What is the difference between custom written and customized software?

The large number of advantages of computerizing management processes in companies is unquestionable.

But when we need to computerize these processes we can choose two options:

· Use software developed to measure the process to be implemented

· Use custom software that already implements the necessary functions

In this article we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both types of software.

As an introduction, indicate that a customized software will have to be implemented by computer experts (custom software development company, analysts and computer programmers) and the custom written software will be purchased already developed and we will have to adapt our company to that software.

To make the comparison for software’s offered by best web development company we will compare the following 8 dimensions : adaptation, training, optimization, involvement, time, cost, availability and evolution.

Customized software features

1. Adaptation : It will adapt perfectly to the company since the computer experts will make a design and later a precise development for said company
2. Management training : The effort to learn to manage the software will be low since it will be held by holding meetings with the professionals of the company that will use it and they will participate in the development
3. Optimization : It will have a very high optimization and redundant processes will be avoided. The degree of use of functionalities will be 100%
4. Involvement of managers : We will need a high involvement of the professionals of the company when it comes to testing and verifying that the software meets the requirements initially agreed and thus we will have a customized solution for our company. These managers must also give suggestions to computer experts during development so that it is better
5. Implantation time: The development time can be high depending on the level of complexity of the solution to be implemented
6. Cost : The cost of implementation will be higher compared to commercial software but custom software should imply that in the future less resources are needed in the company to perform the management processes as it is more optimized than the generic software, so that the overall cost will usually be lower
7. Availability : we can always develop a customized solution to solve a management process
8. Evolution : custom software can be evolved as there are new needs in the company

Custom Written Software Features

1. Adaptation : The adaptation to the company may not be as high as the custom software since it would have to coincide that for the management process to be carried out there is a commercial software that implements these functions
2. Management training : It will require a high effort in the training of the professionals of the company that will use it since it will be a new software for them (and in whose development they have not participated)
3. Optimization : The optimization in most cases will be lower than in custom software although there may be solutions in which there is a high quality custom written software
4. Involvement of managers : The professionals who handle the tool will not have to be involved in the development since this tool is already developed
5. Implantation time: The implantation time will depend on the time that professionals need for training, but we will not have development time as the application is developed
6. Cost : Normally, the cost of custom written software licenses will be less than the expense of computer experts, but the commercial tool usually has a lower degree of optimization, which in the long run can be more expensive
7. Availability : there are cases for which there are no custom written solutions already implemented and the only solution is to hire a computer team to develop custom software
8. Evolution : the only way we will have to evolve custom written software will be for the developer for net development services to market new modules that fit with the new management processes.

In general, we can conclude that if the software development services degrees of specialization, and constant evolution are high, we will need custom software and custom written software if these degrees are not so high.