Time and again we hear this question. Being a custom application developer it’s difficult to have an unbiased opinion. That said we always try to give our clients and prospects the answer which is best for their particular situation. Generally that question can be answered after evaluating what the client is trying to achieve.

We want our own product to sell

If this is the situation then 99.9% of the time the answer is yes. You’re going to have to build your product. One thing we work through with our clients is “Are there reseller agreements available that would get you where you want to be OR is it more important that the product be owned and controlled by you?”.

We don’t like our current application that performs X, Y and Z

A large number of our clients fall into this category. There are some significant gains available by creating a custom application. You have the ability to streamline software to work the way you do. The question we always try to help our clients with is “Will the gain justify the development and ongoing cost of the application?”. The gain can be man hours, new functionality that doesn’t yet exist, the ability to sell a new product or the ability to sell an existing product via a new channel. In any case it’s important to identity and measure the expected gain to determine is it necessary to replace my current application.

When making the decision to develop a custom application it is important to consider why so much as how. Historically price keeps quite a number of companies from developing their own custom application/solutions. In reality if the company truly needs a custom solution the upfront costs are greatly outweighed by the benefits that are had.