Many IT Firms Struggle to Offer Customized Solutions

Every customer wants customized services.

Many IT firms provide great IT services, but they still struggle to offer customized solutions to their clients.

In this post, we will see why many IT firms struggle to offer customized solutions.

By customized solutions, we are talking about customized services based on ERP providers such as SAP, Tally, etc. Let’s learn more about it and then we will discuss why it’s hard to provide such services.

What Are Customized Solutions?

Customized solutions are business software designed to meet the unique requirements of a specific industry.

These systems can range from customer relationship management (CRM) tools to enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

The base software is already built and the services are offered as a customization.

For example:

Oracle’s ERP Solutions: Oracle offers ERP systems for a company’s specific workflow. Many companies offer complete customized services for integrating various functions like finance, supply chain, and human resources.

Tally’s Accounting Software: Tally provides customizable accounting software that businesses can modify to suit their accounting practices. SAP’s Business Solutions: SAP offers modules for different business areas like finance, sales, and the industry we love the most – logistics. Companies can select and customize these modules according to their needs. The IT firms provide services that offer customized solutions built on SAP.

Why Many IT Firms Struggle to Offer Customized Solutions?

Let’s see why it’s hard to offer customized solutions. These are only a few reasons why many firms don’t even offer these services. We recommend going through the entire reason to know more details about the same.

(a) Lack of Mastership

Offering services for complex software like SAP, Oracle, or Ramco requires a team of specialized consultants and developers.

Finding experts who have a deep understanding of these systems and the skills to customize them is tough.

In today’s world, it’s even harder for small companies to find a good developer.

SAP consultants, for example, need knowledge of specific modules and business processes. Further, depending on the services you provide as a company, they might even need good experience in implementation and customization.

Small IT firms often struggle to hire and retain these specialists

It’s always harder to find the right people who will work for you. These people prefer to work for a good company that has great job security as well. So, you need to keep that in mind too. This brings us to the next point.

(b) Budget Issues

The salaries of the employees are hard to afford for a new firm. It minimizes the profit.

Additionally, customizing software involves detailed planning, programming, and testing, all of which can be costly as well as time-consuming.

Small IT firms often operate on tight budgets. If you’re a company owner, you would already be aware of these things.

It spoils the entire cash flow of the company. If the client is not satisfied with the initial days, they might cancel the contract which leads you to either bear the expenses or lay off the employees. Either way, it’s not possible for an extremely small firm to provide these services.

Even if the company manages the budget, they can only hire a few of the developers for starters, the client may need more depending on the company.

(c) Clients Prefer Brand

Many businesses that need customized services for software like SAP or Oracle prefer to work with larger and established IT firms. It’s obvious. Due to the size of the project and the end of the scalability, the brand deliver better.

They believe that bigger companies have the resources, experience, and reliability needed to handle complex projects. This puts smaller firms at a disadvantage because clients may view them as less capable of delivering high-quality customized services.

Even if a small firm has the expertise, it’s harder to find the right number of employees they can assign to the projects.

(d) Long-Term Commitment Issues

As the above three points say these types of projects require more commitment.

Involves long-term support, customization, regular updates, and ongoing collaboration with the client. A good client may also need more number of meetings.

Small IT firms may not have the manpower or financial stability to commit to these long-term projects. It’s even harder for people to stay in the same small firm due to the limited growth in their careers. On the other hand, large IT firms have the resources to maintain long-term relationships with clients. Small firms may find it difficult to keep up with such demands.

(e) Keeping Up with Technology Changes

The technology used in software like SAP and Oracle is constantly evolving. You will have new things to worry about after a while. New versions, updates, and features are released regularly.

So, as you might already know, IT firms need to stay up-to-date to provide relevant services. It’s not just limited to the companies but also to the employees. So, the employees should also learn all these things. They will surely need help from the seniors.

A small firm may lack the same. Large firms often have dedicated training programs to ensure their consultants are always up-to-date with the newest features and best practices.

Is the Need for Customized Services Rising?

Now, let’s talk about the need for customizing services. Is the need rising?

Let’s talk about the same. We will talk about two perspectives over here.

We will see it from a company’s perspective and also from the client’s perspective. If you are a company, you can use this to know if it’s time to start offering customized services. In the same way, if you’re a client, you can think about getting customized solutions for your software. It usually is with the ERP or CRM.

(a) From the Company’s Perspective

Yes, the need for customized services is growing.

As businesses face increased competition, they require software solutions that fit their unique processes. Each of the company models has different unique needs.

This is where customized services come in.

For example, a manufacturing company might need an SAP module that integrates easily with its production line. Further, it may even need something that provides real-time inventory updates.

Standard software cannot offer this level of customization, right? Or, it may take more time the develop.

(b) From the Customer’s Perspective

Let’s start with an example, shall we?

An online retailer may need custom features in their Oracle system to offer personalized recommendations based on customer behavior.

SAP and other similar solutions can provide you with the maximum possibilities that you can imagine. With this, you just need to hire an IT firm that offers customized services for one of these services.

They need software that can be trusted. It’s even easier for them to change the IT firm when needed. Lastly, due to its popularity, many clients prefer customized solutions rather than building services from scratch.

Conclusion

To conclude, without a doubt, the customized services are surely better in terms of reliability and possibilities. However, it also depends on the industry you’re working in.

For instance, if you are a small logistics firm, you don’t necessarily need all these services. Instead, you can get one stable Transport Management System that has all the features you need. It will help you in managing all your operations from a single dashboard with just a few clicks.

At professional IT Firm provides a complete set of features you will need. Call them for a software demo or software trial version.