Off-the-Shelf and Bespoke Systems

Table of Contents

Page1. Why computerize? 12. Comparison of off-the-shelf and bespoke software 13. Choosing between off-the-shelf and bespoke software 24. Approach for making a decision 35. Examples of off-the-shelf and bespoke software 36. Users of o-t-s and bespoke software 47. A Guide for Selecting Software 58. A software selection sample 99. Impact of computerization on the operations of an organization 1210. Conclusion 12

Bibliography 13

Appendix

1 Advantages and Disadvantages of Off-the-Shelf and Bespoke Software

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Off-the-Shelf and Bespoke Systems

In this age where everything seems to be done faster and more efficiently, there is a need to adopt measures to cope. The direction is towards computerization of operations. When a decision to computerize is made, there is a decision to make whether to buy readily available off-the-shelf software or to ask a software developer to design a bespoke system for us.

This paper attempts to make the decision process easier by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of off-the-shelf software and bespoke software.

'Off-the-shelf' software and related applications are packages usually produced by software developers that are intended for sale to a specific target market.

Bespoke software, also called custom-made software, is a type of software developed for a specific organization or function. It is generally not targeted to the general market, but usually created specifically to meet the requirements of companies, business entities, and organizations.

1. Why computerize?

We computerize because we want to produce results faster and more accurately. Thus, word processing systems were designed to eliminate the repetitive typing that has to be done when we type our reports. Spreadsheets were designed to help accountants produce accurate reports by automating the adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing functions of bookkeeping. Thus, instead of individually adding each column and row of data, all we need to do is input data on their respective cells and the software does the addition automatically.

Computing actually started with the advent of space exploration when there was a need to produce work schedules that is easy to update and capable of combining with the schedules of other work teams. What started as a customized work schedule software now evolved into an off-the-shelf scheduling software.

2. Comparison of off-the-shelf and bespoke software

Off-the-shelf and bespoke systems can be compared on the basis of six factors: urgency of need, cost, efficiency, comprehensiveness, compliance with needs and scalability.

Factor Off-the-Shelf Bespoke1. Urgency of need Can be used immediately. Long waiting time.2. Cost Usually low, even free if

combined with advertisements

Expensive because of the cost of design, development, testing, installation and training is borne only by the user. A recurring cost would

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be for maintenance and improvements.

Factor Off-the-Shelf Bespoke3. Efficiency Very efficient, but it has

features that user may use infrequently or even none at all.

Very efficient. It addresses the identified specific needs of the user.

4. Comprehensiveness Very comprehensive. It covers almost all the needs of the target users.

Very comprehensive. It covers all the identified need of user.

5. Compliance with needs

May not fully comply with need of user. There is a need to adjust operations to the designed feature of the software.

Complies with need of users. Software is designed to meet the need of user.

6. Scalability Limited. Depended on upgrades issued by developer.

Easy. Can be scaled upwards according to need.

3. Choosing between off-the-shelf and bespoke software

To choose between off-the-shelf and bespoke software, we need to weigh their respective advantages and disadvantages. After comparing them, then we could have an educated basis for making a decision.

Shown below is a comparison of the two.

Off-the-shelf software Bespoke SoftwareAdvantages

Relatively cheap. The cost of development is spread over a large number of users.

Can be very sophisticated. For example, (Excel or Word) as the revenue from a very large number of users reduces the share of each user.

Advantages

Designed to address your needs and budget.

Written to meet specific client requirements.

Can be upgraded to satisfy changing needs.

Easy to use. It can be designed to work without any supervision.

Increases productivity by automating repetitive tasks.

Business information is easier to understand because they can be organized the way you want them to be.

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Disadvantages

Off-the-shelf software can be highly complex. It usually includes features that you may never use.

The average Word user is reputed to use only about 10% of the available features.

Off-the-shelf software may take a long time to learn properly. This is because this software tends to be large and complicated.

You may have to make adjustments. This means altering the way that you work in order to fit in with the way that the software has been designed. There will probably be operations that you require that you simply cannot do with the software.

Your competitors are on your level. As the same system can be purchased by your competitors it is very difficult to gain any competitive advantage from its use.

Disadvantages

Without the source code you are doomed to possess a useless piece of software because it is difficult to make any changes.

You are dependent on the developers' continuing existence and goodwill. To avoid this problem make sure you choose a developer who provides you with the source code.

