Bespoke Software Development Explained
If you are working at a business and unsure how to build bespoke business software, or if bespoke business software is for you, you are in the right place.
In this blog post, we cover two questions:
- What is bespoke software development?
- How to develop bespoke software.
Let’s start by looking at reasons for and against bespoke software development. Feel free to skip this section if you’re already convinced of the need for bespoke software and jump straight to a hands-on tutorial on developing bespoke business software.
Hands-On Tutorial: Bespoke Software Development
Follow our hands-on, step-by-step tutorial and learn how to build modern data-driven bespoke applications.
What Is Bespoke Software?
Bespoke software refers to software applications and systems designed to meet the specialized needs of organizations or enterprises. These applications aim to support business processes, operations, data analysis, and collaboration within an organization.
Much has been written about the build vs buy decision that businesses need to make when it comes to software.
The Buy camp usually argues that buying an off-the-shelf solution has many advantages.
For example, when purchasing software from a reputable software vendor and implementing a standardized system, one becomes part of a community of users and automatically benefits from the industry experience of the software vendor.
Secondly, the software vendor provides support, guarantees uptime, scalability, and accessibility, and is in charge of fixing bugs or glitches.
In short, why go bespoke when a finished and ready-to-use app is out there already? And let’s face it: there’s an off-the-shelf system for almost everything already, from customer relationship (CRM) to invoicing to HR systems.
Or is there? Let’s see what the advantages of building bespoke software are.
The Build camp usually argues that every business is unique and that businesses have their own way of doing things. This makes them unique and makes them stand out from the competition.
Plus there is a risk to implementing an off-the-shelf solution. Software implementations can disturb the day-to-day business, which is something businesses cannot afford. Bespoke businesses need to be able to continue doing business as usual. The software needs to adapt to the business and not vice versa.
Last, businesses have a way of working that can be difficult to change. Without a doubt, there are great off-the-shelf systems that enforce standard operating procedures, but it’s hard to change people’s way of doing things.
Our Experience With Building Bespoke Software
Our experience here at Five is that the real issue between buying and building software is time. Regardless of whether software is bought or built, businesses don’t have time to go through lengthy software implementations when buying or lengthy development processes when building software. Speed is critical.
The second real issue is change. As mentioned, there is amazing software available for almost everything. But, too many software implementations fail because off-the-shelf systems do more than the business needs. A simple piece of custom software that does the job is quicker to use and easier to implement can create the necessary support by users to roll out more features in the future.
The third issue is cost. Off-the-shelf systems may appear cheap, but bear in mind that most software vendors sell implementation services with their software packages. The more complex the software, the harder it is to implement, and the more money is typically spent on consultants, managed service providers, or system integrators.
How to Build Bespoke Software
Bespoke software development is not as complex as it may appear.
Today’s development tools make building bespoke software accessible even to non-programmers by offering the required building blocks as pre-built features. Instead of writing code, users “assemble” their software by putting together pre-built features that ultimately make up their finished application.
What are these pre-built features? Most bespoke software consists of these elements:
- A database for storing data,
- Forms for data entry,
- Calculations for processing data,
- PDF reports, charts, and dashboards for visualizing data,
- User logins and authentication for controlling access to data, and
- Notifications (email or in-app) for notifying users of data changes.
With these six elements, almost any bespoke business application can be developed: an inventory management system, a customer relationship management system, an order management system, a product information management system, or an approval workflow.
If the application that you wish to build primarily consists of these elements, consider using a database application builder, such as Five to build your application. Our Excel to web app guide, for example, is a beginner-friendly, step-by-step tutorial that turns a spreadsheet into a web app.
Considerations When Building Bespoke Business Software
Bespoke software development can be truly exciting: with just a few clicks your idea for an application comes to life. With tools, such as Five, it doesn’t take much more than a day to create a first, functional prototype.
But there are a few things to bear in mind when embarking on an app development project:
- Time: if you are the business owner or a department head, you have plenty of other things to do. Even though you could build your application, the question is should you build your application? Sometimes, it can be smarter to let an experienced developer build the foundation of your application and to only get involved later in the process.
- Standard databases: when choosing a no- or low-code development environment, ask whether it uses a standard database for storing your data. This is important to minimize vendor lock-in. Standard databases that offer full data portability include MySQL, SQLite, or PostgreSQL for example (Five builds on a MySQL database).
- Full code extensibility: a lot of things can be developed in drag-and-drop or point-and-click. But the truth is computers are ultimately designed to understand code. Choosing a development environment that makes the use of code in the development process optional minimizes the risk of hitting a roadblock in your development process. Choosing a development environment that does not offer any full code capabilities, on the other hand, reduces flexibility in the development process.
Last, a word on cost. Five, for example, offers a Basic plan where running an application costs US$29.99 per app and month with no additional fees for additional users. This makes budgeting for an application easy. Other vendors of off-the-shelf software or development tools charge per end-user, per workload units, or for database records.
If you find a vendor’s pricing model opaque or difficult to understand, take it as a red flag. Understanding the cost of running an application, whether it’s an off-the-shelf app or a piece of custom software should be a straightforward exercise. If in doubt, ask your vendor for a three-year total cost of ownership projection that includes all costs associated with running the application.
Five’s Free Bespoke Software Templates
Start your bespoke software development today. Access one of many pre-built and fully customisable templates built with Five.
