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Email: software [at] flexss [dot] co [dot] uk
Bespoke Software vs Off-The-Shelf Product
Most office workers use commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) computer software every day. Common software such as word-processing or spreadsheet packages have millions of users worldwide, less common off-the-shelf products such as accounting software may still have thousands of licensed users. With so many users you may ask why would any business want something other than an off-the-shelf solution? This article will highlight some of the pros and cons of off-the-shelf software and its alternative – bespoke software specially written for one customer.
· The software can be extremely feature-rich. i.e. contain lots of things that an end user can do – making it appeal to different types of end-user. This is made possible by the large user community paying license fees.
· The software is cheap to buy and own. With such a large user community the cost of the software development and maintenance is spread very thinly!
· It will typically have good help pages, and may well have plenty of web content publically and freely available to help users get the most out of the software.
· Wide adoption makes it possible to share your work with other users (as they will probably have the same software too).
· Minimal time is needed to buy. You may get it as part of a package deal with a machine, or you may have spent just an hour or so evaluating the choices before making a decision.
· Off the shelf software has to by definition appeal to a large user community, which means it has to incorporate features requested by the larger niche business sectors. The end result is that the software is cluttered with features you will never use, but may make the user interface daunting or confusing. A typical user of a word-processor or an accounts-package may only use 30% of the available functionality.
· It can take a long time to get to grips with how to use off-the-shelf software efficiently, you need to know which features you should be using and how to get the most out of them – however once you are comfortable with using a small subset of the features the more advanced features are often perceived as daunting, and so left unused.
· If you have a special requirement, tough! You get what is in the box, even if a large part of the user community asks for a feature; you will have to wait for the vender to decide when to incorporate it.
· Just when you have got used to the software, you go out and buy a new PC, only to find that you can’t buy that version of the software anymore and it has changed significantly – giving you an unexpected and unwelcome learning curve.
· The software was written for the wider user community, not solely for your business; this means that your processes have to fit what the software expects. This is not giving your business a competitive edge because your systems must inevitably be similar to your competitors.
· As the purchaser defines what is needed, it will have all the features that are necessary and fit seamlessly with the user’s operating procedures, without being cluttered or confused with features that are not wanted.
· Time taken for new staff to get to grips with the software is minimal as it should fit seamlessly with the business operating procedures.
· Special requirements are carefully catered for – the buyer gets exactly what they want, working in the way that they want it. Great for ease-of-use, should also bring a competitive advantage.
· As a business grows or changes the software can be adapted to suit; upgrades and changes come under the buyer’s control.
· Bespoke software can include functionality to read or write information to other systems, joining up processes and saving administration time.
· Problems in business processes can be addressed, if there is a problem where human errors are leading to mistakes or unhappy customers, the software can be designed to minimise the occurrence of these problems.
· By buying from a reputable software company with a good track record, you should be assured of reliable and timely support.
· A software company that creates software solutions for many businesses can bring along suggestions and experience to ensure that the buyer actually gets more out of their bespoke software than they originally envisaged possible.
The investment (price per user) is likely to be significantly greater – therefore it must do more than off-the-shelf software to justify the investment.
There is a risk of being left unsupported, consider what happens if the supplier stops trading and you need support! This can be counteracted by engaging with a supplier that is contractually obliged to give the source code away for free in the event that they stop trading or fail to provide adequate support.
Poor developers make for a poor investment. There is a risk that you will end up with an application that is slow, full of problems or bugs. This software will have a short life and end up needing to be replaced, costing more money. Ask for demonstrations to be sure that the supplier is up to the task.
A bespoke software project will require several meetings and some end-user testing effort to get it right. The buyer must be prepared to invest this time to get the results required.
Choosing between an investment in off-the-shelf software versus a bespoke software application requires careful consideration. A bespoke software solution can bring the benefits of ease-of-use, fitting in with special processes and other systems, thus giving a competitive advantage, saving on administration time and reducing human errors. Whereas an off-the-shelf solution will almost certainly have a significantly lower purchase price, but be compromised in terms of its features or how it works.
If you decide that a bespoke solution is going to be the best investment choice for your business it is then essential to choose your supplier carefully, choose an established business that can demonstrate capability and offer long-term support.
