Standard vs Custom vs Adapted Software

The Benefits Of A Standard Software

We believe we already have a standard, already developed, system that is perfect for most retail and service companies including yours.  We believe that, when available for your business niche, a standard (general purpose) software is usually preferable to an adapted standard or custom-developed software.

  1. A standard software can be accurately and reliably evaluated before licensing.
  2. A standard software has a predictable cost, and is of lower cost than an adapted standard or custom software of similar capabilities.
  3. A standard software can be licensed or purchased and implemented immediately.
  4. A standard software is already completed and tested, does not need system planning, design, a lengthy development process, beta-testing and other development related issues.
  5. A standard software is dynamic, the developer is enhancing it on an ongoing basis generally in line with industry standards, and the costs of the standard enhancements are amortized among many users.
  6. A custom software remains static after initial development unless additional system design and programming expenses are incurred by a particular company to keep it current with their unique needs.
  7. Technical support of a standard software is usually provided by well staffed tech support department of the developer who provisions to help a large number of users or such support may not even be necessary after a standard software has been in use for a while.
  8. A custom software's technical support process is handled in house either by your own IT staff or the resources of a development company who might become unavailable or go out of business.
  9. There are numerous legacy software systems, other than ours, that have been orphaned and are semi-functional because they have become "out-dated".  You, the licensee of the software, may need to incur high costs just to extract your historic data in order to transition to a new system. 
  10. Our systems, however, come with utilities as standard giving you a way to manage and/or extract your data from our systems if the need should ever come about. 

The Benefits Of A Full Custom Software

There are many, many situations that do require developing your own completely unique custom software. You should consider a custom software developed to your exact and unique specifications if your needs are truly unique and an existing standard software package cannot be found and adapted to meet your requirements. The advantages of a custom developed software are:

  1. It is designed from scratch to meet your exact and unique requirements.
  2. It is not designed with distracting features or procedures that you do not want.
  3. You will have full control over the future evolution of the software.
  4. You decide if and when to spend additional funds to make any software maintenance changes and/or enhancements to the system.

The Benefits Of An Adapted Standard Software

We have existing already developed and fully working "standard" software packages that meet generally accepted business management and accounting standards.  We can, and do, use them as "starter systems" to "adapt" to our customer's business rules, work habits and unique requirements. There are many, many situations that require developing your own adapted standard software. You should consider an adapted standard software modified/adapted to your exact and unique specifications if;
a.) An existing standard software package cannot be found to meet your requirements
b.) Your needs are generally met by standard software but some of your requirements are truly unique and adapting for them is a requirement

The advantages of an adapted standard software are:

  1. Your software begins life as an existing fully developed standard system in it's own right and can therefore be reliably used for evaluating it's initial overall fit for your requirements. 
  2. Your new standard software choice can easily be immediately and effectively used as a starting point to;
    a.) Itemize and document which existing  functionality in the standard system is acceptable as-is and therefore reduce the cost of your new software significantly over the cost of a custom software. 
    b.) Determine, itemize and document which functionality needs to be modified to fit your requirements
    c.) b.) Determine, itemize and document which functionality needs to be added to fit your requirements
    c.) Determine how to best include your unique business rules and work habits into the system  
    d.) The above is performed using our Rapid Application Development System with it's building block template technology. 
  3. Testing and ongoing review can begin almost immediately which allows you the customer to be immediately and intimately involved throughout the process of adapting your new software. 
  4. The "learning curve/cycle" begins almost immediately for your key personnel which makes their familiarization and training on your new software much easier and more effective over a longer period of time. 
  5. It gives your company the opportunity to perform an initial "set up" of the "control data" for your new software and to "parallel process" with your new software during the adapting period to ensure a smooth transition to your new software when the adapting is complete. 
  6. The software can be quickly adapted, as required using our very effective Rapid Application Development System, to meet your exact needs including your unique business rules and work habits.
  7. Distracting features or procedures that you identify during the adapting and review process that you do not need are quickly removed.
  8. You will have full control over the future enhancements and on-going maintenance of the software after the adapting is complete and your software is "up and running".
  9. You decide if and when to spend additional funds to make any software maintenance changes or future enhancements to the system.
  10. The costs to develop an adapted standard software are invariably dramatically lower than developing a new software from scratch. 
  11. Adapted standard software can also be easily integrated with other software systems you already have adopted and want to keep as standard for your business, such as an eCommerce system.

    This adapting is performed by our experienced Associates using our exclusive, fast and effective Rapid Application Development System with it's building block template technology.

Our Associates can and will define and manage the adapting, development, implementation and maintenance of your standard, adapted, or custom software in concert with your documented input. We have the resources to develop and/or adapt your software using our very efficient Clarion For Windows 4GL.  We use, and have immediately available, existing Clarion For Windows "template"  technologies (the building blocks) to make adaptations, additions or enhancements to your software.  These templates (building blocks) are designed to function effectively in your company's network, Internet/Intranet, and eCommerce environment. We can provide, adapt, and design systems that use our own proprietary TopSpeed database file format, Microsoft SQL, MySQL, Oracle or DB2 format using their database servers. We also integrate, using our existing "template/building block" technology, our systems to work with MicrosoftTM  Office components such as Word and Excel. We recommend and provide solutions that fit our customer's business rules, work habits and budget. 
 

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