Boosting Productivity: How Custom Software Can Revitalize Your Workflow

Long gone are the analogue days of the office. In today’s digital world, it’s hard to imagine how we would cope without computers, smartphones, Google Drive, Bluetooth, and the smart board that no one can ever get to work in the first five minutes of any boardroom meeting.

Digital solutions have revolutionised the way we work, transforming processes that before took days and now take a matter of minutes. But we’re constantly evolving and seeking out better approaches, and in the last decades, technology has been developed to provide optimised efficiency, user experience, and performance.

In 2024, custom off-the-shelf software (COTS) won’t cut it for many businesses. So many businesses operate on custom software tailor-made for their operations to attain better productivity, reduce overheads, and increase profit margins. This is where you’ll fall behind if you’re not doing the same or better.

Yorkshire Bank conducted a survey that found tech-driven businesses to be those with the highest growth margins. 71% of businesses surveyed stated technology as a key factor in driving this growth. In a vastly competitive digital world, keeping ahead of the tech curve is vital. So how are your competitors using custom software development to gain an advantage in productivity?

Productivity Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Custom Software Solutions

All businesses work differently, but there are a few KPIs that are very common across businesses and industries. Let’s take a look at the common KPIs businesses use to measure productivity and how customer software can transform their results, no matter what they do.

Efficiency

Output per Hour

This is the measurement of how much is produced per hour worked. As for the ‘how much’, that could be products made, products sold, services carried out, or anything that the business offers to its customers that ultimately generates revenue.

Increasing Output Per Hour with Custom Software

On average, an employee is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes per working day. Imagine if that productivity could be supplemented by task automation going on in the background, which is productive 100% of the time.

Automation of repetitive tasks is one-way custom software can increase the output of a team or business. Where repetitive, routine tasks could take long periods of time away from employees that could be focused on more complex, strategic, or creative tasks, a piece of custom software could be easily created that manages this task constantly and consistently in the background.

What happens when your staff have more of their time freed up? You can optimise production by ensuring tasks are carried out in the best order, prioritising the right tasks and scheduling work effectively to get the most done in the time you have. Custom software can be programmed to manage work with features like time-tracking, task prioritisation, and appointing duties.

These sorts of benefits lead to enhanced collaboration between workers and teams. The time taken to complete tasks is reduced, multitasking can double up on or increase output, and the risk of duplicating work is minimised with optimised collaboration.

Cycle Time

This metric is defined by the time required to complete one single business process, a cycle. What this cycle is depends on the business’s operations. It could be a specific task such as creating a website, completing a tax return, or resolving a customer complaint. Decreasing cycle time improves efficiency. Sprints are a type of time-boxed period that repeats in a project development cycle.

Increasing Cycle Time with Custom Software

When we think of an efficient cycle, it is smooth, without hiccups or challenges that lead the project to fall behind deadlines. All components work together swimmingly. Process streamlining is an essential part of a productive cycle. Custom software is created to streamline processes, reduce the number of steps in a cycle and ensure the steps needed are coordinated to be executed fluently and consecutively.

Looking more into individual components working together efficiently, one of the major benefits of custom software is its adaptability for integration. Where COTS options only have limited integration ability, causing hurdles and blocks that prevent work from being carried out swiftly (or at all), custom software can be made to integrate legacy systems.

Custom software can also provide real-time monitoring, feedback, and analysis of processes which aids in further optimisation, creating even more efficient cycles whenever and wherever possible as the business grows and develops.

An example of custom software decreasing cycle time is Amazon’s custom warehouse management system. Amazon’s total warehouse space adds up to 288 million square feet. Such enormous space demands a made-to-measure solution to ensure Amazon can always meet its faster delivery times and growing customer demand.

A strategic warehouse management system was needed to ensure fast retrieval and delivery across cross-dock centres, sortation centres, fulfilment centres, delivery stations, and collection hubs. Inventory was stored adaptively, making use of space where it was available, and cutting-edge tech like robotics significantly sped up selecting and sorting. A unique labelling and packing process is adhered to by FBA customers, which supports this management system.

