Custom software development has made its mark across industries all over the world. Big multinational conglomerates like Starbucks, IKEA, Slack, McDonald’s, Amazon, and Uber are using custom-built software. Although it is a hefty investment up-front. But it pays off more than it cost in the long run. So, you can count on it for a great return on investment. However, a lot of organizations prefer purchasing or licensing an existing commercial-off-the-shelf software to save that up-front cost. But it mostly goes the other way. It is because the packaged software needs to be personalized to their business needs and this costs money and time. Plus, they hamper a lot while performing the operations they are supposed to carry out seamlessly.
Eventually, customized, or bespoke software solutions emerge as the best choice for businesses to take care of their business operations digitally. At present, custom-built software solutions have a nice hold in the market. Businesses see them as a reliable investment that would pay off well. Let us have a look at the projected future for it as well…
The future of custom-built digital products is extremely bright as they offer unique and efficient solutions to the problems businesses face on a daily basis. The software solution is already tailored to their needs, so they are not required to spend any more money, time, or resources to customize it.
The coming years will increase the adoption of customized software solutions among various industries as they help to increase the efficiency of digital operations. Therefore, we can say that the future holds good things for custom-made software applications. The following are the key advantages of these applications that make them so popular among users:
However, to gain the most out of these advantages you need to make sure you are up to date with the market trends. Staying put with these trends help companies to explore new markets, stay innovative, and spot future demands & opportunities.
Custom or bespoke software can substantially scale your business. However, for extracting the optimum benefits from these products you need to keep tabs on and move with the following trends:
Every company wants to implement new technologies and features in their custom software. However, not each one of them has the luxury of desirable skill at their disposal. Most advanced skills that they are looking for are either not available in their proximity or they are too expensive. Outsourcing comes in as a savior at this point. Businesses can outsource the task of developing customized software to a development firm without having to compromise on the features, technologies, or other things that make their product unique. Moreover, they can save a lot of money by cutting costs on the infrastructure, teams, hiring, training, and other related human capital.
Everyone knows how good native apps are. But they cost too much. This is the reason why businesses explore multiple platforms and mostly adopt cross-platform development. The trends suggest that cross-platform development will be the most popular choice for companies developing customized apps. There are several popular frameworks like Flutter, React Native, and Xamarin to enable efficient cross-platform development. These platforms offer rapid development, reusable codes, better product maintenance, and lower costs. Hence, along with the rise of competition in the software industry, we will see a relative rise in the adoption of cross-platform development strategies.
Since the Covid19 pandemic, the whole IT industry has seen a significant increase in the number of companies adopting remote work culture. For most of them, it has paid off well. They are getting even better productivity as compared to the onsite work. Therefore, businesses are looking towards custom software requirements in terms of the remote work implications. However, Covid is not something that happens frequently. But remote working has come to stay. Both employees and employers get a lot of benefits through remote work culture. So, it is important for business owners to align their approach toward the development of customized software with remote work parameters.
Along with these top three trends and predictions, there are a few more factors that would affect custom software development in the coming future. This includes the cloud adoption ecosystem management mandatory to have for a business. Plus, embracing the new cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, blockchain technology, big data, and more will be necessary to stay in the competition.
Praveen is a seasoned IT Solutions Leader and Director at RSK Business Solutions, a technology-driven IT Consulting Company that specializes in Bespoke Software Development, Agile Consulting, Mobile App Development, Smart Sourcing, and much more. For the last 17 years, he has been delivering quality custom IT solutions that help businesses achieve their goals.