A Startups Guide To Adopting And Implementing Custom Software

A Startups Guide To Adopting And Implementing Custom Software

Adopt and Implement custom software development in startup environment

Combining offshore development with Irish management – the most effective strategy for delivering customized software solutions

Tailor software solutions according to the startup’s requirements to gain stability

Advantages of sourcing bespoke technical resources tailoredto fit your requirements

Takeaway 1:

For startups looking to innovate, a custom software solution offers long-term business value

Takeaway 2:

Offshore development with Irish (or home) management is the most prudent strategy.

Takeaway 3:

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The bigger commercial software solutions are broad-ranging, but unlikely to meet the specific needs of a startup

Forbes ranks Ireland 8th in the world as the place to start and run a business. In just a few decades, the giant software, pharma and medical technology companies have all established a presence in the only English speaking country in the Eurozone.

That in turn has spurred on a boom in startups, filling in the niches that the bigger players have overlooked. Any startup should aspire to the growth and market share of the multinationals, but also be bold enough to take a different path when it comes to choosing a software solution.

That typically means being ambitious enough to take the custom software route if the enterprise-level solutions available don’t align with business goals.

Why Do Startups Need A Custom Software Solution?

A good analogy for the challenges faced by startups is competitive sailing. The sport is divided into numerous classes and categories, each with its own specific regulations and skills.

All classes might end up wearing the same brand of wetsuit, but the kit and technique from one class could be unrecognisable to even a gold medal winner from another.

The same is true for software. All businesses, whether startup or mature, will require data storage, payment processing and collaboration tools, but once we dig deeper into mission-critical processes and functions, differences start to show.

Small startup teams do not, for example, need complex HR and work management software, but they might require enhanced functionality across mobile and APIs.

Choosing a custom software solution allows a startup to tailor software to specific business needs. They can avoid paying for functions that will be redundant, and invest heavily in those that will deliver business value.

An off-the-shelf commercial solution with a big vendor name behind it might look like a safe choice, but these mammoth ERP and CRM platforms are built to solve broad problems for established organisations.

Startups, on the other hand, are hyper-efficient and flexible by necessity. The pressure isn’t to work leaner, but to establish a competitive edge through innovation. In that respect, custom solutions offer the functionality and dynamics to innovate.

What to Expect From Custom Software

If you need a competitive edge, you need custom software.

You might have an exceptional idea for a software product or app, but if it’s executed amateurishly you won’t be impressing any customers or investors. Even if you’re not looking to invade the app space, your startup might be an original idea that requires custom software to perform. Alternatives that include cobbling together a mishmashed solution from several inferior software products just won’t cut it.

Uber’s success is not down to its car fleet (it has none) or the skill of its drivers (it trains no one), but the simplicity and trust of its platform. It’s a great example of a fantastic idea, executed through custom software.

Likewise, Airbnb invests no capital whatsoever in real estate or customer service. It could possibly exist using a mishmash of other apps and software, but it chose to develop its own app in order to transform recreational travel on a global scale.

You may be the next Uber, Lyft, Airbnb or Deliveroo, but you won’t know it without custom software.

How to Outsource Custom Software

Firstly, if you’ve decided that custom software is the direction you want to go, you need to identify what that looks like for your company. Do you need a payment processor that does something special? A customer management system with features you’ve not seen anywhere else? Or is your business idea an app or software in itself?

The more information you have before you approach an outsource software development company, the better – bring us a problem statement, and we’ll work on a solution that is right for you.

The important point is to build functions and features that resolve a need. Whether that need is within your business, or felt by your customers, is up to you. This is a clear advantage over using an off-she-shelf solution, which can force a growing business to limit business functions to what the software allows.

With a clear direction in mind, begin the process of sourcing the developer team who can deliver. Typically, this means outsourcing to a bespoke software developer unit who works with you to understand your long-term needs and chooses a technology and solution best fitted to those needs.

How HST Helps Startups Like Yours

One-size-fits-all isn’t always the best solution, in business as well as life. The ease and usefulness of a bespoke solution pays for itself in saved time, effort and hassle. Executed right, it can also lead to greater profits.

With HST, your business can enjoy the advantages of sourcing bespoke technical resources that fit your requirements. Our project management team is based in Ireland, so you can rely on us to be there for you, whenever you need.