Custom software refers to an application designed and built for a single business. That business owns the software, maintains it, and can choose to sell it to others.
Owning software offers you continual opportunities to invest in your business by saving money, reducing errors, improving consistency, and freeing time to focus on the creative aspects of work. This gives you the liberty to apply your own experience and understanding to business development.
Scaling a business requires well-designed systems to ensure growth is sustainable. Instead of having roundabout workflows across multiple platforms, a business should have an application designed to streamline the way their people work best. Essentially, custom software creates leverage and multiplies the effort of the people using it.
Owning software frees your business from the inherent drawbacks of any application developed by someone else, for someone else. Applications purchased from an app store are developed by third-party companies – which means they can change features without warning, sell the application to another company, or even retire it altogether. Relying on these applications as permanent fixtures is not secure or stable as a practice. Your internal system should be a cornerstone for the independence and self-sufficiency of your business.