Many businesses have this question, should we go with off-the-shelf software or hire a software development company NYC to build us custom software?

The decision making process can be complex as it depends on the current as well as future requirements of the business and different departments across verticals are included in the decision-making process.

To help you with your decision-making process we have listed some differences between the two, so you may get some insights.

Why Choose Custom Software?

Upgrades on Demand

With custom software development you can get upgrades of your software whenever you require, ulike off-the-shelf software. However, this may not necessarily mean upgrades every week. But if you expect frequent updates to keep your software up-to-date and loaded with features your business requires, custom software development companies like ConvergeSol would be happy to do so.

High Levels of Integrations

In today’s time when specialization & big data is taking over, software & tools integrations have become critical for smooth business operations. And custom software solutions might be the best bet for high levels of integrations. With a pre-existing IT environment, custom software can be a great investment for easier integrations.

Scalability & Flexibility

If scalability & flexibility is what you require (for the future), custom developed software is the right choice for you then. Custom software solutions are made only for your business, keeping its current & future needs in mind. This means, there’s a lot of scope to scale up (add features, users, etc). Why is this important? Because your requirements might be limited right now but in the future, as your business would grow, you might need additional features.

Higher Security & Reliability

Custom software are known for their higher levels of reliability and security, this means the software runs with almost zero issues or interruptions. Bespoke software are always designed with the highest-quality of industry-standard security measures, making them highly reliable.

On-going Maintenance

Off-the-shelf software is created for the masses hence, if you encounter a bug, you may not get on-going maintenance to help with your business goals. You could only report the bug and wait for the fix in the next update/upgrade. However, when you find a bug in your custom software, you can get it rectified almost immediately through your software development company. In short, quicker and efficient fixes along with on-going maintenance is easily possible with custom software.

Why Choose Off-The-Shelf Software?

Faster Implementation

Off-the-shelf software solutions are built for the mass, hence, they are designed for faster installation and set up. Additionally, they are pre-developed and hence, organizations can simply buy these software solutions and implement them.

There’s no need to forward your requirements and then go through development & testing cycles to get software solutions. Therefore, generic software solutions can offer faster implementations compared to custom software solutions.

Company Requirements

Well, not every organization requires a custom software solution. If your organization doesn’t have highly specialized requirements, off-the-shelf software might be the best choice, for both efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Community Help

This is probably the best advantage of off-the-shelf software. Since these generic software are created for general use, they usually have a huge base of customers using them. This typically creates an active community of users that help & support each other. Thanks to it, you may get instant help or support from community members.

Unsure of Requirements

If your organization is somewhat new, you may still be understanding your requirements. In this case, generic software solutions might be the best bet as they will allow you to explore your requirements before you have to commit to a custom built software.

Off-The-Shelf Software vs Custom Software: How To Decide?

The debate of off-the-shelf software vs custom software can go on for long but the right choice from them, for businesses, depends on many different factors. To make the right choice for your business, you can bookmark this article and re-visit the above differences while you’re stuck in this dilemma. After reading or re-reading the above differences, ask yourself “which is the right set of benefits for me?”