Ultimate Guide
to Custom Software
Everything you need to decide if custom
software is the right choice for your business
Table of Contents
3 Introduction
4 What Is Custom Software?
5 Advantages of Custom Software
7 Choosing Between Off-the-Shelf &
Custom Software
12 Are Low Code Platforms Right for
My Business?
17 How to Get Custom Software
Development Right
2
Introduction
Whether you work for a small
business or large enterprise, your
organization relies on a variety of
software for daily operations—from
your web browser and email, to
more complex systems like
customer relationship management
and data analytics.
Nowadays, there are plenty of off-the-shelf software solutions
to satisfy almost any business requirement. The appeal is
understandable—they seem quick and easy to roll out,
offer a free basic version, and you don’t have to worry
about maintenance.
These are all great benefits and it might be the perfect solution
for you. But if your business has unique or more complex
requirements, off-the-shelf software may end up costing you
more time, money and frustration in the long run. Not to mention
you have no control when it comes to updates, and free versions
often offer little to no support.
So, what is custom software development and is it the right
choice for you? Keep reading to find out.
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What is Custom Software?
Custom software refers to business
applications and systems that are
proprietary to a business, and which
have been designed and developed
to meet the business’ unique needs
and requirements.
Custom software development can either be done by building
solutions from the ground up, or by developing and customizing on
top of off-the-shelf solutions such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 or
SharePoint. There is also an increasingly popular third option called
no/low code development which utilizes cloud-based platforms, such
as Microsoft Power Platform, to build custom applications using visual,
declarative techniques instead of traditional programming.
Custom software can be developed for many unique businesses and
applications. For example, we’ve developed custom solutions for a
real estate CRM company, library services provider and Canada’s
largest horse racing operator to name a few.
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Advantages of Custom Software
If you’re considering custom software development for your business, you may
have some concerns about the time, cost and complexity involved. While it may
take a bit longer to develop and implement, the initial investment means you
will have software customized specifically to your business needs that will
deliver long-term impact.
Here are 7 advantages of
custom software development:
Business Value
Custom software is an asset—you own it outright, it’s your intellectual
property (IP). It’s mapped precisely to the way your business operates or the
way you would like for it to operate as your organization transforms. It’s a
competitive advantage, sales driver, time saver and lets you retain the unique
aspects of your business that made you a success in the first place. Custom
software doesn’t just generate value, it is value—it’s a selling feature that will
increase the valuation of your company should you ever wish to sell it.
Personalized
Choosing an experienced and trusted software development company, means
you go through a rigorous process of discovery and planning to design a
software solution tailored to your exact business needs. When you have
software designed to do exactly what you need it to do, you and your team
will work more efficiently and effectively. It’s made for you, it belongs only to
you and none of your competitors are using it.
Secure
When using a pre-packaged software, you have no control over the safety of
your business and customer data. Hackers are more aware of popular software
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providers and their vulnerabilities. A custom software solution can be built with
multiple layers of security that make infiltration very difficult for hackers.
Integrated
Your organization has multiple processes that may require multiple software
solutions. These different software applications often don’t speak to each other,
leaving you entering the same data into different platforms manually. That can
cause a lot of time wastage in an organization and can lead to dangerous
transcription errors. A custom software solution can be built to integrate with
your existing systems, meaning less redundancy and more productivity.
Scalable
Your awesome, one-of-a-kind custom software is ideally going to help facilitate
business growth. Your developer will ensure that the software can scale as your
business grows. A pre-packaged software may not be able to accommodate
that growth—at least not without your licensing fees skyrocketing.
Cost-Effective
With custom software, you know the costs of development and maintenance
upfront. The cost of a custom software application tailored specifically for your
business requirements can be more economical in the long run. You’re not
stuck paying increasing licensing fees for software features that you may not
even be using, or that are no longer meeting your business needs.
Support
When you’re working with a software development company, you are getting the
benefit of dedicated, reliable resources who can monitor, maintain and update
your custom software application as needed. You may even choose to have a
24/7 support contract if your business requires it. Otherwise, you may be at the
mercy of a company with whom you have no relationship and no input on the
types of software updates that are being rolled out.
