The term business to business (or B2B) encompasses all companies that create products and services geared to sell to other businesses.
MailChimp is an example of one of the world’s largest marketing automation platforms. It helps millions of B2B businesses from small e-commerce shops to big online retailers find and engage with their audience while building their brand.
Salesforce is another example of a B2B business that sells cloud-applications to other businesses. Given the explosive growth of the B2B realm in the recent decade, it has become mandatory for B2B businesses to develop and deploy software solutions that meet specific requirements.
Forbes states that “Leaders leverage technology to understand data and provide more personalized offers and experiences for customers.” Service standards are becoming a clear distinguisher for customers to choose a particular brand. Leveraging technology to drive customer-centric goals is a game-changer for B2B businesses.
Custom B2B software applications are tailored to meet and optimize several business areas such as marketing, resource planning, eCommerce, customer relationships, accounting and payroll, inside sales, data storage, management, analytics, and a lot more.
Through the years, B2B businesses have learned how packaged software products fall short when it comes to meeting diverse buyer needs. This prompted a greater demand for the benefits of custom software development designed to meet the specific needs of each organization.
The advantages of custom-developed software continue to flourish through innovation in B2B applications. Below we discuss the core benefits of custom software development.
There are different backend programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Swift, and C++, etc. but how the software appears on the frontend and usability of the interface are crucial.
With new programming languages and toolkits being introduced frequently along with improved current technologies and expanding engineering capabilities, custom software can help B2B businesses leverage technical advancements effectively. Creating tools that are capable of managing large quantities of information or integrating multiple unrelated processes is accomplished more easily with custom software applications.
While there are normally similarities in business structure and processes among most B2B business entities (especially those in the same industries) all businesses are not entirely similar.
Building from scratch guarantees that your B2B software suits your unique business model and operations. Custom software also allows you to incorporate your specific branding and design to offer an exclusive, one-of-a-kind experience to users, whether they are internal employees or customers.
As the business grows, processes are subject to change and become more complex. There may be an addition of new positions and departments and adjustments made to the current working model to accommodate these changes.
To scale and grow, businesses should invest in flexible, custom software that is built with an evolving business framework in mind. With this in place, it becomes easier for the business to respond to changes in the industry or take advantage of advancements in technology. There is no need to wait for a SaaS product update on a timetable as changes are implemented as needed without having to halt operations.
Virtually every business stores data of some form on the internet and hence any data breach can have a detrimental impact on the business, whether it is the loss of trust with clients or setbacks in operations. No matter the application in use, businesses need to consider both internal and external security protocols.
Depending on the nature of how sensitive the business data is, there may be certain legal requirements and industry standards that need to be met. Custom B2B software allows businesses to gate content and restrict user access, which is a level of flexibility that may not be available in pre-packaged software.
While a product from a SaaS company feels less expensive, especially up front, most of these applications require monthly or annual subscriptions, maintenance costs, add-ons for support or increasing storage limits, etc.
On the other hand, custom software may have more upfront costs, but ownership lies with the business with complete authority over UX, features, user capabilities, etc. There is no cause for concern on limitations with the number of users or data storage, all of which are available without having to pay a subscription fee for the length of time the software is utilized. Necessary features can be built in the beginning and additional functionality can be added on as the business grows.
Businesses often require multiple programs to run optimally, and adding on software which does not organically fit into the rest of the technical environment can become a burden to the business.
To use a certain accounting system or manufacturing program, businesses may end up contending with a patchwork of architecture to get the data to move around as required. Custom software can generally be customized to integrate smoothly with other key software applications used within the business.
Custom software applications are built from the ground up with the existing applications included as a part of the considerations for its development, bringing compatibility into the initial design.
By building a custom-developed software environment, businesses enhance the integration of the benefits of custom software development to ensure the flow of information without obstacles that demand workarounds.
Choosing the right B2B custom software development partner is influenced by many factors such as quality of work, technical expertise, the support offered, and their ability to understand the unique aspects of your business.
AppShark is both a Salesforce Gold Consulting Partner and a Product Development Partner based in Dallas, Texas. Our implementation process which includes customization, set up, and configuration has been perfected through the many years we have served in the Salesforce industry. We also provide software integration services including strategy, development, and management to enable a continual flow of information from the cloud, premise to premise, or from cloud to premise platforms.