Who Benefits from Custom Product Development Services: Startup vs Existing Business Comparison

Custom software product development services are constantly gaining popularity among different types of businesses.

Surprisingly, developing a software product on demand is not famous only among startup companies. Many existing and very successful businesses experienced in software development also commonly use custom product development services or similar options from IT vendors.

Still, it is hard to tell who benefits the most from custom software product development services. Let’s discuss the main benefits of developing a software product on demand for each case. Besides, we propose to define the key factors that suggest cooperating with a custom software product development company.

Benefits of Custom Software Product Development Services for Startups

Startups are the most common customers of custom software product development services.

Product development outsourcing companies offer countless benefits and advantages for startup businesses, covering many software-related processes and helping to concentrate on business goals and needs instead.

Moreover, finding a full-fledged software team for such projects is much faster than gathering in-house developers, which will cost and take much more time. Besides, there are countless resources, platforms, and tips for hiring a development team for startups online, simplifying this process even more.

Still, these are not all the benefits any software product developer brings to the startup table, but just an appetizer.

Creating a Unique Product to Stand Out

Custom software product development offers much more than just working software. Developing a software product in such terms aims to satisfy all of the client's business goals and requirements.

Everything, from the most basic features to various unique or rare functionalities, must meet the demands. As a result, custom software product development ALWAYS results in unique software solutions that stand out among the rest of the market's offerings.

To add more, custom product development is the only option if you are willing to change the market and bring innovations. Finally, any software solution can offer a more personalized experience.

You can apply custom software product development even when it comes to some common and general software applications like various management systems (CMS, CRM, WMS, etc.). At first glance, what is the point of developing general software from scratch if dozens of ready-made solutions can be integrated into your business in a matter of time?

First, they all started as custom software development projects from scratch.

Secondly, after using SaaS solutions for some time, you will eventually need to improve and scale functionality. Eventually, using ready-made software distributed as a SaaS solution gives you no additional competitive advantage: using the same management systems and other tools as your rivals.

Besides, using third-party solutions is possible just in terms of management systems: if you are willing to create an application related to the business brand, its strategies, and logic, you must participate in developing a software product from scratch, i.e., creating a custom software product innovation.

Flexibility and Scalability for Growth

Custom software development benefits also include great prosperity for software product scaling.

Moreover, the custom product development approach is more flexible and gives more control over a project. Agile outsourced software product development offers a more flexible approach, making implementing changes and switching between tasks during development easier.

However, the flexibility and scalability of custom software are not limited to the development phase. Any custom software solution is much easier to reshape and remake on demand. If you have a custom software application, implementing new features or reshaping the IT infrastructure is possible, relatively easy, and fast.

Having complete control over the app is one of the significant distinctions between generic software product development and custom software development.

Cost-Effective Solutions for Initial Investment

Finally, outsourced custom development services are ideal for startups due to their cost-effectiveness. For example, startups can start with Minimum Viable Product software development, building the most basic version of an app that includes only vital features and functionality.

MVP development for startups is one of the most beneficial approaches, which helps to:

• Save development time and costs
• Speed up the development-to-market delivery
• Start testing the product as soon as possible
• Learn the TA demands and meet them by adjusting the software

Still, minimum viable product software development is another potential approach for startups in outsourced software product development services.

It is also possible to cut expenses by finding outsourced developers offshore or hiring a more minor team of more experienced developers, sacrificing development time for cost savings, etc.

To sum up, any software product development company for startups does its best to offer the most comfortable and affordable solution for new companies and startups.

Benefits of Custom Software Product Development Services for Existing Businesses

Custom product development services for existing businesses differ from the ones for startups.

For example, product development in software industry for existing business companies commonly includes limited services like creating a few features, optimizing certain aspects of an app, dealing with specific business challenges, etc. At the same time, startups demand full-fledged development from scratch, even if it is just an MVP product.

