Common types of custom software solutions

10 min read
December 20, 2022

One of the challenges of growing a business is efficiency.

As customers and transactions increase, a company’s operations sometimes can’t keep up.

This is especially true if the company uses off-the-shelf, standalone software. Unfortunately, this can hamper productivity.

But there’s a potential solution to this problem—custom software.

The best thing about custom software is that it’s tailor-fit to a particular business.

And it’s flexible as well. It can fit into a wide variety of industries and businesses.

Here are some common examples you’ll encounter.

Enterprise resource planning software

An enterprise resource planning software, or ERP, is a platform that integrates all functions of a business.

It tracks data from separate departments like finance, supply chain, human resources, sales, and customer relations.

Many of the world’s biggest corporations rely on ERP to run and scale.

It acts as the hub of a business, allowing management to view the company’s data and activities from a centralized location.

Furthermore, using an ERP solution makes it easy to see where the bottlenecks are, enabling teams to optimize their processes across departments.

ERP infographic

Source: Deskera

ERP software can single-handedly improve the overall efficiency of a business.

It can help speed up your customer service response, lower inventory costs, streamline manufacturing and give you a better overview of your supply chain.

Indeed, one study concluded that ERP improved the business processes of 95% of the companies surveyed.

ERP improves business processes for 95 of companies

Source: NetSuite

An ERP is perhaps the best candidate for custom software development because it requires integration with multiple business functions.

The software itself must also conform fully to the operations of a business to ensure top performance.

There is, of course, plenty of off-the-shelf ERP software available.

Some of these include platforms from Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle. However, even these commercial options require substantial tweaking to fit a company’s workflow.

Oracle ERP Cloud

Source: Select Hub

Thus, many companies opt for customized ERP solutions, especially if they have an innovative business model.

One example is Tesla, which uses an ERP software called Warp, which was developed in-house.

Previously, they had used SAP but found that it wasn’t enough for the speed and agility that Tesla required.

And that, in a nutshell, is what customized software is—a tool that can maximize your company’s performance.

Content management system

A content management system (CMS) is a backend software solution that allows a company to manage its website content without writing any code.

Traditionally, whenever companies wanted to add new content to their website, a web developer or webmaster would need to write a new HTML page from scratch.

But a CMS does this for you in the background. This means you can add content as easily as writing a Word document.

WordPress editor

Source: Kinsta

And that’s just the beginning. CMS platforms also allow you to extend website functionality with plugins, optimize your website’s SEO (search engine optimization), and even modify its design.

Other CMS systems also double as an e-commerce platform, allowing users to manage an online store.

Examples of e-commerce CMS software include Magento, PrestaShop, and Shopify.

shopify upload product csv shopify admin product view

Source: Shopify

One of the biggest benefits of CMS is that it makes website management effortless. Even someone with zero coding background can create and maintain a website from scratch.

Nowadays, commercial CMS like WordPress and Joomla are feature-rich enough to handle the needs of even large businesses.

However, if your website requires a unique approach or has complex features, maybe you should consider a custom CMS.

Customer relationship management software

Customer relationship management, or CRM, is software for managing your clients and customers.

Its goal is to streamline your interactions with them, allowing you to respond faster and better.

CRM is crucial to a business because its success can impact other areas. Good customer relations lead to happier customers, more word-of-mouth, and higher revenues.

A CRM platform does this by storing relevant customer data in one location. This data includes sales conversations, contact information, purchase histories, and complaints.

data collection

Source: Variable Soft

CRM data can be useful in a wide variety of situations. For instance, a salesperson can consult with the CRM platform during a sales call.

This can help them offer an appropriate product or service based on the customer’s past purchases.

Data from a CRM can also help drive marketing campaigns. You can even initiate lead generation tasks from within the platform.

For instance, the system can flag dormant customers so you can follow up on them.

tech CEO 1

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Thanks to numerous commercially-available options like Salesforce, Hubspot, and Zoho, it’s easy to implement a CRM solution in your business.

However, in certain cases, a custom CRM might be more appropriate.

For one, most ready-made CRM platforms are subscription-based, which could add up, especially if you have plenty of users.

Contrast this to custom software that you only need to pay for once.

CRM also needs to integrate with your existing software. This can be difficult and time-consuming with off-the-shelf options, but not with a custom solution.

Communication software

Communication software is a ubiquitous part of our modern world. Email, instant messaging, video calls, and text messages all require reliable communication software at their core.

As such, there’s a huge market for creating custom communication software. And DECODE has had the privilege of working on some great ones.

One example is the unified communications project we developed with Metaswitch, a Microsoft company.

This collaboration resulted in a comprehensive communication software with features such as video conferencing, rich instant messaging, content sharing, and group collaboration, among others.

In other words, it’s every communication app stuffed into one convenient package.

MetaSwitch02

Source: DECODE

Another project we’re proud of is the crypto communication app we developed with Qrypt.

They wanted to showcase their cybersecurity technology and encryption solutions through a secure communications app.

The DECODE team handled most of the development work, including testing and CI/CD. We used a scrum approach, with the Qrypt team as the scrum master.

