Questions to Ask the Software Development Company Working on Your Custom Software

If you are having custom software made for your business, there are a few things you need to ask your chosen software developer. These questions will help you determine if your developer is heading in the right direction that you want. These will also help you find out how they will tackle the creation of your custom software.

Finding the right software developer for your custom software needs is crucial to your company since you will be using what they create for your business. What they produce for you will directly affect your bottom line, so knowing how they will tackle your project help you see if they understand what you want and what you need from them.

Ask about project timelines 

This should be asked at the beginning of the project. Knowing when to expect certain updates in the development of your custom software is important. This will give you an idea as to when your software will eventually be delivered.

Ask about how they are planning on tackling the project 

A good software company will let you know how they address a project and what their first step will be when they begin work. The best companies usually assess the needs of your business before starting anything, and this usually involves a discussion with you regarding requirements.

Ask if they will develop your software in-house or if they outsource 

While this usually does not create any problems regarding development and quality, it can cause issues if rework needs to be done and the contractor cannot be reached. It can also be a source of maintenance worries if the contractor that worked on your project can no longer be reached since maintenance is an ongoing task for custom software.

Ask who your point person will be 

You will also need to know who you will need to contact for issues regarding the development of your software. This same person will also be the one you can ask about updates, ask questions from, and discuss any changes with. Having a single point person rather than a few different individuals to contact will help reduce the chances of anything getting lost in translation.

Ask about the future development of the software and possible updates

As your business grows, there will be a need for your software to grow with you. Changes that occur with your processes should be easily translated into your custom software and asking your developer about this will help make things easier for you. This way, you won’t need to worry about the need to find someone else to help create new software for your changing needs.

Ask about intellectual rights 

This can be a touchy subject, particularly if you have processes that you don’t want your competitors to get a hold of. If your processes are not exactly top secret, this should not be a cause for worry. It is common practice for software developers to retain intellectual rights to the software that they create. This is to help them utilize any element in the development of other software in the future. This is also what helps them develop your software faster since they get to use elements that were used in previous projects similar to yours.

Ask about changes in your software needs mid-development 

Sometimes, this is unavoidable. Changes in what you need your custom software to do can arise when breakthroughs and developments on your side occur. Asking about this beforehand will help prepare you for possible additional costs when changes need to be made. There are some developers however who give their clients a more flexible arrangement, as long as it is within scope and happens early-on in the project and not a few days before delivery.

These are just a few of the things you should ask your custom software developer. Companies like Custom Software by CS Preston understand the need for transparency and being upfront when it comes to discussions with clients. This will help prevent misunderstandings and wasted time as well as effort in putting together what you need. Getting things squared away before work starts, and opening a line of communication that remains open during this working relationship, is also crucial to the success of such a project.

To get the kind of help you need from us for your software requirements, contact us at 919 689 6022. You can also reach us via our contact page or email us at dev@cspreston.com with your queries.

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Mistakes People Make When Buying Custom Software

The main reason why businesses end up ordering custom software is due to off-the-shelf software not meeting their expectations and needs. Sometimes, the reason why custom software development is considered is due to the growing needs of the company, which can no longer be addressed by generic software. No matter what reasons your business may have for buying custom software from a developer, there are a few mistakes that you should avoid.

Thinking that you are buying a product similar to off-the-shelf software

Companies that have custom software made for their business need to understand a number of things regarding this particular purchase. When you buy off-the-shelf software, you are buying a product that everyone else can use. When you order a customized system for your business, you are having something made specifically to your needs that not everyone in your industry can use.

In short, you are having software that only your company can use, crafted specifically with your processes and needs in mind. This is in no way similar to off-the-shelf products that cannot be tweaked to your specifications. What you are essentially buying is more of a process rather than a product.

Setting deadlines that are immovable

This is another mistake that some companies make when buying custom software to be developed. They set deadlines that are too rigid and end up complaining that it does not work as smoothly or as efficiently as they expect it to. While it is understood that there is a need for a delivery date, a few days or weeks over such a delivery date should be expected, particularly if the software’s features are not as common as those found in off-the-shelf options.