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Choosing Between Off-the-Shelf
& Custom Software
When your business is faced with a
choice between off-the-shelf and
custom software for mission critical
applications, there are many aspects
to consider; Not the least of which is
balancing short-term gains with long-
term business objectives.
While every business, software project and application are
unique, when analyzing the buy, build or hybrid software
options with our clients, we’ve found there are common factors
that can sway our recommendations and the decision towards
a specific approach.
It Comes Down to Your Requirements
Choosing between off-the-shelf and custom
software is a business decision and as such,
requires detailed discovery, analysis and doc-
umentation of your needs today and well into
the future. Whitecap accomplishes this using
our e-RAD process. Through this process, you
can clearly define the objectives, functional
requirements and future needs of your
software. By the end of this exercise, you
should have a clear view if you can meet your
goals with an off-the-shelf, fully customized
or hybrid software solution.
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1 Functionality Fit
With so many great off-the-shelf software options on the
market today, you should start by assessing if any of those
packages can meet all or most of your functional needs. If
a commercial software package can meet 70-80% of your
requirements out-of-the box, go with it and customize what
you can or bend a little on your requirements. But if you need
to customize 50% or more of the base application to get the
functionality you need, that might start to present some
obstacles to achieving your business objectives and tip the
scales in favour of a full custom software development project.
Here’s why:
• You’ll spend a lot of time tinkering with something that’s
not 100% right (and might never be).
• When a commercial software package gets updated,
customizations will likely be impacted.
• The cost of the package, combined with the custom
software development, increases incrementally.
• Maintaining the software can get tricky.
2 Business Processes Alignment
Next, you should consider how entrenched your business processes
are. Software applications map their solution to a predefined business
workflow. So, if you’re flexible in terms of how the application delivers
on your business requirements (what you need it to do and how), an
off-the-shelf package remains a good starting point.
However, if you can’t or won’t change your processes or workflows to
align with a software package, you’ll never be satisfied with how the
application is working (and you’ll incur lots of extra costs as you try to
force the application to fit your way of working). In this case, custom
software is the right choice.
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3 Unique Business, Industry or Application
For commonly used and “mature” business applications like ERP, CRM or
e-commerce solutions, there are a lot of highly configurable, off-the-shelf
options that can do the job. But if you are running a very unique business
with unique data processing needs or very specialized workflows that are
not supported by any packaged solutions, custom development is the
way to go.
Look at Woodbine Entertainment as an example: The online horse racing
and wagering systems we’ve built, and continue to support for them are
very specialized. So there isn’t anything out there in terms of off-the-shelf
solutions that does what they want.
Similarly, if you’re looking to disrupt an industry or introduce new technol-
ogy like artificial intelligence (AI) to your solution, a high degree of custom-
ization will likely be required to help you stand out from the competition.
It’s important to consider that when we talk about the “uniqueness” of a
business, we’re not necessarily talking about your innovative approach to
the market, brand identity or cutting-edge strategy. It could simply come
down to your data processing requirements and workflows which are
different from other businesses in your industry.
4 Cost-Based Analysis
The total investment required to acquire and
implement a given solution is an important
consideration when choosing between custom
and off-the-shelf software. When comparing
costs, you need to look at the complete
picture from upfront development or im-
plementation, to ongoing operational and
maintenance costs.
Let’s tackle a couple of common misconceptions:
Build it and forget it: It might be tempting to believe that
custom software, while more expensive upfront, is a one-time cost.
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The reality is you still need to budget for on-going enhancements,
maintenance, and support.
Set monthly cost: You might favour off-the-shelf software because it
comes with a predictable monthly price tag after the initial configuration/
customization. But the monthly cost can quickly skyrocket (20-30% a
year) as you add new modules, increase storage capacity or the number
of users to meet your expanding business needs, or pay the vendor’s
recurring support/maintenance fees.
