5 Ways Custom Software Can Increase Productivity in Your Business
“This meeting could have been an email!”—The unifying cry of post-pandemic office workers everywhere. In small and medium-sized businesses, vague conversations and technology delays are severe blows to productivity, slowing down teams and wasting valuable work time.
A recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that MSMEs make up 90% of all businesses worldwide. Yet, their productivity is only half that of large corporations. One of the top reasons for this productivity gap is substandard tools.
Big businesses typically use customized software built just for them. Meanwhile, small enterprises rely on mass-produced platforms riddled with inefficiencies. Today, we explore what makes custom software development worthwhile for SMEs by analyzing its effects on productivity.
5 Ways Custom Software Increases Productivity
1. Custom Automations for Daily Tasks
Multitasking is the order of the day for many small businesses. Founders handle invoicing, and assistants provide customer support. When roles blur like this, the opportunity for inefficiency increases, creating room for misunderstandings and cause for undoing each other’s work.
This is, of course, a productivity nightmare. One of the best ways to avoid it altogether is to automate as much administrative work as possible. This frees up everyone’s time and gets people back to doing their core jobs.
While generic software can help with some automation, custom tools offer far greater flexibility and finer detail. Custom legal software, for example, can automate highly complex processes such as onboarding new clients or researching case studies.
2. Optimized Workflows Specific to Your Business
Workflow optimization should be top of mind for all small businesses chasing productivity. Smaller teams often adopt an “It doesn’t matter how it gets done, so long as it gets done” mentality. This approach may work initially, but clearly defined processes eventually become essential.
Software that forces your business into a rigid working method may be more detrimental to productivity than you know. For example, a generic CRM could miss crucial compliance details in the banking sector. In contrast, custom software allows you to build workflows around your existing processes to enhance productivity so that it makes sense for your business.
3. One Central Platform for Better Collaboration
Small business owners who use off-the-shelf technology may find themselves “app hopping” more often than they’d like. Constantly switching between platforms can quickly cause fatigue, leading to lost productivity hours.
Investing in custom software development allows you to build a single system that handles every aspect of your workday from one place. All your documents go through the same portal, and everyone can access what they need when they need it. The result? More intuitive time-saving collaboration.
4. Data Insights for Faster Decision-Making
Small and medium businesses often rely on trial and error. Testing and retesting may work in some instances, but you always run the risk of wasting time and money. To avoid this, most business owners turn to data analytics—something that is much easier with the help of AI.
Artificial intelligence can process vast amounts of data to predict market trends and create accurate sales forecasts. Yet the AI agents in generic software leave much to be desired. Custom software offers far greater AI capabilities by comparison because you can train it using your own data. This gives you personalized insights that are far more valuable for strategic planning.
5. New Software Capabilities That Scale
Of course, investing in custom software is also about expanding what your business can do. Besides automation and workflow optimization, custom software opens the doors to brand-new capabilities that were never possible before.
It could help you develop new product lines or expand into foreign markets. Using software to do the heavy lifting when you’re chasing innovation can increase productivity significantly. Moreover, custom software is designed to grow with your business, so you won’t have to waste any future focus time on legacy system modernization.
Custom Software as Fuel for Growth
Productivity is one of the most pressing challenges small businesses face. Hindrances like limited time, small teams, and minimal resources are just some factors that threaten their growth. Having the right software tools at your disposal makes jumping these hurdles and playing in bigger leagues easier.
Zelifcam Software offers custom software development for small and medium-sized businesses. Our white-glove service includes comprehensive software planning, project management, and quality assurance. Please contact us for more information.