Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Software as a Service vs. Custom Software for Small Business - Technology - Information Technology

Many businesses that target consumers for their software products have felt themselves nudged in the direction of custom software packages. There are two major options, Software as a Service (SaaS) and custom business software.

Software as a Service

Also referred to as SaaS, this option may come with what looks to be an affordable initial price. However, you may also find yourself frequently paying for upgrades, and fighting for control over the software's source code which can be little to none.

SaaS has become an increasingly popular delivery model for technologies that support certain web services, and is closely related to the application service provider, or ASP, as well as on-demand computing software delivery models. There can be some great benefits for small businesses that utilize SaaS, with those benefits including:

User-friendly administration Automated updates and patch management Compatibility with all users having the same version of software Simple collaboration Global accessibility

While purchasing off-the-shelf software packages may help you to solve immediate issues, you may also find that, ultimately, it is not compatible with your specific goals. Make sure that your chosen software bundle is powerful enough to produce results that satisfy your companies needs.

Questions you may want to consider when trying to decide whether this is the software you want for your company can include:

Do they provide the support you will need? Does the software provider have an established reputation?

It is important for any company to do extensive research before deciding on the type of software to integrate into their systems.

Custom Software for Business

Needless to say, one of the biggest benefits of utilizing custom software for your business is that it will be personalized to fit the exact needs of your company.

Custom software is commonly developed for particular requirements and provides the added flexibility to modify the software when needed.

Users receive better support, as well as a full-featured and rich application.

Custom software can save time. Since users need to make very few modifications to suit their needs, that time is given back to the business owner to dedicate to primary business duties. With custom software, users can install on as many computers as necessary. There are no serial keys or other requirements to expand the user base by adding new employees or team members.

Great development companies like Avitas Technologies will always keep in touch with their customers so communicating concerns and other software needs are made much easier, and far less stressful than trying to contact public technical support for answers.

Most businesses that have chosen the custom software method report increases in efficiency and higher quality results from the usage of the software. Quality testing and quick bug fixes allow them to function reliably, without having the worry of downtime or frequent periods of updating.



No comments:

Post a Comment