Off-the-shelf Software Price vs. Custom Software Quality | Modest Dev

Getting your hands on a good piece of custom business software is not the easiest thing in the world. Off-the-shelf software is often too generic to be as useful as you need your business applications to be. On the other hand, you can get some off-the-shelf products pretty cheaply. The tradeoff is having to deal with workarounds.

One of the reasons we put so much time and effort into custom business software is our belief that workarounds are not a good tradeoff. Perhaps a few workarounds are inevitable even with custom software. But if most of the processes your company relies on require implementing software workarounds, it might be time for new software.

Workarounds Are Like a Detour

The University of Maryland, College Park undertook a major project some years ago, a project designed to assess the efficiency of an entire range of business processes. Though the processes were different in scope and detail, workarounds are the one thing they all had in common. It didn't matter whether a process was incredibly complex or very simple, workarounds were involved.

Project managers likened the workarounds to a detour. Think about it. When a local road is subject to major construction, drivers may be forced to take a detour until the project is complete. A detour is to traffic what a workaround is to the business process. It gets the job done, but at what cost to speed and efficiency?

Eliminating Workarounds Through Customization

One of our primary goals here at Modest is building customized software that minimizes the need for process workarounds. As such, we don't just build software for your business or industry. We build it for your organization's processes. It is an entirely different way to approach software customization.

It's our belief that your processes define how you do business. They define how you interact with customers, build your brand's products or services, and keep track of everything in the office. Your processes are your business. Our job is to find a way to ensure that the business software we build is aligned with those processes.

A More Efficient Business

Among the many problems associated with software workarounds is the fact that business operations are less efficient as a result. Like a traffic detour, workarounds often involve extra steps. They force workers to take the long way around, so to speak, to complete a task that shouldn't be so difficult. Eliminate the workarounds and you create a more efficient process.

It goes without saying that efficiency is a requirement of modern business. In the digital age, business moves faster than ever before. Companies need to be able to keep up. They must be flexible, nimble, and as responsive as possible. But how can a company effectively compete in such an environment if its business software is inefficient and clunky?

One of the paths to a more efficient company is business software that does what it is supposed to do without any workarounds. At least that is the Modest philosophy.

Customization at an Affordable Price

We take the position that workarounds are not a good tradeoff for cheap business software. The money a company saves on software is easily lost through less efficiency and productivity. The good news is that you don't have to live with workarounds.

Thanks to modular software design, business software customization at an affordable price is now possible. You can get top-notch business software without busting your technology budget. If you want to know how, contact the Modest team. We would be happy to show you the possibilities of custom software with no workarounds.