Ready-Made Software, or Tailored Solution? Which Is Better for You and Why?

Purchasing a ready-made product can be fast, simple and often relatively cost-effective. Solution based on a universal platform will, however, never offer the possibilities of a custom-made system. What are the main differences between ready-made and tailored solutions? And why is it smart to think ahead before the final decision is made?

Purchasing Ready-Made Product vs Designing Solution Tailored to Your Needs

The seeming simplicity of a ready-made system for easy and intuitive web creation in a few mouse-clicks can be appealing, but this option might not satisfy your needs as your business and your ambitions start to grow.

Why Exactly Are Ready-Made Solutions Problematic?

The market is full of prefabricated modular (consisting of building blocks) apps and software solutions that consist of a basic platform and third-party services, available on subscription. Examples include: 

• Storage systems: KARAT, LOKiA, FLOWii 
• Invoicing systems: Vyfakturuj, Superfaktura, Fakturoid, iDoklad
• Point of Sales (POS) systems: Storyous, Markeeta, ABX
• Accounting systems: Pohoda, Money S3, MRP, Ekonom
• ERP systems: Vario, Odoo
• CRM systems: Salesforce, Capsule CRM, Pipedrive
• Booking systems: Reservio, REENIO, SuperSaaS
• Conventional CMS systems: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, MioWeb
• E-Shop CMS: PrestaShop, Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify

There are, however, some downsides to this. Even if you need only one specific functionality from each system, you need to deploy all of them, including features you will never use. Conversely, it may be that the given package will not include the one feature you require, and you will then be forced to find a way around it.
These solutions are therefore often overcomplicated, ineffective and expensive.

Additional costs aren’t rare and the vulnerability of the entire solution increases. Let’s take WordPress as an example – there are thousands of modules and plug-ins that don’t provide compatible versions for new updates.The whole system may crumble down as a house of cards at any point.

Let’s Find Your Unique Custom-Made App!

With a tailored solution you only have one customisable app that can be upgraded as needed. And guess what! You have unlimited possibilities for boosting your website and leaving your competition in the dust.

“Your app stands out and is easily remembered by your customers. There are no limits to its further customisation. From the long-term perspective, custom-made apps are also more cost-effective.”

Experienced developers – such as Think Easy – can handle any task and will create functionalities tailored to your needs. To achieve this, we carry out extensive user testing and analyse your business processes. This means your website can grow in time along with your business and you will soon reach the return on investment thanks to happy customers and higher conversion rates.

There’s only one potential pitfall that makes custom-made solutions tricky: The need for maintenance, updates and other services. All this aside, you don’t have to take care of anything, and the system will be running smoothly. And in case something goes slightly wrong, there are experts ready to help you and customise your software.

MVP – Ideal Solution for Starting from Scratch

The abbreviation “MVP” stands for Minimum Viable Product. This is a viable solution offering the lowest possible number of features that can be deployed in a short time – usually as early as in a few weeks or months.

This solution is recommendable if you want to lay a solid foundation in the early stage of your business (or when switching from a dysfunctional solution) that can be upgraded as required. MVP is also the right choice if you want to achieve this as quickly as possible and with reasonable costs (however, the decisive factor is always the complexity of your requirements).

Solid Foundation Allowing for Further Improvement

MVP lets you elaborate on your ideas continuously without fine-tuning every single detail first and then waiting several years for the launch of a perfect system. Let’s be honest, though: There is no such thing as a perfect system as there is always something to tweak. The constantly changing demands of the market are the cause of that. This way you can also immediately get feedback from your target group and know what to focus on.

“Every successful project for a mobile or web application is typically segmented into smallest possible steps so that you know what went well and what went wrong. All works in a speedy and flexible manner and brings results swiftly. MVP lets you get right down to business and collect a wide range of verified information about customers while spending as little energy and resources as possible.”

In any case, you won’t do without user research, setting up of customer paths for UX and subsequent prioritisation of activities before the system can be launched.

Ready-made products do not offer such possibilities. At best, they allow you to add an indefinite number of third-party services. You can only pray that the entire system does not collapse!

Further Development = Lean Development

Don’t forget that MVP is still far from the final version of your app. In fact, it’s a mere prototype to be further developed and perfected. Step by step. The Lean Development strategy tells you to focus on the most important factors that are crucial for your customers and needed by them, and to gradually incorporate their feedback. This will prevent you from spending a lot of time and money in lengthy development with no results.

Robust solutions that grow over the years call for automation.

Just as a tailor-made suit always fits better than ready-made clothing, so does a customised and individualised app suit your business fittingly and express your online presence. Such is our recommendation; you decide.