It takes a long time for a bespoke software to be developed. It goes through several phases: needs identification, coding, testing, installation, testing and user training.

A complete listing of the advantages and disadvantages of an off-the-shelf and bespoke systems are shown in Appendix 1.

4. Approach for making a decision

Off-the-shelf softwares are very powerful systems but because they are generic and attempts to address the needs of a large group of users, they may not provide solutions that you specifically need. Thus, you need to use bespoke systems to address this need.

The Pareto rule of 80:20 may apply to this decision process. You may adopt to use off-the-shelf software for 80% of your operation while you use bespoke systems for the critical, repetitive 20%.

5. Examples of off-the-shelf and bespoke software

Some of the examples of off-the-shelf software are as follows:

Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, Project, Autodesk applications such as AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, Map 3D, MotionBuilder, 3D Studio Max, MayaAdobe applications such as Photoshop, Acrobat, Premiere, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign,

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Research Engineers International application such as StaadProSymantec Corp. applications such as Norton SystemWorks, Norton AntiVirusComputers and Structures, Inc. applications such as ETABS, SAP, SAFEWindows applications such as Vista, XP, Internet Explorer, windows Live,

Bespoke software covers all aspects of operations, including accounting, production control, inventory control, flight bookings, etc. some of the developers of bespoke systems are enumerated below:

NetsightVision systemsNetwork 82 SolutionsRedder Graphic Design and web Development

6. Users of o-t-s and bespoke software

Users of off-the-shelf and bespoke software can be classified into three groups, namely, small, medium, and large. Small users are those that have simple needs and relatively few transactions. These users use off-the-shelf software for word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, emails. They also use specialized software for specific functions, such as architectural and engineering applications, such as AutoCAD, flowcharting, such as Visio, photo editing such as Photoshop, video editing such as Premiere.

Medium users use off-the-shelf software and most probably one or two bespoke systems. A small retailer would perhaps use an accounting system to record his transactions and to control point-of-sale and inventory transactions.

Large users use both off-the-shelf and bespoke systems. The off-the-shelf softwares often used are those for word processing, spreadsheets, flowcharting and presentations. Bespoke systems used could cover the entire range of his business, such as a full accounting and reporting system, payroll, inventory, sales, and all kinds of analyses.

In graphic form, the users of off-the-shelf and bespoke systems can be shown as follows:

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7. A Guide for Selecting Software

There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. The three main differences are:

1. Price

Off-the-shelf software is usually reasonably priced whereas a customized product can be relatively expensive to build. The cost of development of an off-the-shelf product is distributed over a large number of buyers and therefore could be priced relatively low.

Bespoke software, on the other hand, is uniquely designed for just one buyer.

2. Generic build

Off-the-shelf software is made for a wide range of consumers. The development team provides a standard design and pre-defined framework. Since off-the-shelf products are standard, they may not cater to all requirements for every individual company. Usually there are adjustments that an existing organization will need to make in order to implement an off-the-shelf product.

Customized software addresses current needs and builds an electronic framework to automate them. There is no requirement to change any processes. It takes a matter of days to familiarize yourself with the software. Customized software can be changed to suit your needs. You are also able to fine-tune the software for better performance.3. Updates

Each time there is a revision in software purchased off-the-shelf, you will need to pay an update fee. Frequently updates can easily be made the moment the appropriate fee is paid.

Customized software, on the other hand, can be updated on the basis of current requirement and financial capability of the company. Updates have to be developed and can take time to become available.

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The advantages and disadvantages of Off-the-shelf and Bespoke Software

Off-the-shelf software Bespoke SoftwareAdvantages

Relatively cheap. The cost of development is spread over a large number of users.

Can be very sophisticated. For example, (Excel or Word) as the revenue from a very large number of users reduces the share of each user.

Advantages

Designed to address your needs and budget.

Written to meet specific client requirements.

Can be upgraded to satisfy changing needs.

Easy to use. It can be designed to work without any supervision.

Increases productivity by automating repetitive tasks.

Business information is easier to understand because they can be organized the way you want them to be.

Disadvantages

Off-the-shelf software can be highly complex. It usually includes features that you may never use.

The average Word user is reputed to use only about 10% of the available features.

Off-the-shelf software may take a long time to learn properly. This is because this software tends to be large and complicated.

You may have to make adjustments. This means altering the way that you work in order to fit in with the way that the software has been designed. There will probably be operations that you require that you simply cannot do with the software.