This resulted in native and desktop apps that feature secure audio and video calls, live chat, and file sharing.

DECODE screenshot 1

Source: DECODE

These are just some of the possibilities of custom communication software. For more examples, check out our case studies here.

Internet of Things (IoT) software

Nowadays, Internet connectivity isn’t just for computers and smartphones. Daily objects such as refrigerators, ovens, security cameras, and even traffic lights are now connected to the Web. T

his phenomenon is called the Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT technology is what makes smart homes and cities possible. Just imagine a car that can drive itself or an AI-powered traffic light that knows how to regulate traffic.

Sensors on IoT-enabled factory machines can also tell you when they need repair.

Internet of things infographic

Source: Analytics Vidhya

IoT is one area that benefits from custom software. That’s because the functionality of each object is unique and thus requires tailor-fit software to run.

Take our collaboration with Kien. They needed an app to control their advanced artificial sunlight lamp.

So they enlisted our creative team to implement a sleek yet functional app that allowed users to control the Kien lamp depending on their mood.

The DECODE team designed the UI from the user’s perspective, ensuring that the app was a delight to use.

DECODE screenshot 3

Source: DECODE

Another IoT project we worked on was the companion app for Vitasiq, a hardware pen that customers use to scan their vitamin and mineral levels.

The client needed an app that received inputs from the pen and displayed them intuitively to the user.

Moreover, it allowed them to track their levels over time, thus giving them important insights into their health.

Vitasiq app

Source: DECODE

Indeed, the possibilities for IoT are endless. And that’s only made possible by the custom software powering these smart objects.

Fintech software

Fintech, or financial technology, is any software that automates and digitizes financial services. The mobile banking app you use to pay your bills is an example of fintech software.

Fintech is a mammoth market estimated to be worth $309 billion in 2022, and expected to rise up to $814 billion in the 2030s.

Indeed, the financial services industry has huge growth opportunities for digitization, perhaps more than any other category.

Dozens of sub-niches also pop up regularly, such as the relatively new regtech and insurtech. Just look at the current fintech ecosystem:

Fintech Ecosystem infographic

Source: Finances Online

The point here is that fintech is a promising niche to get into. But to succeed, you probably need good custom software.

Here’s an example of a project we did with Asseco SEE, one of the global leaders in fintech software.

It was an enhancement of one of their existing mobile banking solutions.

The end product was a modern app with impressive features, including a mobile wallet, card management, receipts management, payments management, and currency exchange capabilities.

DECODE screenshot 2

Source: DECODE

Indeed, the fintech space is rife with opportunity, but it’s also teeming with competition.

If you want to make it, you’ll need an excellent custom fintech software developer working by your side.

Healthcare software

Digital solutions are quickly becoming vital tools in delivering better healthcare to people, from using AI to come up with better diagnoses to conducting doctor consultations online.

Just consider that in 2021, an average of 93% of hospitals in OECD countries (which includes most developed nations) used electronic medical records (EMR) systems instead of maintaining patients’ files manually.

And the healthcare industry is vast, with many sub-niches providing great opportunities for software developers.

Types of Healthcare Software

Source: TatvaSoft

Here are some healthcare software projects DECODE has developed to give you an idea of the possibilities.

One is uniGluko CLINIC software, an app that allows patients with diabetes to track their blood sugar levels.

The data is then shared with their physician, who can use the insights to deliver better treatments.

Another is a MedTech project aimed at Swiss private clinics.

It’s a comprehensive app that can track a patient’s details, including appointments, medical records, prescriptions, and lab results.

It also supports real-time communication with healthcare providers.

MedTech app

Source: DECODE

To find out what other healthcare applications we can do, you can visit our healthcare case study page.

Bug tracking software

Custom software isn’t just for end users and companies. Developers can benefit from it, too. One of the ways is through bug-tracking software.

Unfortunately, many developers spend the vast majority of their time just debugging their work.

We aim to help our fellow developers, which is the inspiration behind Shake, our bug reporting software.

Shake screenshot 1

Source: DECODE

When users encounter an error, they simply shake their phone and report it via a prompt.

On the developer’s side, all bug reports are automatically collected in a dashboard for easy viewing.

Shake also includes features like crash reporting, app telemetry, and integrations to developer tools like Jira, Azure DevOps, and Asana.

It can even work offline, which is useful for learning how apps behave without an internet connection.

Need help with your custom software?

Whether you need to build a fintech app or an Internet of Things (IoT) platform, DECODE can help you!

We already have dozens of successful projects under our belt, built by a team of over 70 professionals.

Combined with the best tech stack in the industry, we have what it takes to make your next project a reality.

Interested? Contact us today, and let’s talk!

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Written by

Marko Strizic

Co-founder and CEO

Marko started DECODE with co-founders Peter and Mario, and a decade later, leads the company as CEO. His role is now almost entirely centred around business strategy, though his extensive background in software engineering makes sure he sees the future of the company from every angle. A graduate of the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, he’s fascinated by the architecture of mobile apps and reactive programming, and a strong believer in life-long learning. Always ready for action. Or an impromptu skiing trip.

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