|
Services: Software Development: Comparison of solutions
Both Western and Russian business experiences show that for any company, it is advised to create a unique software product which would take advantage of existing or most convenient hardware, and take into account all peculiarities of business processes in the organization. Such custom product would be the most adequate, inexpensive, and effective solution in comparison to standard ready-made products.
If we compare ready-made and customizable products, it will be clear that the latter have a number of advantages: flexibility, maximum proximity to business specifics, possibility for modifications, and solutions' scalability. For comparison details, please see the table below.
Ready-made product |
Custom development |
Purpose |
Such products aim at bringing all processes to a standard, typical pattern. There is a basic variant programmed by the developers as the standard one, and all the variants of real-life situations should be forced to match it. |
Customized products are made for the given customer taking into account all of the business processes in his company, and all peculiarities of his business. It doesn't force the existing processes to be changed according to the abstract template, but helps organizing them as necessary for the situation. |
Ownership value |
The total cost of ownership consists of infrastructure costs, implementation, adaptation, and support costs. |
Ownership value consists of development price - excluding additional functionality that the user normally pays for when purchasing a ready-made product; plus support costs. The total cost of ownership doesn't contain the cost for unnecessary functionality. |
Infrastructure costs |
Ready-made solutions normally have rather high hardware requirements; consequently, implementation may be connected with considerable expenditures on new equipment and other additional costs. Also the products may require licensed software to be installed to workstations (taking account of security requirements). |
Infrastructure costs are significantly lower because there are no license fees and because hardware requirements are lower, both to the local network and to workstations. The system can be built to match the existing infrastructure without any additional costs for hardware upgrades. |
Adaptability and scalability |
Informational systems are like most other things, they tend to grow old-fashioned. When the organization requires new business processes, the system needs to be expanded. It can be realized in two ways: one, to enhance hardware (which leads to additional infrastructure costs); or, second, to buy a newer and more productive IT system. Both ways are connected with organizational and financial complexities. |
Modern technologies used when developing enterprise IT systems allow creating solutions that are easily scalable and adaptable, with controlled growth. When necessary, the system can be quickly and effectively re-built taking into account the new requirements. |
Adequacy to the purpose |
Effectiveness of ready-made implementation can be fully estimated only after a considerable time period. Usually such products possess excessive functionality and the system is only partially used. |
Effectiveness of the system may be evaluated right after the first modules are introduced into operation. Custom software is thoroughly agreed with the company's business processes, so it is just meant to reach the necessary goals.
|
|
|
Services