The impact of off-the-shelf software:
- Off-the-shelf software, a mass-produced product, and custom-remastered modifiable “base” software both initially cost less than customized software. But there’s another price to pay – mass-production means that you have to adapt your way of doing business to the off-the-shelf software.
- Off-the-shelf software and custom-remastered modifiable “base” software both embody “hidden additional costs”:
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- Your staff needs to be retrained;
- Productivity will decrease temporarily due to training and then continue in a decreased state during the time of acclimation to the new way of working;
- Salary expenses will increase during training due to additional overtime costs in order to maintain divisional output;
- Some employees will resign because they cannot accept the change – further impacting productivity;
- Employee morale will be impacted;
- Your firm will pay annual “maintenance fees” after the purchase;
- Your firm will incur mandatory, and costly, upgrades in the future or your software will be deemed “no longer supported”;
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- The new software will never address all of the reasons that precipitated your decision to implement new software and you are forced to settle for less;
- All established corporate workflows will change to conform to the off-the-shelf software – possibly impacting the productivity of dependent, downstream departments;
- You do not own the source code which begs the question, “What if the software publisher goes out of business?”
So, why our customized software?
- Your staff workflow remains the same because user interfaces will adhere to that which the users have been accustomed. Training will be minimal.
- The custom software application is adapted to your way of doing business. We do our best to keep the user interfaces familiar and perform the “heavy lifting” of extra coding to preserve the familiar, accepted workflow processes;
- Our custom software application is the result of user suggestions which creates a natural “buy-in” by the staff because their ideas are being implemented;
- By recognizing the users’ suggestions, they feel included in the company decision and its goals;
- We do not believe in annual maintenance fees;
- You will never be forced to upgrade unless you change operating systems;
- You own the software and have the code in your possession at all times.