Why Custom Applications Are Critical in Your Digital Transformation Strategy

Digital transformation used to be optional. Not anymore. Cookie-cutter business applications used to be acceptable. That’s no longer the case.

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing many organizations to digitally transform fast, not just as a strategy for growth but more as a means of survival. “Companies are trying to do in a few weeks or months what would usually take a couple of years,” says a report from Fast Company.

While it’s tempting to simply purchase off-the-shelf software suites to digitize parts of the business, they don’t always fit the bill, and can end up being more costly to customize and roll out in the long run.

The truth is no two businesses are identical; organizations need custom solutions to meet their unique challenges, processes and goals.

If you truly want to digitally transform your organization today, build custom applications that are tailored to your exact requirements. Here’s why.

Let us know via a free consultation if there’s a custom app you wish you had and we’ll help you build it — fast.

The Case for Creating Custom Applications

According to Gartner, businesses must rethink the customer experience, embrace digital business and redefine models and processes to remain competitive. Custom apps can help you meet these goals.

In Caspio’s Low Code: The Business Transformation Game-Changer report, we found that 93% of executives believe custom apps bring strategic business advantages to their organization. In short, custom applications can make your business competitive.

We also found that the top drivers for developing custom apps are optimizing customer experiences, optimizing internal workflows, and delivering and improving new products/services — areas that not only directly impact revenue and competitiveness, but also help companies digitally transform.

Going custom, however, is easier said than done.

Why Companies Struggle to Build Custom Digital Tools

Businesses understand that unlike years ago, they cannot rely on off-the-shelf software solutions alone anymore; they need to include custom business software in the mix.

However, creating custom digital solutions using traditional development methods can be costly and time-consuming. In our research, we found that 81% of businesses have insufficient to no budget for custom app development. To make matters worse, 47% also report a lack of IT talent.

Businesses today have neither resources nor patience for traditional software development; not when their survival is on the line.

With the sudden transition to remote or hybrid work operations due to the pandemic, organizations now face more demand for business-critical cloud apps, such as a custom CRM or knowledge base.

With limited resources and IT talent, how then can you address the urgent need for custom business applications and help your organization digitally transform?  

Leverage Low Code to Build Critical Custom Apps

Low-code development helps businesses digitally transform by enabling them to build custom applications to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences or launch new products and services — all without the complexities of traditional software development.

J-W Power, which operates the largest privately owned natural gas compression fleet in the country, used low-code development to meet the demand for “homegrown” applications. Despite a longstanding industry recession and a short-staffed IT team, they built their first app with Caspio within a month and created more than a dozen other digital tools within six months.

SonTek, which is part of $5-billion company Xylem, manufactures products that measure the flow and the depth of oceans, rivers and other bodies of water. Inundated with phone calls about repairs, they built a service request tracker that enables their customers to track the status of repairs online in real time. Repair-related calls subsided by 50% thanks to their custom low-code app.

ADSR Technologies recognized an opportunity to provide auto dealerships with cloud-based CRMs and sales report systems. However, they lacked the IT environment to support their newfound venture. ADSR took advantage of Caspio’s all-in-one platform to build and host apps for clients without coding, allowing them to launch a new business at much lower costs.

Driving Digital Transformation Amid a Global Crisis

COVID-19 has disrupted businesses worldwide, and many were caught unprepared.

A survey by Xerox showed that 72% of IT decision-makers were not fully prepared for the sudden shift to work-from-home operations. Almost a third say technology is their biggest pain point in this new normal.

However, this does not mean that you should put digital transformation initiatives on hold. In fact, there’s no better time than now to digitally transform.

With Caspio, build cloud applications 10-20x faster than traditional development and without hiring additional IT personnel, so you can quickly help your business thrive amid a global crisis.

Use Caspio’s low-code development platform to create all the custom applications that are critical to your digital transformation strategy. Optimize operations, improve customer experiences and launch new services with custom apps you can build without having to write code.

Need a custom application to digitize your organization?

Caspio is committed to help you mitigate the impact of this pandemic on your business. For urgent application development needs, schedule a free consultation and we’ll do our best to prioritize your requirements.