Software can dramatically improve the efficiency of a business and therefore save money and valuable time for managers. It systems have become an integral part of most businesses these days and is used by businesses in various sectors including:
The trouble with off-the-shelf software is it is built intended to sell as many units as possible to maximise profit, therefore the developers build the software to appeal to as many businesses as possible. When you purchase off-the-shelf software you may find it has functionality which you don't need - which may slow down common tasks such as processing a sale or invoicing a customer. As every business operates differently to the next, you are likely to find there are little things you want the application such as "a report that listed this" or "a button here that did that" which is why businesses see bespoke software as a preferred option to off-the-shelf software.
Some employees need to access their system remotely so they can work from home or "on-the-go" and as a result, more and more applications are becoming web-based using PHP and ASP technologies.
Larger companies are likely to have more than one system in place and are likely to have different software at different levels of the organisation and in different departments. Companies may use different pieces of software for marketing, accounting and HR which provide the different functionality required by each department.
In a typical business you would expect to see transaction processing software which handles day to day transactions which would be used by low-level managers to make operation decisions. You would also expect to see some form of management information system which would pull all of the data from the transaction processing system to creating meaningful information for managers to make tactical decisions. Strategic decisions would be made by top-level managers using executive information systems which they would use to plan to the long term future of the business.
When creating a bespoke application it is important to test the software thoroughly which is usually a very tedious and time-consuming process. It is important to test each part of the software individually and as a whole to ensure each function interacts with each other without errors. Although most testing is done in-house to avoid disruption to the business it is also important to test the software as a whole once more once it is in its environment. The bespoke application will usually require creative maintenance once any bugs are detected and it is also likely to require perfective modifications once it is live in the business environment and being used by its end-user.
- Retail
- Manufacturing
- Legal
- Financial
- Property
- Marketing
The trouble with off-the-shelf software is it is built intended to sell as many units as possible to maximise profit, therefore the developers build the software to appeal to as many businesses as possible. When you purchase off-the-shelf software you may find it has functionality which you don't need - which may slow down common tasks such as processing a sale or invoicing a customer. As every business operates differently to the next, you are likely to find there are little things you want the application such as "a report that listed this" or "a button here that did that" which is why businesses see bespoke software as a preferred option to off-the-shelf software.
Some employees need to access their system remotely so they can work from home or "on-the-go" and as a result, more and more applications are becoming web-based using PHP and ASP technologies.
Larger companies are likely to have more than one system in place and are likely to have different software at different levels of the organisation and in different departments. Companies may use different pieces of software for marketing, accounting and HR which provide the different functionality required by each department.
In a typical business you would expect to see transaction processing software which handles day to day transactions which would be used by low-level managers to make operation decisions. You would also expect to see some form of management information system which would pull all of the data from the transaction processing system to creating meaningful information for managers to make tactical decisions. Strategic decisions would be made by top-level managers using executive information systems which they would use to plan to the long term future of the business.
When creating a bespoke application it is important to test the software thoroughly which is usually a very tedious and time-consuming process. It is important to test each part of the software individually and as a whole to ensure each function interacts with each other without errors. Although most testing is done in-house to avoid disruption to the business it is also important to test the software as a whole once more once it is in its environment. The bespoke application will usually require creative maintenance once any bugs are detected and it is also likely to require perfective modifications once it is live in the business environment and being used by its end-user.
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