How to Save Your Time & Money Building Custom Software For Your Business in 2022

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In recent years software has become more affordable for businesses with any size budget. 

If you want to automate simple workflow in your business — rent software on-demand for a subscription. This is called “software-as-a-service” or “Saas”. Also known as “Commercial off-the-shelf software” or “COTS”.

If you need to improve the core function of your business — hire developers to create you a custom solution. 

However, relevant Saas does not always exist for your specific use case. Also, it is usually built for a broad audience that can be detrimental to solving your business problems in a personalized way. 

Custom software development is tailored to your needs, but usually requires a lot of time to be created. Custom software development cost can start as high as $20k, and that is rarely affordable for a small or medium size business. 

Is there an innovative alternative approach that’s better than the methods described above? 

What is the modern way to build for the web?

Why did it become easier to make custom software in 2022 

It is no longer as costly and time-consuming to create your own custom business software. 

Online platforms are now available that allow you to create your own custom web solutions without writing code. 

You can create software of any complexity using a drag-n-drop interface. 

This approach to creating apps without code is called “no-code”. 

In this article, we will figure out why you should use it, and what the limitations are for creating custom-developed software for your business using no-code.

Classic custom software VS. custom software made with no-code

Implementation time

No-code creations are up to three times faster compared to custom software to achieve the same results.

Cost

The cost to build custom software for both approaches is calculated based on the human hours required for the development. Due to this, no-code requires less time, so it will cost you much less to create no-code custom software compared to classic custom software.

Flexibility

No-code tools allow you to update the software up to three times faster than in custom software made with programming. It’s easier to add new features or change existing ones, and you will be able to make changes yourself without needing developers. 

In addition, perhaps surprisingly, no-code is also capable of complex API integrations, web-hooks, adding custom code, etc.

Personalization

Both approaches are capable of achieving complex things and creating custom solutions for your specific needs. 

Code ownership

Classic custom software completely belongs to you, compared to no-code, because no-code is hosted by no-code platforms that store your code on their servers.

Saas (off-the-shelf software) VS. custom software made with no-code

Implementation time

Saas is the winner here because you only spend time finding it, adding your credit card, and learning how to use it. No-code custom application creations usually take 1-3 months.

Cost

As COTS stands for on-demand usage, it only costs you recurring payments in small chunks, while custom application made with no-code requires both recurring payments to the no-code platform, as well as spending on the development to bring the no-code app to life. 

However, in the long run, successful and well-personalized no-code custom software can have much better ROI than Saas. The more accurately you personalize the software, the more profit you receive. 

Flexibility

Choosing Saas for solving your business problem can be risky when you want to add additional functionality to it. Almost no COTS-based application offer software customization. No-code custom app beats both classic custom software and Saas in the flexibility aspect as any customizations are available within the smallest timeframe. 

In addition, if you choose to use COTS for your needs, you may need to exploit several Saas services, pay for each separately and potentially become distracted by many different interfaces.

Personalization

Saas is tailored for a broad audience, while no-code custom software can be adapted to all user needs.

Code ownership

Both options are not owned by yourself.

COTS vs. Classic vs. No-code

Limitations of no-code

This article describes ​​benefits of no-code development, but no-code is not a magic pill, and obviously has its own disadvantages. The most common pitfalls are:

  • Lack of no-code talent. 
  • Sometimes you still need to use custom code.
  • Code is not owned by yourself.
  • Your business is functioning only while the no-code platform is existing and working properly.
  • App performance is not ideal.

Summary

No doubt that no-code is an innovative technology for solving business problems. It can produce more value than classic software and off-the-shelf solutions.

Building apps with no-code will save you time and money.

No-code is easy-to-use. You can even learn no-code from scratch, and try building a solution yourself. It is a perfect option for custom erp software, crm or automation.

Next time you look for COTS solution or “custom crm software”, consider no-code custom development options first.

If you would like to make a professional app using no-code and delegate the custom web development process, the WeMakeMVP team can always help you. 

We use the best no-code tools like bubble.io to bring ideas to life

You can book time for a free intro call on our Calendly in just a few clicks. 

Thank You for reading!

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