Should the SMB Market Consider Custom Built IT Applications? Or Buy Off the Shelf?
Submitted by: Harry Torpey III, Business Development Manager, TechO2
The answer to buy or build could be yes to both, according to Matt Holtle, vice president of The Gartner Group. If you can find off-the-shelf functionality that meets 80-100 percent of your business needs then the answer is easy: buy it. If you need a lot of customization for the application to meet your business needs, then you are probably better off going custom. Factor in the cost for customization and the annual licensing fees, and it could be cost prohibitive to buy off the shelf.
The good news is that some of your applications—the ones that automate commodity business processes—can be bought off the shelf, and the ones that are dealing with the core processes that differentiate your company can be custom.
With the growing software market and the global economy, there are many choices when it comes to custom-built software. Overseas development and open source frameworks made the process much more affordable, but you still need the right technology partner.
Here are some of the top things to consider when looking for a custom software developer:
- Make sure they understand your business requirements and objectives
- Take time with the design and planning stages. This is extremely important and should have the appropriate time allotted for the task
- Make sure you completely understand the scope of the project before starting development
- Be involved with the entire development process and all iterations, and make sure your partner uses the latest development methods (Agile)
- Make sure you have local support and Project Management (most projects fail because of poor project management)
- Find out how Quality Assurance is handled and what portion of development is allocated for QA
- Set reasonable expectations and timelines for deliverables
- Discuss how cross-functional departments may be affected by the new application and make sure they are involved in the process.
Follow these steps and you will be off to a good start. Custom application disasters can normally be traced back to three areas: poor design and scope, poor project management and lack of stakeholder's involvement in the process.
Sreeni Jakka of TechO2 puts it best when he says "projects evolve, not change." It is a guarantee that projects will have many changes throughout the development process, so if we are aware of this and anticipate them, it is evolution, not change.
TechO2 develops enterprise level software at economical prices with effective turnaround times for our clients. We provide consulting, technology strategy, incubate ideas and build top-notch software applications. Please visit us at www.techo2.com and discover our technology services.
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