Bottom line, the cost of custom vs. off-the-shelf software may end up
being fairly similar in the long run, so you need to consider what the initial
investment requires (development, customization or configuration)
including end-user training, and what are the post-launch support costs.
Beyond dollars and cents, the driving factor in the selection process must
be fully addressing the most pressing needs of the business with the
solution you choose.
5 Taking Control
One big advantage to choosing a custom software solution is control.
You control how and when you update or change your application, as
well as when you add new features or remove functionality that’s no
longer needed.
You can also choose to ramp up or turn down investment in your solution
to align with your business needs at any given time. With a commercial
solution, you have no say over how the vendor enhances the product,
licensing fee increases or changes to the way they charge for the applica-
tion (monthly fees, one-time product purchase or annual licensing).
6 Custom Software as an Asset
Custom software can become an asset on a business’ balance sheet.
When you’re in a highly competitive industry, having a custom foundation
can be a sizeable business differentiator and value generator.
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Depending on where you live, there may be
government financial and tax incentives to
consider when looking to deploy a custom
software solution. Do your research and
make sure you consider this during the
requirements phase.
And, one day if you decide to sell your
business your wholly owned custom soft-
ware solution at the heart of your business,
may in fact be the most attractive asset you
have to someone looking to acquire your company.
Ask yourself these questions when evaluating your
software needs:re needs:
• Can any of my processes be automated or simplified?
• Am I using multiple applications that can be combined to
create efficiencies?
• Do I want to offer my customers a new feature that makes their
task easier?
• Do I want to build something new that generates revenue?
• Do I want to differentiate and increase the value of my business?
If the answer to any of these is “yes,” you should consider a
custom software solution.
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Are Low Code Platforms Right for
My Business?
Low/no code development platforms are touted as tools
to help nimble businesses accelerate the deployment of
applications to rapidly transform their business.
Definition: Low Code Platforms are
“products and/or cloud services for
application development that em-
ploy visual, declarative techniques
instead of programming.” - Forrester
What exactly does that mean? Think of it this way: When you’re
using Excel you don’t need to know how to code to tell the
application to add, multiply, subtract or divide values. You simply
click the function key to tell the software what you want to do.
You’re giving the software instructions without having to write
any program code.
Low/no code development works in a similar way. In theory anyone
can build an application by using the platform’s building blocks and
providing instructions for what they want it to do, without specifying
exactly how to do it.
Since low code platforms don’t require traditional programming
expertise, business units and employees outside of traditional IT
departments can now build and deliver the customized business
applications they need and want. It’s contributing to the rise of the
“citizen developer”, which can be a double-edged sword.
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Definition: Citizen developers are
users who create new business
applications for consumption by
themselves or others using low-
code development platforms
provided by corporate IT. - Gartner
Citizen developers allow companies to extend resources –
which is good news given the current skills shortage in IT – but
it can present risks to business if IT experts and departments
aren’t working closely with these emerging citizen developers.
While low code and no code platforms are hailed as simple to
configure and deploy, IT and software experts have a critical role
in making sure these solutions are created, documented, and
deployed properly and securely.
Pros and Cons of Low Code Development
There’s no doubt low code platforms (like Microsoft’s Power Platform),
can help bridge the gap between software needs and manpower; but
before companies dive deep into deploying low code solutions across
their organization there are a few things to consider.
1 You’re Moving to the Cloud
You can’t have a low/no code discussion without talking about Cloud
and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions. As we discussed in our
application modernization guide, looking at cloud-based solutions
is a very important consideration when looking at updating
legacy applications.
One of the major advantages to the cloud-based PaaS solutions, like
Microsoft Power Platform, is that it eliminates the complexity of
managing hardware and keeping systems up to date.
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Businesses can focus on configuring solutions to meet business needs,
instead of worrying about the complexities of the “plumbing” underneath.
2 It’s Not Really DIY Applications
While the interfaces are definitely more user-friendly, and they are lauded
as solutions that are easy for the citizen developer to deploy, configuring
and customizing low code platforms isn’t as easy as it may seem and, if
not handled properly, can present business risks.