A little leeway should be given to help iron out bugs, kinks, and issues that often arise with custom software. A testing period is crucial to getting any of these issues out of the way.  This can make developers overshoot deadlines. The result, however, would be software that will give your company the edge it needs over its competitors.

Not specifying exactly what you need for your business

Some people order custom software to be made but are vague about what they want.  These to actually do for them. They talk about what they need and what features they want their customized software to have.  Don’t explain what functions and processes they need these to do. This can create problems when the software is delivered and it does not address what the company actually wants it to achieve.

Talking with your developer about what you need your software to do and achieve instead of just talking about design, features, and generalities can help them give you exactly what you need. It will also help if you specify what your software’s goal is and what you want it to do for your company.

Over-negotiating the cost of development

Who does not like a bargain? When you buy stuff, you often check the price before you head for the cashier. If an item is on sale, you usually purchase it immediately.  Particularly if the markdown is more than half of its original price. What people may not realize is that markdowns are usually done due to a number of reasons.  The product is outdated, it has flaws, or it is not as good as it looks.

This same logic can be applied to custom software. If you over-negotiate the cost of buying custom software, don’t expect it to be what you want it to be. Some things can end up being compromised when rates are chopped down. This means necessary steps have been skipped.  Inexperienced coders that don’t get paid much were used.  Extensive testing was not done to weed out bugs due to budgetary constraints.

These are a few of the mistakes people make when they buying custom software for their enterprise. Avoiding these will help you get the kind of software that will help your business thrive. It will also help you find the right developer for your company.   Since quality software development companies do not subscribe to this way of thinking.  Often educate their clients regarding such faux pas when it comes to having software made.

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Software Development Trends for the Coming Year

As the year 2018 is about to come to an end, the predictions for software development trends in the coming year are beginning to emerge. Every year, experts in the field give enthusiasts and fellow coders their list of software trends that they feel will dominate in the coming year. These lists often consist of technology innovations that are deemed to be the ones most companies will want to have developed for their businesses.

Software developers predicted that there would be a rise in the development of software that focused on AI.  Will also focused on cryptocurrency or blockchain technology, and smart software. Sure enough, these predictions came true and lots of software developers focused their energies on these 2018 trends. In 2019, which of these will continue to become the focus of programmers worldwide and are there new trends that you should look out for?

 

 

2018 Software Development Trends That Will Continue in the Coming Year     

Of the many software development trends of 2018, there are about 4 or more that are seen to carry over in the coming year. These are those trends that are deemed to be still worth exploring in the coming year and are also seen as necessary by many programmers as well as software companies. These include:

Artificial Intelligence 

Automation will be a necessity by many corporations.  Primarily because it speeds up processes which help increase revenues. With automation comes the need for AI that can easily perform tasks that don’t require too much thinking. These include email responses, answering commonly asked basic queries, setting schedules, and solving basic problems.

Blockchain Technology 

This is another trend that is seen to stretch into 2019 by software experts and enthusiasts alike. Whoever said cryptocurrency is on a downward slide is wrong.  More and more people seem to be getting on this bandwagon.  They have the belief that it is the money of the future. Aside from cryptocurrency, blockchain can also be used to record anything of value. This means it can be used to do just about anything, with companies like IBM and Oracle.  Amazon is also among those seen to utilize this.

Cybersecurity

With all the hacking and breaches going on, it is no wonder that cybersecurity will continue to take center stage in the software development arena in the coming year.  So this means that there will be more effort into creating a more secure online environment for your information. This is because those who aim to get a hold of your info are not resting on their laurels. Continuous attacks on various institutions online guarantees improvement of cybersecurity software will be focused on.