Your competitors are on your level. As the same system can be purchased by your competitors it is very difficult to gain any competitive advantage from its use.

Disadvantages

Without the source code you are doomed to possess a useless piece of software because it is difficult to make any changes.

You are dependent on the developers' continuing existence and goodwill. To avoid this problem make sure you choose a developer who provides you with the source code.

It takes a long time for a bespoke software to be developed. It goes through several phases: needs identification, coding, testing, installation, testing and user training.

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Growing companies are investing an increasing amount in IT systems to automate and simplify business processes. This means the market for such systems is vast, with imagination and budget as the only boundaries.

As companies look to automate different business functions the question of bespoke or off-the-shelf is usually raised.

Whether relying on an in-house IT team or outsourcing the work to a specialist company, the decision to purchase a ready made solution or to have software specifically developed raises a number of issues that must be considered. Consider the following:

Bespoke systems are tailored to the exact requirements of the company allowing the software to fully integrate, helping to meet legislation or key business objectives.

Scalability is also a positive factor, with bespoke systems able to accommodate business growth and contract with any necessary downsizing. The system should evolve with the company to provide an ongoing perfect fit. 

This is possible because bespoke systems are designed with the long term IT plans of a company in mind. Software of this type ensures that the company can move forward instead of just automating what it already does, resulting in it being stuck in the same rut.

There are three factors preventing companies from using bespoke systems. These are:

1. The cost of bespoke software can be much higher than off-the-shelf solutions. Individually crafted software often needs teams comprising of dozens of people each bringing particular skills such as analysts, programmers, hardware and software specialists and technical writers.

The time and manpower needed to create and maintain a bespoke system quickly adds up. However, bespoke software successfully developed can potentially be sold, becoming an extra source of revenue for the company.

2. Bespoke software can only match the requirements of the customer to the extent that the customer can define them and the developer can understand them. If the customer does not have a clear strategic plan for the business operations, long term IT plans that support the business requirement are difficult to determine. This could lead to a system that does not have the capacity to evolve with the company, with errors and misunderstandings at the early stages of development leading to spiraling costs and delayed delivery.

3. The issue of compatibility can cause problems. If the software is not compatible with the existing systems, operational difficulties are likely to arise.

Off-the-shelf systems may not have been designed with integration in mind and therefore the ability to transfer data between systems may have a major impact on the inter-operability of systems.

Similarly if the software is not compatible with the systems of others, customers and suppliers for example, it may cause problems to the overall functioning of the business.

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Generally speaking, off-the-shelf systems are produced to meet the perceived needs of a particular market or sector. They have, in effect, a one size fits all set of generic features and, for more complex applications, customization facilities.

As a rule, they are easy to install and easy to use. Off-the-shelf solutions are bred from the best components of various software systems, often starting as a bespoke package designed for a specific client, meaning off-the-shelf packages may provide users with the best of both worlds.

The process of software and systems development is a difficult one involving highly skilled people and consuming a great deal of time and resources. However, off-the-shelf systems can be limited in terms of performance, and businesses often find themselves working around the software instead of the software working round them.

Luckily users requiring support for their off-the-shelf system have the peace of mind of knowing that the software is tried and tested, and support is readily available.

An alternative way to access the more expensive off-the-shelf products is through a managed services company. They purchase the products and allow clients to use them as part of a managed services contract, which results in a much more cost effective solution.

Although the customer does not then have ownership and management rights, the software is made affordable, and the problem of it becoming outdated and even obsolete is eliminated.

Unless the company has some amazingly unique scenario (that would not have been picked up by the thousands of off the shelf solutions) many companies can buy a suitable off-the-shelf solution that is the result of hundreds of thousands of man-hours of development and fine tuning.

However, the availability of software off-the-shelf at very low prices bears no comparison with the cost of the processes involved. The low prices are the result of mass marketing - meaning that many companies within the same market sector have access to the same software, so there is no competitive advantage to be gained from it.

If existing processes or those that a company is wishing to develop are unique to the business, products or services, then a bespoke solution is likely to fit better. It will deliver a more appropriate result than a commercial off the shelf solution.

A third option to consider is a compromise between off-the-shelf and bespoke solutions. Specialist IT companies can develop systems using a mixture of commercial off-the-shelf software which can be modified by them to fit in exactly with the customer's requirements.