Rights and Security – Does the average citizen developer know
who really needs access to specific information at specific times
in a workflow? Thinking about and then limiting access rights to
the right people at the right time is required for every solution.
When it comes to SharePoint deployments, access rights are
also critical to maintaining privacy and security and it’s
something we’ve helped numerous clients address.
Data Accuracy – When configuring reports, if you aren’t selecting
and filtering out the right information, your analysis will be flawed
or worse, you could be generating informational outputs that are
completely incorrect. We worked with clients who didn’t
realize test data was included in their output
reports, rendering the data meaningless.
Scalability – Tools can work great when
they’re used by a small group, but you need
to make sure they’ve been built to handle
the demands of the entire company. With
careful planning at the outset you can make
sure solutions have the resilience and
scalability you need.
Documentation & Ownership – If a citizen
developer builds an app and then leaves the
company, their account is typically deleted
or disabled, and their app can stop working.
They probably never documented how that
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app was designed, built and used, leaving the rest of your team
unable to function properly. We’ve encountered this issue many
times with clients, which is why detailed documentation and
knowledge transfer is built into our work plans.
3 Different Skills Required
For a traditional software developer, generally 20% of their skillset is
requirements analysis and understanding business functionality needs
and 80% is understanding tools and technology.
That split is typically reversed for low code platform experts: 80% of their
skillset is being able to work directly with clients and end users, taking
them through a process of articulating and understanding their require-
ments, and 20% is expertise in configuring the technical tools.
When deploying a low code platform, you need to make sure you’ve got
the right skills and expertise in place.
4 There Are Limits
These new low code platforms are very powerful and have some incredible
functionality, but there are limits to their flexibility and their ability to be
adapted to meet very specific business requirements. There are applica-
tions and business situations where fully custom software solutions will
be a better fit in the long run.
Avoid Creating a Monster
So, are low code and no code applications right for your business? There
are some very clear and compelling benefits such as speed and ease of
deployment, lower costs to configure and customize when compared to
custom software, and they are built to reduce dependence on IT resources.
But you must weigh these against the potential pitfalls when deciding if a
low code platform makes sense for your business.
Before making a decision, take the time to conduct a detailed needs an-
alysis so you can make sure the solution you choose is the best fit for
your business today and in the future. If you determine a low code platform
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is right for you, it’s still a good idea to enlist the help of an experienced soft-
ware development partner. While these applications are more user-friendly, you
might end up with Frankenstein’s monster if you’re not sure what you’re doing.
We’ve seen it happen time and again where companies get excited about
deploying new solutions and users across an organization start building
solutions to meet niche needs, and it all works well for a short period of time,
then falls apart.
Within a few short months or a year, these solutions start to break down, or
there are so many rogue, disconnected applications that a company can’t
operate effectively. That’s when we get the call to fix the problems. You’ll spare
yourself a lot of future headaches by getting help from the outset.
“
By 2024, low-code application
development will be responsible
for more than 65% of application
development activity. - Gartner
“
84% of enterprises have turned
toward low-code for its ability to
reduce strain on IT resources, increase
speed-to-market, and involve the business
in digital asset development. - Forrester
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How to Get Custom Software
Development Right
1 Choose the Right Partner
Creating custom software is typically done by companies
that specialize in software development because most
organizations do not have the internal resources or the
knowledge and time to do it themselves.
It’s very important to choose a partner who has the ex-
perience, technical and business know-how to design an
application that truly delivers business impact, and who can
support your software as your business scales. Be cautious
of software companies who promise you the moon for little
money and time, or who outsource their work. Take your time
to meet with prospective vendors, understand how they cap-
ture requirements, their project management process, tech-
nical capabilities, delivery timelines and support options.
These are critical steps in ensuring a successful custom
software outcome.
At Whitecap, we pride ourselves on having a
22-year track record of success; a 100% local,
highly-skilled and talented team of 40+ people;
a proven development process that
prioritizes our clients’ needs above all
else; and post-deployment support op-
tions that include 24/7/365 availability.
