Custom Software
Custom software development is the name given to the process of developing a custom solution to meet the individual needs of a business. This is in contrast to commercial off the shelf software which will usually be developed to target a specific business problem and is developed to help the user work as well as it can around a set of business processes as opposed to working exactly how an individual business needs.
An example of how custom software development can work versus off the shelf software would be with timesheet software. Off the shelf timesheet software may very well do most of what a business needs by allowing their team to add and log their time as they go and enable the business to complete their required reports. Where off the shelf timesheet software could fall down would be if there are more complex requirements such as a very wide range of clients with differing rates or if they work in teams. The off the shelf solution might enable these calculations to be done but if the software is not sufficient, a custom software solution can be used that will be built to the exact requirements of the business and developed to work alongside their processes.
We have been developing bespoke software for a number of years and have a clear understanding of the most appropriate process to run software project as smoothly as possible. Here is a typical process for how we would look to run your custom software project.
Planning a development project is important, it is important to carefully consider and document what you are looking to achieve. In most cases however we would recommend stopping short of designing a detailed spec for every single feature you could ever have on your system. Not only would it be almost impossible for a development team working on the project to provide an accurate quote / time estimate for the project but it will be a long time before you start seeing real benefit from the system. Even with a large custom software project, we favour a constant iterative approach to development. What this means in practice is that development is carried out on a continuous basis with features rolled out for testing and subsequent launch as they are ready.
When planning a new project, we usually look at the key problem we can solve that will have the biggest impact. So for a business that takes two days per month to carry out invoicing because the process is so manual for example, if we can find a solution to this and develop a solution that removes that manual process, we would look to develop that feature first before moving on and looking at further features. Then as the system evolves and the client can start using the system which can often give more ideas about what they could do whilst at the same time rapidly realising value from the system.
With key objectives for the first phase of development identified, we move on the development phase of the custom software development project. We usually aim to get the initial set-up of the platform completed as quickly as we can on the basis that we can then start to show you progress and starting to see the software develop can often give you more ideas about the route and direction you are going.
We then work through development module by module with you being able to see progress, test and give feedback as we go. Our preferred project management tool is Trello which allows us to set-up task lists for each phase of the software development project. We can then work through these task lists with you having access to the same Trello board and so that we can keep communications in one place. Having worked using email back and forth in the past, Trello is certainly a much more efficient way of working!
We have worked with a number of different platforms over our years of building custom software but have found that more basic CMS technology such as WordPress is not flexible, secure or robust enough to develop highly technical custom solutions and frameworks such as Laravel just aren’t as speedy when it comes to developing custom solutions as our own platform.Our platform is truly bespoke and has been developed in-house using widely used PHP technology over the best part of 20 years. This gives us a huge advantage when it comes to building custom software as we have all of the flexibility of a system that we know inside out not restricted by the technology as something like WordPress would be. We can therefore evolve the platform to your exact requirements, no matter how specific they are.
You may have clocked already but the testing/feedback cycle happens pretty continuously through the development process. Although there will likely be final tweaks, changes and amendments as we move towards the launch of the platform, our iterative approach to development means most refinements and bugs have been ironed out prior to being ready to rollout.
We usually launch custom software in phases. In the example I mentioned earlier where we could save two days per month to carry out invoicing, it makes sense to release the invoicing module as soon as we are able to so you can start seeing the time saving from this. It may be that other features of the system are gradually rolled out to launch over a period of months but this way we can start maximising your return on investment as fast as possible.
Are you thinking of a custom software project but do not know where to start? Perhaps you are working on spreadsheets and looking for a more modern, robust solution. Studio44 have been developing custom software, bespoke web systems and web applications for many years and have worked on many successful projects in that time. If you are looking at new custom software, a bespoke web system or web application for your business and don’t quite know where to start then get in touch, we would love to talk through options with you and see if we can help!
Custom software development is the name given to the process of developing a custom solution to meet the individual needs of a business. This is in contrast to commercial off the shelf software which will usually be developed to target a specific business problem and is developed to help the user work as well as it can around a set of business processes as opposed to working exactly how an individual business needs.
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