Custom Software Development

The Main Event

Sometimes, the best way to achieve an outcome is through the cost, value, and risk of building (and maintaining) custom software. This is often "the main event" in the mind of many clients. It's true that, oft times, it's obvious that only a custom solution will do. This is certainly the case if you're building software to sell to your customers.

In other cases, a given challenge may be solved through the judicious re-allocation or reformation of people or the improvement of existing processes.

In still other cases, custom software is required to support people and processes in very specific ways.

Regardless, custom development is only a "solution" when it has been identified as the best solution to a given problem or challenge. We've found this due diligence, though undesirable to anxious minds, will save loads of grief in the long term.

The Methodology is Not the Thing

There is all sorts of opinions and buzzwords and ... talk regarding the best methodology for building software. Agile springs to mind immediately. The same is true for the technologies to employ, where vendors are clamouring for attention and everyone has the biggest, strongest, fastest system for coding or hosting or whatever.

Our long experience in building technology solutions tells us that it's often ineffectual zealotry or marketing or both.

As a potential software owner, the methodology may be of interest, and the technologies employed do have real impact on production time and maintenance costs, but none of these things are "the thing".

The thing is, quite simply, the outcome.

Getting the Thing You Want

Our process for custom software development incorporates time-tested activities specifically designed to get you "the thing", whatever that may be. It could be efficiency in business processes (either directly or indirectly) or it could be increasing business opportunities.

That is, custom software development should save you money, make you money -- or both. Everything else is just cost-productive fluff, and there's no reason to build software that does that.

Our approach is to:

1. Discover what is actually needed. If a challenge may be solved using people or processes, then there's no need to proceed further with software development.
2. A specification is created that reflects the need in terms of must have, nice to have, and optional requirements. From this a general estimate of cost may be derived, allowing an honest assessment of ROI. The value as specified must outweigh the costs, and the risks must be manageable. If not, the scope should be narrowed until the ROI makes financial sense.
3. As the software is built and tested, business processes may need to change, integrations may need to be incorporated, and stakeholders should definitely be educated prior to launch.
4. Deploying the software is just the beginning, but a good release and deployment process makes this routine. Post-release activities ensure that the product is supported and properly promoted.

Building a custom solution is exciting and full of opportunity. We aim to wrap that excitement in reality, tempered with the expertise to deliver a solution that delivers the expected return on investment.