By matching the needs of the customer to an existing product, the challenge is then to integrate it seamlessly into the company, with little or no disruption to existing working practices. This provides an immediate competitive advantage to the customer who is not then operating the same system as direct competitors.

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The Pareto 80:20 principle can be applied to this scenario. Having 80 per cent of the application already available enables the remaining 20 per cent to be configured specific to customer requirements.

This type of environment is especially suited to workflow or process driven requirements, where the engine and administration aspects of the application are already available and the 20 per cent bespoke configuration allows rule sets and process specific to the customer to be easily implemented.

Other benefits that become apparent are the cost savings. Modifications or additions to an existing software package shouldn't run into the tens of thousands of pounds that a full system development would cost. This is a much more manageable project for an in-house IT team that also has ongoing IT issues to deal with.

The challenge that lies ahead is how to combine the two to capitalize on the strengths of each while eliminating the weaknesses. Customers are increasingly demanding 'smart' solutions, and more companies need to respond by offering them.

8. A software selection sample

To provide a concrete example of the process of making a choice of going off-the-shelf or bespoke is to use a Content management System (CMS) sample.

If you're thinking about developing your corporate web site, you are going to have to make decisions on the following three main areas:

1. How you're going to build it 2. How you'll test it 3. How you'll develop it in the long term

Building your site

When you plan your site, one of the decisions you're going to have to make is whether or not to use a content management system.

A content management system – or CMS – comprises a set of templates which, in turn, you can use to make up your site. The great benefit of a CMS is that it allows the people who write for your site to manage the content themselves, rather than having to rely on the technical team to do it for them. You get control, timely updates, consistency and cost effective site maintenance and your contributors get to take responsibility for their own work. The options are: (1) you could buy into one of the large-scale content management platforms that are available, or (2) you could use software that has been developed for you by a specialist provider.

1. Bespoke vs. off-the-shelf CMS

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Big CMS sells the dream of easily updated web sites, content published in multiple formats to a myriad of devices and platforms.

A large off-the-shelf CMS can work well for sites where most of the content needs to be updated frequently and where you have sufficient, trained editorial staff to keep feeding the system with new material.

But not all pages of your site have to be updated frequently. These are the pages over which you need control. Large corporate sites may have hundreds of pages, but only a small proportion of them may need to be frequently updated.

If you use a bespoke CMS, you get to define something that's appropriate for your site and for your editorial resources. You can take charge of pages in high-priority areas or with fast-changing content, such as news releases, hotspots and contact information, and can have the ability to upload important PDF documents. You can leave the more complex storytelling pages to your agency – if you like.

There's also the question of flexibility. If your web site specification is evolving, or if it varies across your organization, then a bespoke approach will tend to work best. Large CMS, with its rigid, pre-built templates and structures, just is not flexible enough.

Good sites are scalable. This is because organizations tend to evolve and their sites will need to evolve with them. If you go for the big CMS option you can become tied to inflexible and outdated designs and structures.

Flexibility is also about being able to react to changing standards. Take accessibility for instance. The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) means that corporate web sites must be accessible to users with disabilities. Although most modern CMS systems have caught up now, for a while, large-scale CMS vendors struggled to make their systems accessible. Some companies were left with sites that could not easily be made accessible to users because this was not included in the original CMS specification. Making the sites accessible would mean abandoning the old inaccessible templates and commissioning new code – a time and cost intensive process.

This round clearly points to going bespoke. Bespoke providers tend to have a strong service orientation and will build up a comprehensive understanding of the site, its users and the organization's needs over time. 

2. Hand coding vs. machine coding

If you don't use a CMS, you'll need someone to code your site. And here you'll face the same old question: will you have your site hand coded or will you use a generic WYSIWYG editor?

As with CMS, we definitely come down on the hand-crafted, bespoke side of the argument. If your site is hand coded, then you can be sure that everything is created to your specifications – not those of the creator of the software – and you'll have far greater control over the generated page. The code should work more efficiently and be easier to debug, check and alter.

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In fact, if you have real people writing your code, then it's much more likely that they'll be able to sort out any problems that may arise. They'll understand how the code works, which might not be the case if people are relying on a coding tool to do the job for them.

Accessibility is an issue here too. The majority of WYSIWYG editors are still founded upon pixel-based design, and so provide limited flexibility for relative font sizing. This is symptomatic of WYSIWYG editors' limited support for accessible coding – they tend to produce code that nods toward the standards, but doesn't reach them.

