For most sectors, the business environment has never been more competitive. Not only are businesses grappling with the numerous challenges that the ongoing pandemic has thrown up, but customers are becoming increasingly demanding when it comes to their goods and services. The result of these factors is that to survive, businesses must adopt techniques and strategies that let them become faster, more effective, and capable of offering a better service to their customers.

One of the most obvious ways of achieving enhanced competitiveness is through the use of appropriate software. For many businesses, adopting software that enables them to do more, faster and better is a method of galvanizing productivity, profitability, and customer care that's straightforward to complete and that provides almost instant results.

Take a look at the benefits of custom software development (where a piece of software is customized to the specific needs of your organization) and the advantages that adopting a SaaS application can bring. Find out how the cloud can influence the software development process, how the right development process methodology can create superior software results, and further explanation of the various programming languages out there. At folio1, we can also provide information on the type of programming language that's going to be best for your requirements.

The Process of Custom Software Development

What is Custom Software?

From programs to operating systems and more, the software provides the programming needed for computers to operate successfully. At folio1, our software engineers can create software that's geared to the specific needs of your organization.

Custom software is software that's written specifically for your organization. For example, if you want content management systems, debugging programs, a tailor-made e-commerce solution, or the automation of a particular business system, custom software is the perfect solution.

We recognize that in some cases, our clients need a fresh approach to solving their software needs - that's where custom software can be a good option.

How Does Custom Software Differ?

Custom software is built and designed to meet the needs of the organization services a client is providing to their customers. Software may also be commissioned to meet the needs of individual business operations (for example automating system processes).

folio1 builds and develops server-side software to integrate backend system services. We also build software to integrate third-party systems if that's what our clients need. Our flexible software development services enable us to create a range of different software solutions, allowing clients to complete activities such as:

• Automated data processing
• Automated reporting
• Sending emails
• Running an ML model for data classification
• End to end SaaS design & development

Custom software development refers to the process through which software engineers and solution architects design and develop software.

The development process includes a step-by-step process to design the requirements needed to plan the development process. This enables us to come up with overall solutions that are the best fit for our customers' needs.

Our approach to software development is achieved through the Azure cloud services architectural design solution. The Azure cloud services can be developed to suit whatever outcomes the custom software application needs to deliver. Some of the Azure Cloud Services we utilize include:

• Azure Function
• Event Grid
• Service Bus
• API Management
• Azure Cognitive Services

Custom software also involves the development and design of the user interface (front end) of the application. We always pay considerable attention to how user-friendly the software is, ensuring that where there is a point of user interaction, the user experience is as smooth, fast and intuitive as possible.

What Benefits Does Custom Software Offer?

• Made to your specific requirements.
• Usually appreciates in value over time.
• Designed to be future-proof.
• Scalability - as your organization evolves, your software evolves with it.
• On-going maintenance.
• Enhanced security.

For many businesses custom software provides the boost, they need to get ahead.

What Type of Company can Benefit from Custom Software?

The short answer is that almost any company can benefit from using the right software. If you operate in the digital environment, using efficient software is going to put you in an advantageous position.

What Language is Going to be Best for my Software?

The software can be written in a variety of different languages, including Python, Java, Ruby, and C++. Each has its own, unique benefits. As part of the service we provide, the team at folio1 will select a language that's best suited to your software needs and existing infrastructure.

What are Cloud-Based Software Solutions?

In the past, companies used to store digital information on servers - computers or computer programs that provided the service other users needed - for example, computers in a corporate network could all access a central server that held a corporate database.

The modern alternative to this is a cloud-based system. Cloud-based software can perform exactly the same function as a server but is located virtually (online). Using a cloud-based system has several major advantages over using a server - a reduced need for corporately owned storage, for example, as well as increased security and greater flexibility - users can access cloud-based systems anywhere they have an internet connection, which is vital given the current trend towards remote working.

Cloud-based software is an economic, secure, and cost-effective method of obtaining the infrastructure a company needs to operate. At folio 1, we're an Azure partner - Azure is the leading cloud-based Microsoft application for developing software that's suitable for use in windows data centres. 

What is SaaS and what are its Advantages?

SaaS (software as services) is a way of getting access to the software you need, when and where you need it. If your company needs access to a piece of software, you can access it from the cloud by paying a subscription for its use.

The software isn't downloaded to your computer, as used to be the case. Rather, it's stored and accessed virtually (on the Internet). Flexible subscription terms and costs ensure a business gets the best value from SaaS, in addition to the added benefits that using the software as services brings. With SaaS, you never need to pay for upgrades or updates and security levels are high. As the software is shared (securely) with multiple users, economies of scale also apply.

folio1 provides a complete suite of software development solutions (including SaaS (software as services) across Melbourne and Sydney. Using cloud-native technology and an agile methodology, we develop applications that can complete almost any task.

What are Custom Software Development Solutions?

Although custom software and software development solutions are related (a software development solution is a type of software), software development is focused on creating a program that will complete a specific task. Often known as applications (or Apps), custom software development delivers the solutions you need in a way that's adaptable, economical, and attractive. Popular for use on the small screen, if you need software that will provide a particular outcome, you need software development.

What are the Advantages of a Custom Software Development Solution?

• Exclusivity - a custom app can enable your company to give customers a service they don't get from your competitors.
• Adaptability - Apps can be designed to adapt and evolve to keep in step with your requirements. 
• Increase reach - Apps are an excellent way to reach the growing small screen market.
• Optimize your business - applications can be designed to do almost anything! If there's a specific function that's holding your business back, an app can take care of it.
• Improve Competitiveness - Apps provide you, your partners and your customers with more. If chosen and utilized correctly, the right piece of custom software development could make a marked difference to your competitiveness, whether that's through reducing overheads, speeding up production, or providing better customer care.

What Type of Company can Benefit from Custom Software Development?

Custom software development can be used to make almost any business more effective. One of the joys of opting for a custom application is that it can be tailored to fit with whatever you've already got in place. In many cases, an application can fill a gap in your tech operation without the need to replace an entire platform or operating system.

If you need to motivate your workforce, increase productivity or streamline your operation, the right App is going to tick those boxes.

Cloud-Native Technologies

The team at Folio1 offers sophisticated software development services that enable clients to benefit from the use of cutting-edge (cloud-native) technology as part of the software development process. With a heavy reliance on cloud-based solutions, Folio1 creates software solutions that are built to last!

In our view, cloud-native technology provides the best way to deliver the software development solutions our clients deserve. Named cloud-native technology because of its use in developing cloud-based applications (rather than server-based applications). We use tools such as immutable infrastructure, microservices, Kubernetes, continuous delivery technology, and agile methodologies to deliver the software solutions our clients need. Contemporary, cost-effective, and future-proof, cloud-based software delivers high-grade answers to a wide range of business issues.

Once your software has been created and is operational, we provide ongoing support and assistance services  - in the unlikely event that you experience a glitch or problem with your software operation, we're here to help.

When you access our SaaS, you're buying access to secure, modern software that's kept updated on a regular basis. If you want to virtually eliminate maintenance and upgrade costs, SaaS is the way to go! 

folio1 offers complete custom software and software development solutions for businesses in and around Sydney and Melbourne. No matter what you want to achieve, we can come up with a software solution to make it happen for you.

Get in touch to find out more about our capabilities, or to discuss your software requirements in more detail.