Do you find it challenging to seek the best custom software solution provider in your region?
Is your company lagging compared to its competitors because of your currently employed legacy software?
If yes, here’s the truth bomb: You are not alone in this!
Legacy software applications are at the foundation of many top-tiered organizations. They have software applications and IT capabilities that are still widely used and crucial to the entire operation of the business.
They are, however, out of date and, in several cases, no longer supported by the original vendor company or program developer.
While running legacy applications might not appear like a huge deal, they do, however, present several unique challenges and potential risks that organizations would be negligent, if underestimating.
What Are the Bottlenecks of Legacy Software?
Here are some of the major bottlenecks of legacy software that companies need to be cautious about:
Security is a Major Challenge
To begin with, legacy software systems frequently pose a significant security risk. This is because they are undoubtedly old and, in some cases, are no longer supported by the developer or software application development company that built them.
The complexity with outdated systems, such as legacy software, is that they are not maintained or patched to tackle security breaches. Consequently, you could end up jeopardizing your entire network’s security solely because you are operating an outdated software system that is no longer supported.
No/Less Compatibility with New Technologies
Many legacy software systems functioned independently and were never intended to work with other software integrations. While this may have been feasible in the past, it now severely limits your company’s performance and adaptability, as well as the integrations, it can accomplish.
If you want to take advantage of new technological solutions and all the benefits they offer, you should consider having your legacy systems modernized or rewritten. Modernization will enable them to integrate with the best custom software solutions your company would build.
Single Point of Failure
Legacy software solutions are quite often a two-fold point of failure. When we say two-fold, we mean that they can become a single point of failure on both the IT development side and the end-users.
For example, you have got a legacy software system that is critical to the operation of your organization. However, just a few of your business users are aware of how to utilize it, and only a few employees of your IT team are aware of how to support it.
Contemplate what would happen if your business users or IT personnel were unavailable. Assess how your business would operate without the services of that legacy software when your staff are unavailable for that timeframe.
Furthermore, it would be more appropriate to use your IT professionals’ skills to focus on the more modern and current technological solutions you have built. That would be more productive rather than spending all their time struggling to keep legacy software applications running.
Not Reliable and Efficient
Aside from being incompatible with modern tech solutions and having a single point of failure, legacy software systems are typically inefficient. In other words, they are not necessarily advantageous to increasing staff or workflow productivity.
This is because they were developed and built when business operations and practices were less modernized. Furthermore, legacy software systems are frequently unreliable. Because they are no longer maintained and do not receive vendor updates that address vulnerabilities and performance issues.
Now that you are aware of the potential risks, let’s not get overwhelmed. You can undoubtedly overcome these challenges with a custom software solution.
Benefits of Custom Software Development Services
Here are some of the important perks of outsourcing custom software development services:
Best Custom Software is Tailored to Your Business Goals
The most substantial benefit of custom software development services is that they are tailored to a company’s specific goals and requirements.
Some advantages of off-the-shelf software could be beneficial to your company. However, because it is intended to serve a wide range of organizations, it is quite doubtful that it will contain all the functionalities you would require to achieve optimal productivity.
The same applies to legacy software solutions. They are outdated and won’t serve your company’s needs after a certain time and won’t even integrate with modern tech solutions to optimize your company’s business operations.
However, that is not the case with custom software solutions. Cloud-based custom software solution, on the other hand, is developed solely with your organization in mind.
This means it can incorporate every criterion you require to flourish. It can even replace your off-the-shelf software to meet your company’s desired goals.
Custom Software Development Services Offer Scalability
Because bespoke software is designed for specific business needs rather than a broad category, it can seamlessly integrate with legacy systems and scale as the brand grows.
Brands can also better foresee their goals and convey them to the custom software development firms they collaborate with. Outsourced software developers can then build the software application to support future expansion.
Custom Software Amounts to Lesser Expenses over Time
At first glance, off-the-shelf software solutions might appear to be less expensive. However, it is essential to understand that the low rate that organizations initially perceive is often an ongoing cost that needs to be paid either monthly or yearly.
As a result, firms looking for a long-term solution frequently spend substantially more money than they planned with off-the-shelf software that is easily available in the market.
Custom software applications have greater upfront costs for development and deployment. However, they do not require long-term subscription fees, which typically makes them significantly less expensive over time, not to mention the likely boost in return on investment.
A Custom Software Belongs to Your Company
Although off-the-shelf software might seem like an easier solution, it should be kept in mind that you do not own the off-the-shelf product you are utilizing.
Instead, you are paying recurrent fees to use someone else’s software application. This makes you bound to adhere to their rules, guidelines, features, functionalities, upgrades, and more.
Moreover, if you decide to discontinue using their software, you will lose all your data. Your software license simply ceases to function.
However, when you invest the same amount of money on licensing your custom software development product, you’ll end up with a software application that belongs entirely to your company. In essence, you are in complete control of the product.
Custom Software Service Providers Offer Long-term Maintenance
With custom software development, there is no limit to how long your product can be maintained. However, that is not the case with commercial off-the-shelf software applications.
This essentially boils down to software application licensing. Because your firm does not own the off-the-shelf software and instead rents it from the company that developed it and sold its services, that company has the final word.
This puts the company that is utilizing commercial off-the-shelf software at a disadvantageous position. There is little one can do if the firm that created the off-the-shelf software application decides to stop developing and supporting the software.
If this occurs, your only alternative is to switch to another software, which again requires time and budget.
However, when you use a custom software application, you can simply contact the company from where you are outsourcing custom software development services. You can request a specific update or improvement, and they will do their best to accommodate you.
This can continue for an indefinite period as long as you choose to utilize the software application and are not bound by any licenses.
Custom Software Developers Provide Higher Security Assurance
Security vulnerabilities are a major cause of tension for any type of product or software application. This is especially certain when it comes to anything that may gather and keep data about your firm, employees, or end-users.
Data threats are plenty, and the damage they can do to a company’s finances and reputation is often irreparable. Because off-the-shelf software is frequently utilized by hundreds of different businesses, hackers target them more frequently.
That doesn’t mean they will not target custom software applications. They will do so, but only if they explicitly target that company. Regular security updates and patches, on the other hand, can effectively address persistent security vulnerabilities.
Now you know the several perks of outsourcing custom software development. Let’s introduce you to a custom software development company that can help you modernize your legacy software.
Integrative Systems Can Help Modernize Your Legacy Software?
With a 2-decade-long industry experience and expertise, Integrative Systems is one of the best software development companies in US.
We provide unique software applications for a variety of industry sectors that can:
- Effectively revolutionize your business operations
- Streamline business processes
- Increase transparency
- Strengthen internal collaboration
Integrative Systems specializes in modernizing legacy applications or ERP systems or any software to web-based solutions.
Our trademark has been the creation of new graphical user interfaces and delivering a delightful user experience while maintaining data security and integrity.
With the ever-changing business world and dynamic technologies, Integrative Systems will assist you in overcoming these challenges. We will enable you to integrate multiple IT frameworks across different functions and departments.
We will also assist you in transforming your business into a streamlined and efficient organization by developing robust custom software tailored to your specific requirements.
Contact us today at [email protected] with your business goals and requirements and start building a revolutionary custom software project.
