Today’s companies are competing like never before. They are presented with unprecedented challenges. In addition, they have less time to develop and incubate new ideas that help create solutions that meet the needs of consumers, many of them with high expectations. That is why they turn to custom enterprise software development. In short, the best way to accomplish this objective is through the software factory.

The competition has reached levels that fragment the industry and segmentizes in niches and market microniches. In order to compete, you need the custom enterprise software development that only a software factory can give you. Among the challenges your business will face, there are digital disruptions, reduced innovation cycles and new kinds of competition. To sum up, there are also increased customer expectations and reduced costs. Most importantly, there are just some of the issues that managers and entrepreneurs face. In this blog article, we will present details about the consumer experience and how you can change it with technology.

How custom enterprise software development and the software factory can help your business today

Companies have changed profoundly compared to what they were in the past. Now businesses are prepared and focused on the constant change of the micro and macro elements that are presented in the market.

This modern company is characterized by being in contact with its consumers every day and the whole way. In order to find new ways to compete, this is necessary. Internally and externally, it removes friction at each level. And they focus on the results, not the process. Above all,  is that the modern company is potentialized by software. 

The origin of the software factory and custom enterprise software development 

The origin of the software factory is probably located at the end of the 60s when Hitachi was founded under the name of Hitachi Software Works. From there and throughout the years, a software factory is characterized by being a programming company. Their mission is the development of software for the end customer or for a third party. 

This is accomplished through professional technological services using good collaborative work practices for simple to complex environments. In order to complete this objective, custom enterprise software development uses specific or changing requirements.

Circumstances to hire the services of a software factory

You can hire the services of a software factory, under the following circumstances:

• The systems personnel of a company is very busy to attend new internal projects or does not have the necessary knowledge to achieve it.
• The clients of a non-technological company need to optimize processes through efficient technological solutions. This is accompanied by an integral process for the organization, for this they must turn to a software factory.
• A software development company seeks to expand its capacity, in the short and medium-term.

Understanding the software factory and custom enterprise software development 

The main difference between a software development company and a software factory is related to the price of the services offered. Software factory companies are very successful in countries such as England and Canada, they stand out for offering a highly professional level at more competitive costs. This is accomplished through the use of scalable processes and the hiring of human talent in different geographical locations.

The boundaries between the company and the outside world are being torn down

The old models were based on the economic advantage of separating a company from the outside world. Within the company, you had some control over the cost structure and culture. Technology has changed all that. Employees are using external technologies from a software factory because they cannot wait for them to build them in their own organization.

Networks are another example. Today, smart companies are leveraging their employees’ social networks to boost their businesses.

Connectivity increases

There is constant progress in augmented and virtual reality, voice-based interaction and sensors, as well as user-centered design. These experiences produce a constant flow of data about who you are and what you are experiencing and feeling at every moment.

If you are on Facebook, you actually have an identity that exists independently of you and will probably live after you are gone. In other words, that means who you are can be shared or even stolen. Why is that important for your business? Therefore, all this information about your customers can be used to satisfy them. Those who can transform data into knowledge and understand it will be the champions in the digital economy.

The nature of how we make decisions is changing, take advantage of a software factory and custom enterprise software development

The human brain is designed to detect patterns and learn from them. However, it is not entirely useful to extract exabytes of data and understand why you are not connecting with your customers through your new application.

Analytics and artificial intelligence will change everything we know about our world and about ourselves. On the other hand, before they do, they will change how business works.

Why do you need to manufacture new software? Use the software factory and custom enterprise software development

The explosion of devices connected to the Internet requires the appearance of different types of software. Nowadays, the greatest potential of the software lies in creating a direct connection with customers through digital channels. Developing that potential requires an external approach.

To offer superior experiences to customers with unprecedented speed and scale, you need completely different skills and tools. However, you also need a very different type of process.

The Five principles to consider when making modern custom enterprise software development in a software factory

Those who are engaged in software manufacturing must have the ability to quickly build and deliver experiences and offer continuous improvement, customer-oriented innovation. Highly adaptable and customer-centric methodologies are needed. Long launch cycles will not help the pace of the speed you need to thrive.

It is not enough to offer software, you have to offer experiences. Producing a constantly evolving user experience is very different from the management of business application updates that are done once or twice a year. Further, you need a perfect relationship between building and operating software experiences. In addition, here are some tips to achieve a positive customer experience.

Principles to consider when making modern custom enterprise software development

1. Firstly, speed is important, that’s why you must consider using a software factory and custom enterprise software development
2. Secondly, to offer innovation you have to think about automation. Why? Because automation reduces errors in manual processes and frees up resources to focus on what really counts: creating value for the customer.
3. Thirdly, to avoid complications, you need security measures that increase user confidence and experience. Think about the behavioral analysis used in fraud and threat detection, for instance. Above all is that the client has no problems.
4. Your business runs with knowledge, so you need feedback throughout the software’s value chain. This has two parts. Firstly, you need to know how your software factory is working and secondly, you also need to know if you are complying with the customer experience. Subsequently, that way you will be allowed to discover what are the unmet needs that can become new business opportunities.
5. Innovate in your operating model with software factory and custom enterprise software development.

In conclusion, you need to do more than build efficiently and deliver new experiences; Innovation does not happen by itself. It has to be designed and built in its operating model. The definition of Innovation is “The process of converting raw ideas into real solutions at maximum speed”. So, the idea is always to be nourishing new concepts.

If we are not building things that our customers truly value, we must implement new approaches. Follow the five basic principles we shared earlier to grow your business, all through the use of the software.