Nobody ever said that owning or running a business was going to be easy. While you may be resigned to the fact that you’ll always remain busy in some capacity, the truth is that you can take several steps to save yourself some valuable time, while also taking down your workload in general.

Now, we aren’t talking about automating everything to the point where you run your entire business from your phone. We are talking about delegating certain tasks and situations to custom software that can take care of these things in your place.

Custom Software...isn’t That for Big Corporations?

In the past, getting software developed for a business usually involved a lot of people, and a lot of money. While the results were usually favorable, getting functional custom software created and implemented was almost always reserved for high-grossing entities that sometimes had actual departments devoted to this sort of thing, or the resources to hire a firm.

If you’re anything other than a giant corporation, there’s a good chance that you don’t have another departement for anything. Your business is its own department. You don’t have the luxury of sending an email to the 10 people huddled in their cubicles on the 34th floor requesting a new computer program that can teach employees new procedures and practices by the end of the week...in seven languages, please (oh, and make it “fun”.)

Fortunately, custom software development is now more affordable and accessible than ever. There’s plenty of reasons why, but that’s not really important. What is important is that custom software can help you in several ways -- and that includes your bottom line.

Here are just a few of the many examples and applications of how custom developed software can improve your business, save you time, and save you money.

Scheduling

Whether you’re running a restaurant, delivery service, or store front, there is nothing more frustrating and time consuming than creating the schedule for the week or month. You have to account for requests off, peak business times, availability, and lots of other factors. If you’ve ever had to do this at some point, you probably still have nightmares about it.

Custom scheduling software can be created that automatically generates suggested schedules that account for all of these factors. Simply enter the information, click a button, and boom...schedule.

For some, this can save you almost an entire day, leaving you to worry about the actual operations of your business.

Performance Management

Tracking the performance of both employees and sales is a huge hassle if you are relying on written records and manilla folders. While you may feel like you have a good idea about the numbers being generated, depending on your own intuition rarely ever tells the whole story.

And then there’s that whole paper issue. Unless you have a yearning for years past, and actually enjoy organizing drawers and files, keeping physical records is not ideal.

Custom software can help you monitor and analyze individual employee performance in a streamlined way that’s best for your own preferences. The same goals for sales, and really any other numbers. Depending on the type of your business, you can choose to have software created that tracks performance specifically based on any relevant criteria you deem. This can help you identify both problem areas and strengths, which is mutually beneficial.

Training Programs

Employee training can be one of the most labor-intensive and costly processes a business of any type can deal with. The act of physically overseeing and conveying large portions of training for both new hires and current employees can eventually become repetitive and less effective.

Custom-developed training software allows for a user-guided training experience that is more focused, to the point, and in-depth. This provides business owners and/or management the opportunity to rely on the software for the bulk of training, ensuring a more consistent process that gives each employee the same level of standards and information.

The customized aspect truly gives businesses a way to fine-tune both the information itself, and the actual delivery of the information in a more optimal way that is more effective.

Point of Sale (POS)

This is probably one of the most obvious ways that custom software can help business. Countless business rely on POS software for everything from sending orders to a kitchen, to ringing up merchandises, to keeping track of inventory.

There are certainly some well-known POS systems out there that can work quite well, but the problem is that they almost always come with lots of unnecessary features and processes that can’t be used by a particular business. That’s perhaps the biggest issue with using one-size-fits-all software in the first place.

Customized POS software provides exactly everything you need for your own unique requirements-- and nothing more. This results in better efficiency, less training required, and just a more simplified POS process in general. There are more than a few advantages to this.

Looking for Custom Software Development?

Quality software requires experienced and proven developers who have a track record of creating ideal software for a variety of clients in numerous industries.

At MKE Software, we have over a decade of experience in developing customized software that aids businesses on a day to day basis. Our clients trust us to utilize their input and perspectives in order to create a finished product that is the most beneficial to the way they operate. We offer full end-to-end integration that can be delivered in stages based on time and budget. Contact us today for your free custom tailored software consultation! We’d love to help your business.