Cost Factors of a Custom-Designed Software Program

Factors Related to the Cost of a Custom Software Solution

  • Your business will “own” your software. ION will transfer ownership rights to your company upon completion of the project. As the owner of your software YOU make the decisions - not the Software Vendor. As the Business Owner/Manager you decide when your software needs to be upgraded, or new functionalities are required. You are no longer concerned with “renewing” yearly support and paying for the “right” to software upgrades that may not be applicable for your business.

  • No per-user license costs. If you have a large number of users, licensing can become very costly with a COTS solution. For example, you must purchase a license for each person that will use an accounting package.

  • Fewer training related costs. A custom software application is built specifically for your company and “how you and your employees do business”- meaning that employees are likely to require less overall software-related training. Initial training is less costly, in “hard” and “soft” dollars, and the necessity for on-going training is less. It stands to reason that the chances for success training your employees on custom software that mirrors your business process is far greater than having them learn a new software process.

  • You will never be “forced” to buy functionality your employees do not use. The intent of developing custom software is to specifically mirror your company business process - no more, no less. If your employees assist in the design, they will be excited about adopting the new software because they feel ownership.

  • Custom Software can often integrate with your existing software, creating one platform for your information management needs.

As you consider a COTS solution verses a custom software solution tailored to your individual business, you can be certain that, in most cases, the actual costs are very similar. Over time, a custom solution is less expensive, so why buy a COTS when you can own your own software and address all of your software needs at once?