2 Weigh Your Technology Options
As this guide demonstrates, building
a custom software solution can
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involve doing so from the ground up, customizing an off-the-shelf solu-
tion or developing an application using the building blocks of a cloud-
based platform.
Your software development partner should be able to give you honest
guidance on what solution is best for you, without trying to box you in to a
specific technology. As a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner, most of our
custom development work involves tools and technologies such as ASP.NET,
MVC, C#, SQL Server, Windows Server and Azure. But we also make exten-
sive use of many other technologies such as leading JavaScript
frameworks, PHP, MySQL and other open source tools.
You should be confident that the technology stack on which your custom
software solution is being built, is the perfect fit for your business today
while providing the flexibility to support future growth or changes.
3 Planning & Process Are Critical
“
Before kicking off any software Whitecap’s process was
development project, your tech- key to helping us articu-
nology partner should conduct
an in-depth analysis to help late our vision for a new
them understand your business, simpler yet more powerful
application users, goals and CRM system. As a result,
functional requirements. Based
on the findings, you should be
in just five years IXACT
presented with a detailed project Contact has become one
plan, recommended develop- of the top real estate
ment approach and price range.
CRMs in North America.
This can be a time consuming
but critical first step. You may be - Rich Gaasenbeek, VP, Sales &
very eager to jump right into the Marketing, IXACT Contact
development stage, but proper
planning will ensure a successful outcome and decrease the chances of any
unexpected surprises, setbacks, or costly do-overs.
At Whitecap our proprietary e-RAD process is the key to our success. After
conducting a detailed discovery and design of a project, we develop using
either an Agile, Waterfall or hybrid approach depending on what best suits
18
our clients’ needs. We’re laser-focused on meeting our
clients’ expectations, in terms of the systems we develop
for them and also in terms of cost, timing and open/honest
project communications.
6. MAINTENANCE
1. PLANNING
Agile SPRINTS
2. ANALYSIS
4. IMPLEMENTATION
3. DESIGN
eRAD
Elaboration PROJECT COMPLETION
Programming
& Unit Testing
System
Testing
Waterfall
Load / Stress
Testing *
User Acceptance
Testing
Beta
Testing *
Public
PROJECT START
Launch
Application
Support
* If required
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4 Put Your Users First
Whoever you choose as your development partner, whichever technology and
process you land on, one thing is critical to the success of your custom ap-
plication: putting your users first.
It has never been more important to be customer-
centric. Gone are the days of “build it and they will
come” thinking. Your job as a business leader is
to understand your customer needs and be-
haviours and provide the experience they are
looking for. Similarly, employees need to be
provided the tools they need to do their job
effectively and efficiently.
One of the biggest mistakes stakeholders make
is assuming they are their target customer, or that
they think and behave like their target customer,
and they’re building a solution for someone like them-
selves. Your preconceived ideas of what a customer
wants or needs aren’t always accurate and could mean you
are developing a product that won’t succeed in delivering the user experi-
ence (UX) you’re seeking.
“
Working with Whitecap The key is to involve UX experts in
the development process from
is a more iterative, col- the beginning. Too often companies
laborative experience. start working on their websites or
They listen to sug- applications and focus exclusively
on business goals, features and
gestions and help us functions. They don’t discuss UX
come up with the best until they’re well down the devel-
solutions. They are very opment process. Earlier involve-
ment of UX will improve the end
hands-on and are as in- product and you’ll avoid having to
vested in the outcomes fix problems when you’re almost
as we are. - Kevin Maharaj, at the finish line.
Senior Manager, HPIBet
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Ready to start building your custom software solution? Need help
assessing your options?
We can help. Let’s Chat.
About Whitecap
At Whitecap we have been designing and devel-
oping software that helps companies compete
in the evolving digital world for over 20 years.
We are a leading custom software, mobile app,
Dynamics 365 CRM, SharePoint development
and website design company in Toronto. We
design and develop custom software solutions
to help transform your business for the digital
future. Learn more at whitecapcanada.com.
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