Constant advances in software development present new opportunities for organizations, and companies on the cutting edge are gaining a major competitive advantage.
Businesses across industries require software tailored to their specific demands to improve productivity, efficiency, and consumer relations. Whether streamlining business processes, providing ample opportunity to scale the organization and grow the business, improving employee productivity, enhancing customer experiences, or meeting some other need, software solutions can help businesses gain a competitive edge.
While some off-the-shelf software solutions often meet many distinct needs and can be used immediately, such solutions do not always meet every unique requirement or business objective and may not integrate well with other systems and software. Custom software, on the other hand, is a substantial investment and can take several months before the final product is delivered and ready to use. But with the steady advances in mobile technology, web application frameworks, and software development witnessed over the past decade, creating a custom software solution is more affordable and easier than ever.
Custom Software Development Challenges
Even though most businesses will discover custom software offers significantly more benefits than mass-produced software options, designing and developing a high-quality customized solution poses numerous challenges.
First, most small businesses do not have the technical knowledge or development team to build their own custom solution, so they have to rely on a software development partner. Ensuring that your partner understands your specific needs is critical to success. If your solutionâs requirements are too vague or need to be constantly modified, development progress will slow â and a significant amount of time and money is wasted.
Consequently, choosing the cheapest company for software development might seem logical, but in the world of software development, money correlates directly with resources and expertise. No, the most expensive developer isnât always the best option, but going too cheap can be risky.
After your plan is approved, requirements are documented, and a development partner is selected, the engineering team needs to address any technical challenges related to the solutionâs technology stack. Identifying what is needed to successfully build the solution can be challenging, especially when integrating disparate technologies into one unified solution.
Letâs dive into how custom software solutions help bridge different technologies into one seamless online user experience.
How Custom Software Solutions Bridge the Gap Between Traditional E-commerce and Blockchain Technologies
As organizations across industries decide to develop or update software apps to take full advantage of the platformâs offerings and generate brand engagement, drive productivity, and increase revenue, there are several trending technologies in the custom software development space to consider.
Whether the product or platform requires the e-commerce technologies empowering users to buy and sell goods electronically, fintech solutions supporting or enabling banking and financial services, the blockchain to build new types of secure transactional and financial applications, or any combination thereof, it is important that software development companies thoroughly understand the rising tech trends and leverage innovative solutions to elevate their clientâs business. From e-commerce to fintech to blockchain, all of these technologies exist on their own, but when you try to pull them together, they often don’t play nicely.
Consider Novel as an example of how custom software development helped seamlessly bridge e-commerce, fintech, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and blockchain into a unique no-code platform for Web3 commerce.
An NFT is a novel type of blockchain technology where each token has a unique value. NFTs can take the form of GIFs, tweets, virtual transaction cards, physical objects, video games, real estate, and more. To purchase (or bid on) an NFT, users typically need some cryptocurrency in a digital wallet connected with an NFT market. Once a purchase is made, the NFT is added to the buyerâs digital wallet, and a sales receipt is posted to the blockchain, allowing everyone to know who currently owns the NFT and how much they paid for it.
But Novel thought it would be cool to build a solution combining the power of NFTs with the simplicity of Shopify, a popular e-commerce platform that allows users to sell anything online. The New York-based fintech startup tapped a boutique custom software solutions provider to develop a backend application and integrate it with Shopify. The solution drives a no-code e-commerce platform for NFT generation, ultimately enabling content creators to:
- Â Â Â Generate collections using no code.
- Â Â Â List NFTs alongside physical products in their online store.
- Â Â Â Enable token-based storefront features.Â
âPartnering with a talented custom software development expert to bring our unique platform to life truly empowered us with an invaluable perspective in the process of building a cutting-edge product in a rapidly emerging market,â said Roger Beaman, Novel’s CEO, and co-founder.
By blending e-commerce with Web3, Novelâs innovative platform leverages custom software development to bridge gaps between trending technologies and ultimately grow the fintech startupâs business.
With custom software development becoming increasingly integral to the growth and success of businesses across industries, technological advances, smart interfaces and highly unique capabilities are significantly transforming how businesses operate. While the initial investment may seem high, custom software solutions that simplify workflows and enhance experiences ultimately deliver numerous long-term benefits.
Dr. Andrew Drach, CEO and co-founder of Solwey Consulting
Dr. Andrew Drach is a senior software developer, data scientist, and academic entrepreneur focusing on full-stack software engineering, data-driven discoveries and decision-making. With consulting expertise leveraging 20-plus years of experience in website, mobile app, e-commerce, SaaS and business intelligence software development, Andrew has spent the last five years as the CEO of Solwey Consulting, an Austin-based boutique technology consulting agency. He holds a Ph.D. in engineering and postdoctoral training in computational sciences.