But cost alone is somewhat superficial.
Advantages of using off the shelf software.
What is off the shelf software.
It is a product developed for the mass market which means it is expected to respond to the needs of as many users as possible offering many more features than a bespoke solution would.
They are often available to implement straight away so you can have your team or department using the system within days or weeks.
The organization need to invest a lot of their time in providing requirements to the outsourcing company or to your in house software development team.
Some software packages are reputed to have 90 of their functionality unused.
Software updates and upgrades.
This is because it is a pre made product created for the mass market.
As the name suggests off the shelf software is ready to use right from the very beginning.
Main differences between bespoke.
Some even say that at best an off the shelf solution meets only 80 of your needs.
While off the shelf solutions will give benefits quickly it may take months or years to actually get the custom software delivered.
As it has already been developed and is purchased multiple times the cost is therefore reduced as it is spread.
An off the shelf product is usually the cheapest way to purchase a new software solution.
There are strong benefits when considering an off the shelf solution primarily the low up front cost.
Off the shelf software tends to be a cheaper than bespoke development at the initial purchase stage which tends to be the reason why so many companies choose pre configured systems.