Many existing businesses already have software solutions. Yet, most such applications and software tools require improvements and upgrades. Thus, they might turn to an outsourced software product development company capable of optimizing existing software.

Streamlining Operations

Custom product development services for existing businesses offer various fractional options. They are commonly rather about optimizing or streamlining processes, than developing them.

For example, DevOps services are usually chosen for CI/CD pipelines. These experts analyze existing software and decide what can be automated.

CI/CD stands for continuous integration, delivery, and deployment. DevOps can cut the repetitive processes like code implementation and publishing:

• Continuous integration takes care of automated code testing before adding it to the main branch,
• Continuous Delivery ensures that all supplemental materials are included in the package so that code units work as supposed,
• Continuous Deployment automates the process of code deployment and publishing.

As a result, existing businesses can streamline all major development processes except coding with the help of DevOps software development services.

Optimizing and Modernizing Existing Products

Additionally, a custom software product development company can propose software optimization and modernization as a service.

These companies have niche-experienced developers on board who can not only develop from scratch but improve existing software. Combined with an outsourcing approach, business owners can get the ultimate solution for their businesses, which allows hiring more experienced developers for cheaper.

For example, your business has an outdated software solution that requires improvement and optimization. Then, using team extension services, your business can obtain a dedicated expert in the field or industry who will optimize and upgrade your software gradually.

Addressing Specific Business Challenges

Finally, outsourced software product development company also offers development-as-a-service.

Mostly, such services take place under non-disclosure agreements, i.e., the outsourced development is not public, and both sides don’t declare about using or providing outsourced software product development services.

Hiring outsourced teams to deal with specific business challenges or develop and integrate new features is a common approach for many companies, starting with Startups and ending with tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and others. It is profitable and beneficial, as it allows for the sharing of resources and help when needed.

Moreover, using the services of product development outsourcing companies helps to prioritize more critical or complex tasks.

Key Factors to Consider for Custom Product Development

Before contacting software development vendors, both startups and existing companies should consider a few factors to ensure that the chosen outsourced company is a reliable technological partner and that the business needs such services in the first place.

Factors to Consider for Startups

Budget is probably the most crucial factor for startups. Thus, it is important to learn the market for custom software development and find out the average cost of such services. This will help during the project discussion and estimation by giving business owners a better understanding of the approximate price.

Finding out the average cost of development on demand is easy. For instance, you can search various B2B platforms like Clutch and GoodFirms or their alternatives.

Additionally, don’t forget about the project's time and scale. These factors are harder to predict and are usually defined by the IT vendor during the project discovery and estimation phase. Nevertheless, after having an approximate understanding of such metrics, you can always discuss how to adjust the project and decrease one of them if needed.

Finally, remember the dedicated team’s experience and expertise. Once again, such information can be found on B2B platforms or the software company’s website (usually in the case study section). It is preferred to look for teams familiar with the industry you aim for.

Considerations for Existing Businesses

Frankly, the considerations for existing businesses are similar to those for startups. Yet, the priorities are slightly different.

For instance, existing businesses must pay more attention to the team's expertise. In addition to industry, they must also consider the team's experience working with technologies implemented in software products.

In addition to the other factors like development time and project scale, don’t forget about the software development agreements. Many existing businesses using custom software development services commonly demand signing NDAs and working on product development and improvement privately. However, some outsourced companies are not ready to cooperate under NDAs, so it is essential to discuss this aspect, as well as other bureaucratic processes, to clarify cooperation terms.

Wrapping up

Custom software development benefits are too significant to ignore.

Such services meet the demands and expectations of any type of business, and it is hard to tell who benefits most from them.

However, the benefits of custom software development for small business might be more significant, offering an affordable way to embody the idea and develop it from scratch.

At the same time, such cooperation allows existing companies to save time and resources by delegating certain development processes to third parties. Such benefits are undeniable, yet they can hardly compete with the significant impact on startups as the possibility of developing an app with limited resources and experience.