Progressive Web Apps 

The continued development of sites that act like applications on your browser will continue in 2019. Those who want their sites to translate well on browsers often look to this trend. This is because these allow them to give their users the same usability and ease-of-use that they can get from a custom app, even when what they are accessing is a website on a browser.

These are just a few of the software development trends that became popular in 2018.  We are expecting this to continue on this wave of popularity in 2019.  Also, there will be a few new trends in software development that will make their appearance in the New Year.  These ones from the previous year won’t fade away that easily. 

If you want to have customized software developed for your company or want to know more about custom software that you might be able to use for your enterprise, there is also a company in Chicago that can help you with this. CS Preston is also a software development company that specializes in a variety of services, with custom software development being its primary offering.

We are CS Preston and we can help you figure out what your company needs in terms of custom software, website development, and custom web design.  So don’t hesitate to contact us today at 919 689 6022. You can also contact us via our email dev@cspreston.com.

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Why Your Company Will Benefit From Using Custom Software

Not all companies consider using custom software for their business. Some simply rely on off-the-shelf software for their company’s needs, without realizing that there are better alternatives. While ready-made software can work for you and your business, it does not guarantee that it will effectively do what you need.

Some of the software that you buy may do one or two tasks that you want it to do. This cannot accomplish all the things that you need to have done. This means you will need to buy more than one type of software to get all the tasks you want to get done accomplished. This means you will need to spend more than you expected.

Aside from that, more software means more tools for your people to learn how to use. This also means that work will take longer to finish since each process will require a shift from one tool to another. While these reasons should be enough to encourage you to use custom software, there are actually more reasons why customized software should be considered for your business.

What is custom software?

Before tackling more reasons why customized software should be considered, let us first understand what it is. In a nutshell, custom software is specifically for a business, with functionality that covers any process that a company needs to have covered. Also called bespoke software, these help a business go through processes without the need to shift from one program to another.

Software that is not tailor-made for your business only serves to add to the workload of your personnel. They end up doing a lot of tasks manually, track and analyze data the old fashioned way, and even end up with tons of paperwork that could be avoided. Sometimes, simple tasks become too complex due to the absence of custom software.

Benefits of Custom Software

There is a lot that you can gain when you decide to have custom software made for your business. Here are some of the top reasons most businesses cite:

• Cost-effective 

  When you have custom software made to cover all of the processes your company needs to have covered.  You essentially streamline the works you can complete. This helps reduce your costs considerably due to the fact that people work more efficiently. This does not mean that a custom software is cheap. Rather, it means that the cost of having one specific software for everyone to use to do a multitude of tasks will benefit the company in the long run.

• Secure 

  Off-the-shelf software is easy for hackers to break into. Why? Well, for starters, it is readily available. This means they can easily get a copy, figure out what defenses these have.  Find a way to get through these defenses. When you opt for custom software, security is higher and you end up with a system that is not easy to penetrate. This is because hackers won’t know what vulnerabilities to take advantage of.

• Scalable 

  Custom software is also easier to alter and adjust according to your needs as these change along the way. This is, of course, dependent on the company that you commissioned for the job. When you choose to use ready-made software, you cannot alter and update these according to your growing and changing needs. This can equate to added costs due to the need for new software to cover new processes and additional training. This can eat into your bottom line since it will require people getting off work to train.  Also, purchasing new software every now and then.

• Efficiency 

  Of course, the best reason why you should consider getting custom software for your company is the efficiency it brings to your process. It streamlines everything, giving your workers an easier time to complete things. This equates to them using less time and effort to accomplish business goals, which in turn is a boon for your business since you get to accomplish more things in a short amount of time.

These are just some of the things that you can expect from having custom software for your business. Other reasons some companies cite as to why they are happy that they want custom software.  These include reliability, adaptability, and exclusiveness. Also worth noting is that custom software actually offers better support and maintenance since companies like CS Preston in Chicago make it a point to offer clients after sales support.

When you need custom software to be made for your business, don’t hesitate to contact us at 919 689 6022. You can also get in touch with us via email at dev@cspreston.com. Aside from software development, we also offer website development for those companies that need to create an online presence.

