To save time, formalize certain procedures, or automate specific tasks, more and more companies are opting for the creation of custom enterprise software.
Such digital solutions offer numerous advantages:
- Better quality of work life: some tedious tasks are automated
- Improved service quality: software makes fewer errors than a human (sorry... 🤖)
- Increased productivity: automation speeds up processes
- Margin gain: as a consequence of the points listed above
However, given their scope, these projects need to be carefully considered in advance, and certain essential questions must be asked.
Off-the-shelf software or custom software? 🧐
When starting the search to create enterprise software, you first encounter existing solution offers. These web applications are developed by third-party companies. Some software is general-purpose, while others are industry-specific. These tools generally require an adaptation period to implement them and configure them to closely match your needs and procedures.
These software solutions typically operate on a subscription basis, depending on the number of users utilizing the tool.
Additionally, these solutions evolve according to the publisher's wishes, and the code is proprietary. In other words, you cannot modify it as you wish, and you do not own it.
Finally, you might not find software that meets your needs, or you might be put off by the "bloatware" aspect of these standard tools. In this case, you will need to hire a company to develop your own custom software. Your provider will first familiarize themselves with your business, context, procedures, and daily operations. This will allow them to identify areas that can be automated or improved. You will also provide them with a set of features you wish to have in your application.
Based on this specification, they will provide you with a quote, just like any other IT development service.
What technologies for custom software? 🤖
Once the specifications and features are defined, the next step is to choose the programming language that will be used to develop the solution. Choosing a programming language is not easy when you are not a developer by trade, but here are some questions that might help you in your decision:
- Does this language technically allow us to do what we want?
- Does this language have a sufficiently rich ecosystem (libraries, frameworks...)?
- Is this language popular among developers?
- Is the proposed library stable?
Once the language is chosen, your provider will make a technological recommendation indicating which technology or library they wish to use.
For example, two providers may use JavaScript to develop the frontend of your software; but one might do it in jQuery (a widely used but outdated library) and the other might use React (the most popular library currently). Therefore, it is important to familiarize yourself a bit with this technical universe to be able to understand the technological recommendation being made.
Essential Features of Business Software ⚙️
Certain features are present in most business software, regardless of their application domains. These include:
- User registration and login, as well as a mechanism to recover a forgotten password.
- User access management: being able to see who the users of the application are and being able to invite new ones or revoke access for some.
- The ability to delete all information of a user.
- The ability to send an email to all users of the application: to inform them of a new feature or an incident.
- The ability to export the list of these users in Excel format, possibly with selection criteria (registration date, user status, etc.).
- User role management: at a minimum, there are two roles, "administrator" and "user". One can imagine a finer granularity of user rights within the software.
Encouraging Tool Adoption 👍
Once your enterprise software is ready for use, the question of its adoption by your users arises. How can you ensure that everyone within an organization embraces it, understands its functionality, and fully leverages its potential?
To achieve this, many organizations set up a training session with their teams to demonstrate the tool. If the software has numerous features, providing a manual is advisable. When possible, it is beneficial to make this manual accessible online so that everyone can consult it at their convenience.
Some web applications also include an onboarding mechanism to quickly introduce each feature during the user's first login. This typically involves several highlights presented in succession to showcase the main features of the tool.
Finally, you can also create an introductory video to present the usefulness of your solution and how it operates.
Keep one thing in mind: the best tool is the one that doesn't require a manual.
Evaluating Custom Software 🚀
Once your users have gotten to grips with your software, they will likely provide suggestions for improvements or express a desire to add new features. This feedback is very promising as it proves that your digital solution has been well adopted.
In this case, we recommend recording these requests and evaluating their relevance with a few questions:
- Will this feature provide a real benefit? What problem does it solve?
- How many users will benefit from it?
- How long will it take to implement?
- What is the cost of its development?
- Will this new feature integrate coherently with the existing software?
Finally, you will need to prioritize these developments in a roadmap. You can even share this roadmap with your users to keep them engaged and show them that you are considering their feedback.
Creating custom software is a long-term project that requires significant resources, both human and financial. Nevertheless, implementing one is one of the best ways to save time and increase efficiency for everyone, every day.
