped in for hiring skilled manpower. Often this would involve a decent hike in the overall budget of the project but it is a risk worth taking.

Resistance to Adoption

The most difficult hurdle often comes at the far end viz. the user training and end-user adoption. People will always resist changes as they have to put in extra effort to learn the new thing. It is always better to include all the stakeholders including top management, managers, and end-users early in the process to avoid resistance at the end.

Tools to Overcome These Obstacles

There are no problems without solutions. The aforementioned obstacles can pave the path to the organization’s success if handled properly. The remedies to tackle these issues are as follows.

Transparent Communication

Regular review meetings including the concerned stakeholders apart from top management should be held. It is important to brief everyone about the discussions held in the meeting and ask for feedback from all the stakeholders. Iterative feedback loops can be used until a business requirement is sorted out.

Rope in Experts

Selecting a reputable and reliable development company having expertise in bespoke software development will primarily ease your stress. Hire external freelance consultants to get an opinion about the chosen technology stack, and evaluate the developers selected to work on the project.

Choose Agile methodology

The usage of agile methodology in the project can save valuable time as it is based on regular feedback and a gradual incremental development process. It can speed up the entire software development process substantially. Getting feedback on small chunks of projects is easier while dealing with non-technical people aka the end users of the system.

Setting Up a Reasonable Budget and Realistic Timeline

It is critical to divide the entire project into small achievable deliverables, not only on budgetary grounds but also on cost. Small targets are easy to achieve and mid-course corrections are easier. This will prevent the project from going haywire.

End-User Training and Post-Implementation Support

The organization should ensure that the end-users are provided with proper training and support. The support should last as long as needed. The end users, once confident in the usage will take care of the new joiners on their own in the long run.

The Perks of Overpowering These Obstacles

Once these hurdles are cleared by the organization, they can reap the long-term benefits of the bore fruit. Some of these probable perks are mentioned below:

Personalized Business Solution

Once the organization succeeds in completing this tedious project, they have personalized software tailored to their needs to suit them perfectly. The personalized system most probably will integrate the unique processes of the organizations intact into the new system. The kind of flexibility that the organization achieves by doing so will help them to reach new heights.

Long-Term Benefits

As the system has been designed to align with the company’s unique business model, businesses will foresee long-term benefits like enhanced efficiency, productivity, and potential for floating innovative solutions. This would in turn save a lot of cost and time for the businesses in the long run.

Competitive Edge

A good customized software will never tinker with the proven legacy systems working fine for the organization. It simply makes it whole by adding around it the parts to make it more effective. The tailor-made software provides a competitive edge to the organizations looking to pave new business ways. They provide the organization with unique capabilities otherwise lacking in readymade solutions.

Wrap-Up

Businesses are nowadays looking for new strategies to keep up with the competition. Getting customized software tailor-made for you can be a perfect start to the game of making headway. There are various challenges involved like lack of expert manpower, tech-stack choice, budgetary issues, change adoption, etc. All these challenges can be overcome by choosing a dependable software development vendor, including the concerned stakeholders in the process, maintaining regular and open communication with the stakeholders, and being realistic. Are you ready to boost your business to the next level with customized software developed exclusively for you?

Akkomplish is a software solutions company that offers solutions for all your business transformation needs, thus facilitating a holistic growth for your business. At Akkomplish, with our wide range of technical capabilities and our digital transformation processes, we offer great value to our clients when it comes to custom software development.

For any queries related to custom software development, reach out to us via ap@akkomplish.com or +1 301 825 5342.