Why buy packaged software

The result is that companies have to modify processes or accept a compromise in process effectiveness. Working with many different users gives packaged software designers the opportunity to select the very best process options to build into the packaged solution. Purchasing the software means purchasing these best of class process options. Packaged software is thought to be cheaper than custom software.

For example, installation of packaged software may require hiring outside consultants or third-party implementer to install the system. Not quite so obvious may be costs associated with required changes to internal processes, required upgrades over the life of the product, additional personnel training or retraining, purchasing new hardware required by the system, or even adding personnel.

Lack of integration may also add hidden costs as employees develop home-grown workaround systems to compensate for the lack of functionality. Also, packaged software is sold under a license arrangement rather than an outright purchase. In either case, the differences represent hidden costs for a packaged system.

On the other hand, time and effort required to develop customized software can be expensive. Not only are there programming costs, but the time to complete can be lengthy. While developers work on the custom software, process inefficiencies continue and business opportunities may be lost. A thorough cost analysis can easily shift the decision from one side to the other. Implementation of packaged software can be done fairly rapidly in many cases. Mid-sized systems can take less time than large packages and can be up and running fairly quickly.

Nevertheless, packaged software is readily available and comes ready to install. All development, design, and testing has already been completed. Custom software, on the other hand, may take a good bit of time since the software must first be designed and developed in-house using personnel that will likely be involved in other activities. The development schedule may be delayed if in-house personnel are not available or are sidetracked onto other projects.

Further delays could occur if the company has plans to change the processes or expand the business. Delays at the front end of the project will, undoubtedly, mean delays with final implementation. Along with routine process-driven changes, often, the packaged software company will add functionality designed around marketing goals. These kinds of upgrades may not be needed or used, but will ultimately be paid for by the customer.

In some cases, the upgrades or version releases involve additional costs. Moreover, it can be changed as your business changes or altered to further improve its performance. Custom software can also be integrated with your existing systems and any future systems as required. It should also operate in the way that you are used to working which means that it will be easier to use. Being able to perform tasks that your competitors cannot do means that you gain real competitive advantage with custom software solutions.

Given that custom software can be listed as an asset of your organisation, it can add value to the business. Custom software is usually more expensive to start with requiring a large initial investment. Once in place though the software may cost nothing further to use. In addition to this, the development process for custom software solutions can take a long time and the input from the business can be considerable.

If instead, you have messy, enterprise-scale data, Tamr can solve the problem for you. One of the challenges of building software in-house is the need to provide ongoing support to the users of that software. Our professional services team works with our customers to implement Tamr and ensure project success. And they transformed billions of records into a common data model for GSK. Even once Tamr is running in an automated data pipeline, our team is still available to troubleshoot or brainstorm new projects.

A great example of this is the development of our low-latency match service. This service prevents pollution at the point of data entry by indicating whether the data being entered already exists in some better form. Building low-latency matching was no small feat: we had to change our data storage technology to enable sub-second queries of the data within Tamr. Nonetheless, low-latency matching had the potential to produce transformational outcomes for our customers by increasing their data quality and operational efficiency and so we made the necessary investment to develop it.

Many companies face the same data unification problems. For example, in biopharma, companies have to transform their messy clinical trial data into a common format for submission to the FDA. Our customers also share their experience with each other at our Life Sciences User Group. A modern DataOps ecosystem has many different components: tools to catalog, move, unify, publish, and collect feedback on your data. Building each of these tools in-house would be a herculean task, especially when different teams need different combinations of tools.

On the other hand, buying these components has many advantages. Dictionary Dictionary Term of the Day. Random Forest. Techopedia Terms. Connect with us. Sign up. Term of the Day. Best of Techopedia weekly. News and Special Offers occasional. Software Package.