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Part III: Videos and Online Games that Raise Mental Health Awareness

TECHNOLOGY has always worked in parallel with progress and innovation.

The rapid improvement of custom software development has paved the way to creating better programs and systems geared not only for the entertainment of people but more so for the public’s social, environmental and even mental health awareness.

One of the most entertaining tools various mobile add development companies‘ promote is the videos and online games.  

So, who says these videos and games cannot be all entertaining, informative, influential and educational?

Ellie Johnston (2012) from Climate Interactive gave the respective main ideas of these videos and games that raised mental health awareness:

Actual Sunlight

“Contrary to almost every video game, Actual Sunlight tells of a protagonist who doesn’t achieve, who never improves, whose lack of agency, inexplicable to both himself and others around him, has become the defining part of his character. Anyone who’s laid awake at night wondering what they’re doing with their lives.  One who’s noticed their ambitions receding in slow motion. Also, managed only a shrug in response — they are Evan Winter.

“This is not a game about success or the karmic rewards of personal struggle. Created by Will O’Neill, an independent developer also from Toronto.   Actual Sunlight is the story of a career you never wanted, a gym you never joined, the novel you didn’t even start.”

• Smith, 2015

The Cat Lady

“For Susan Ashworth, suicide is meant to be a way out, but it instead becomes a way forward.

“If you seek horror, The Cat Lady may sometimes freak you out, though probably not outright scare you. But that horror is in service of a touching character portrait — a portrait that’s authentically, poignantly askew.”

• GameSpot, 2014

The Town of Light

“Based on real accounts from the 1930s and ’40s, The Town of Light focuses on Renee, a young woman who’s suffered from severe mental illness for the majority of her life.

“Her struggle began with sporadic blackouts as a child and eventually developed into bouts of anxiety and the sounds of strange voices in her head.

“Pushed over the edge by the horrors of a sexual assault, Renee callously commits to the real-world Ospedale Psichiatrico di Volterra, an understaffed, overcrowded asylum in the Tuscan town of Volterra, Italy.”

• Hester, 2017

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Mobile App Development Trends You Can Make Money From

Videos & Online Games that Raise Environmental Awareness

WITH TODAY’S rapidly growing technology and custom software development (e.g. Chicago Custom Software Development), gaming already has the ability to not only entertain people but influence them as well.

As such, gaming, among other forms of online interactions and activities is a powerful tool which can pivot social and environmental change for the sake of mother earth, and hence, the future in general.

So, who says video and computer games cannot be both entertaining and educational? Clearly, they have not heard of these thrilling and fun-filled yet environmentally-aware games.

Ellie Johnston (2012) from Climate Interactive gave the respective main ideas of these climate change-combatting games:

Climate Challenge

“The player acts as a European leader who must make decisions for their nation to reduce CO2 emissions, but must also keep in mind public and international approval, energy, food, and financial needs.”

 Fate of the World

“A PC game that challenges players to solve the crises facing the Earth from natural disasters and climate change to political uprisings and international relations. It is available on Steam.”

My2050

“An interactive game to determine a scenario for the UK to lower its CO2 emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2050. The user can select from adjustments in sectors from energy to transit.”

In addendum, Saikat Basu from Make Use Of talks about environmental education through these children’s strategy online games that present ecological problems to the young gamers and let them design the solutions to combat these dilemmas:  

ClimWay

This game aims of combating climate change by providing the hands-on experience to the young minds through an interactive strategy game. In this game, players are given greenhouse gas emissions problems and are tasked to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent, decrease the use of energy by 40 percent, and increase the share of renewable energy by 60 percent.”

NOAA Games

NOAA, which stands for the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (who happens to be the brain of these games) focuses on the oceans and the air themes. They provide a site that serves a portal. “Each game addresses the key concerns of our planet and also demonstrates solutions that can work in the real world.”

 

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