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Companies address various issues with the help of technologies. Workflow automation, optimization of operating costs, on-time cargo delivery, information security, increased sales, enhanced brand loyalty are those goals they reach by using them.
In our highly competitive environment, businesses are striving to fill a market niche, improve performance, and generate profit. However, what to choose—off-the-shelf or tailor-made software? When do you actually need a custom solution? We’ve got the answers!
When do you need tailor-made software?
Before deciding whether your business requires a technological boost or not, analyze your current processes and understand a problem. We’ve collected 10 symptoms indicating that you’ll take a competitive advantage employing custom-made software.
1. Your firm suffers from tons of documents kept in different places
When data is kept in different places (e.g., Excel spreadsheets, files, reports, archives, online sources), corporate knowledge is dispersed, there is no safe storage, it takes time to find the required data.
By integrating a platform and transferring all data to it, you dramatically simplify document management. With established role-based permissions, each team member will have access only to certain information.
We created an enterprise content management system for Zorka.Mobi, a global market leader in influencer and performance marketing. With fast access, data centralization, and simple user authorization, employees focused on more important and creative tasks.
2. A high-security level is needed to protect user/business data
When an organization keeps a lot of sensitive information—personal, customer, banking, payment, confidential, enterprise,—it must provide a high-security level. No vulnerabilities, no leaks, no fraud are the key purpose.
Pretty often businesses have to meet security standards or industrial/financial regulations to successfully operate on the market. When everything is protected, there is no risk of hacker attacks which in another case could cost you millions of dollars and credibility loss.
Strong safeguards will let you avert various things involving:
- Hacker attacks 2.Malware
- Information distortion
- Unauthorized access
- Ransomware viruses
There are many ways to ensure a high-security level. If your platform is built on top of the legacy technology stack, migrate it to new technologies. You can divide a hard-to-maintain monolithic architecture into microservices, each responsible for a separate feature. If something goes wrong with one part, it won’t affect the entire functionality. So, the resolution of emerging issues will go faster.
With cryptographic algorithms under the hood, blockchain offers the security of transactions and information exchange operations. Each activity is recorded on a decentralized distributed ledger as nothing cannot be changed or deleted from it.
3. Plenty of manual operations lead to efficiency decrease
A firm of any size and industry controls various activities every day. Client support, internal and external communications, inventory monitoring, supply chain coordination, production life-cycle monitoring are examples of complex processes which may require optimization. To boost employees’ productivity and overall performance, you should streamline each work aspect.
Fortunately, a wide range of manual and repetitive tasks are automatable including:
- Filling out spreadsheets
- Price comparison
- Invoice issue
- Calculations (e.g., of retirement/insurance/financial plans)
- Lead scoring
6.Request processing - Answering frequently asked questions (FAQ)
- Many others
There are many digital solutions for workflow automation. For instance, a web portal will help ensure 24/7 customer support, simultaneously review multiple requests, get reminders, and manage content via an administrator panel.
A chatbot will instantly answer FAQ, assign tasks, communicate via chats/emails, etc. Hence, your organization will generate income and increase client satisfaction.
CRM integration is another useful solution. Through marketing automation, it contributes to sales growth by 29%, sales productivity by 34%, and accuracy of sales forecasting—by 42% (statistics by Salesforce). Learn more about CRM advantages in our article.
4. You’re going to expand
Business expansion is especially difficult when you’re opening a new branch(es), developing new products, or globalizing services. This means an increasing number of tasks, operations, workers, sites, and more.
Depending on purposes, various types of systems may come in handy: ERP, CRM, LMS (learning management system), e-commerce website, a blockchain-based platform, loyalty program, etc. The same application is frequently delivered across different countries but with customization to local users’ preferences.