Another one for bespoke.

Round 3: Brand and design

Let us now talk about the content that goes in the pages.

Successful corporate web sites fully explore a concept and think about brand. They may contain highly designed pages that are integral to telling the organization's brand story.

The issue here is flexibility. If you use a pre-built CMS to create your pages, there's a danger that its templates will end up dictating the design. Your designers will have little flexibility and may find it difficult to create and maintain a satisfactory brand experience. 

An off-the-shelf site will do nothing to differentiate you from your competitors.

A bespoke approach gives you the flexibility to develop designs that fulfill your brand and meet the needs of your company and your audiences.

4. Testing your site

Once your site has been built, it needs to be tested. There are two ways: manual testing and automatic testing

Automatic testing companies use specialist software which goes through the pages of your site compiling a report of all the errors it finds. These errors are not about whether the site works or not but they show discrepancies between how your site has been programmed and the formal definition of HTML that the software is using.

Manual testing users live programmers to test the system using a range of set ups, operating systems, connection packages and machines.

Manual testing appears to have an edge on this aspect.

5: Live user testing vs. automatic testing for accessibility

Accessibility testing needs people to be thinking through the issues and how they affect each other. One of the most interesting developments in this area has been the launch of Usability Exchange, which brings together site creators and disabled end users to improve web accessibility and usability.

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Bespoke testing puts the user experience first and that's something that's more important than any automatically generated score or coding checklist.

6. User behavior analysis vs. usage data retrieval

To find out how people are using your site, you need information. You could press a button on WebTrends or a similar analytics package, and get a nice thick report. However, in an undigested format, the data is difficult to understand.

To make the data useful, someone needs to do an analysis. A bespoke approach is the only logical thing to use.

9. Impact of computerization on the operations of an organization

Computerization has moved the world from the industrial age to the information age. With almost everything done almost instantly, the world has suddenly grown smaller. What used to take days to finish, now is done almost instantaneously.

Computerization has changed the way we do things. Take communications for instance. Writing letters involved drafting, correcting and finalizing, then dropping it to a mailbox. This perhaps took four or even 15 days to complete. With the use of an email, all we have to do is type your letter and press the send button and your message is sent immediately. You don’t even have to correct typographical errors.

Another example is making financial projections. Before computerization, it takes about two weeks to prepare and correct a financial forecast, using adding machines. Any change would require another week to make. With a spreadsheet, it takes about two days to make the assumptions and encode the needed data. You can change your assumptions as often as you wish by just changing some data. Now it would take about four days to have a financial forecast done.

10. Conclusion

On the basis of the issues and arguments presented above, selecting between off-the-shelf and bespoke systems is not a clear cut process. A company that wants to be ahead of the packs can have a mix of off-the-shelf and bespoke systems, with the really critical operations going bespoke.

ooo

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Bibliography

Custom softwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custom_software

How to Choose a Content Management System to Build an Authority Websitehttp://inigo.net/eventure/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/eventure_cms_and_blogs_150307.pdf

The benefits of bespoke ecommerce system developmentwww.iabuk.net/media/images/The%20benefits%20of%20bespoke%20ecommerce%20development_576.doc

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Appendix 1

Advantages and Disadvantages of Off-the-Shelf and Bespoke Software

Type of Software Advantages Disadvantages

Off-the-Shelf Easy and quick to install Generic - does not solve specific needs

Cheap. Even free if bundled with advertisements

Frequent updates

Can be used immediately Difficult to learn. May need some form of outside training to fully utilize its features.

` Very efficient. Low branding image. You are identified with the rest of the world.

Very comprehensive May not have been designed with integration in mind and therefore the ability to transfer data between systems may have a major impact on the inter-operation of systems.User has to adapt his operations to the features made availableDifficult to upgrade to satisfy changing needs of user

Bespoke Solves identified specific needs Long waiting timeEasy to use after training Requires definition of specific

needsProvides answers to specific questions. Also provides reports that are required by external agencies.

Hard to repair

Improves branding image by incorporating specific brand features.

Requires supervision

Very efficient. Addresses identified specific needs of user.

Expensive. Cost covers design, development, installation, testing, documentation and user training. Recurring costs are also included to fix bugs or upgrade to meet changing needs.

Allows for full integration, meeting the legislation or key business objectives.System designed with forward-looking IT plans grows with the growth of user.

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