Cost-Effectiveness

Comparing resources invested with results gives a productivity metric of cost-effectiveness. ‘Resources invested’ doesn’t necessarily have to be money. It can be time, man-hours, or anything that needs to be put into the business to produce the intended results. The results could be products, services, or something less final, like stages in a project or units for products.

Custom software itself is an investment. Find out what to expect from a custom software development quote.

Reducing Costs with Custom Software

So, how can any custom software help reduce costs and resource uptake while upholding the output a business needs to maintain itself and grow? The answer is in insights and analytics. Regarding resource optimisation, custom software can enhance data analytics to provide detailed insights into where and how resources are used. This enables businesses to reallocate resources more effectively. There would also be a reduction in errors where custom software can incorporate validation checks and eliminate mistakes that cost resources and time to mend. In short, custom software solutions improve decision-making.

For example, let’s think about a logistics business that runs a fleet of lorries. Scheduling and routing aren’t currently being optimised. The most efficient routes aren’t being identified in real-time due to weather and traffic conditions refuelling prices and time, as well as amenities for staff breaks.

A custom software solution could incorporate GPS and meteorology to determine the best delivery schedule and routes. Services with optimal conditions for refuelling (both vehicles and staff) could be identified and incorporated into this schedule too. The schedule could be updated in real-time, and analytics drawn on a daily basis to consistently improve the operations of the business.

Another area in which custom software can improve cost efficiency is training. Tailor-made to train on specific protocols in the business, custom software can remove and reduce the need for human intervention, offer better user experience and user-friendly interfaces, and speed up the training process.

Quality

Error Rate

One way of measuring productivity is the number of mistakes made throughout business processes. The lower the error rate, the more productive work occurs, and the less time is being used to correct errors. The quality of work produced is higher.

Reducing Error Rate with Custom Software

A significant benefit to custom software, and probably one of the first functions most people think about, is automation. Eliminating human intervention is one of the best ways to reduce errors, and custom software can do just that, creating automatic processes that can be completely handed over from staff and validation checks to catch and correct errors anywhere. But there’s more to its value than removing man-hours from the equation. COTS solutions also offer to automate some processes commonly found in business.

The issue with COTS options is their lack of tailoring. While you may find you can hand over some basic tasks, real automation and optimising your unique business processes as much as possible can only come from a piece of software designed specifically to that end. In the process, it can also be designed to incorporate legacy systems you intend to keep using, which is a common stumbling block for COTS.

Where processes do need to be handled by people, digital tools can often be the cause of errors, despite the best efforts of your team. According to the Institute of Directors, 1.5 million small businesses reported that their workforces lack basic digital skills. Taking on a piece of software is second nature to Gen Z, but what about those who just aren’t tech-savvy?

Custom software can be created with highly intuitive user interfaces that are human-friendly with clear directions, prompts, and workflows and reduce confusion leading to error.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a productivity metric highly valued thanks to its results in revenue, loyalty, return business, and reputation. Better quality output results in customer satisfaction. Measurements like customer surveys, Net Promoter Scores (NPS), or Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT) are often used to determine how happy customers are.

Increasing Customer Satisfaction with Custom Software

In a Global Customer Service Report by Microsoft, 96% of customers said that their loyalty to a brand depended on the quality of customer service they received. So eliminating customer dissatisfaction with custom software is one way to deliver a higher level of quality and attentiveness that helps you shine above competitors.

Personalised customer service is expected as standard these days, so if your customer base senses they’re getting an out-of-the-box experience, that could make them feel less valued, make buying more laborious, and damage your reputation. Building a custom platform or tool that enables you to offer a bespoke experience would eliminate this issue.

Customers also expect responsive communication, but in the modern world, and especially for large-scale businesses, offering each individual customer the same level of attention becomes complex. It requires a number of staff hours that could affect other areas of the business. Through custom software, in-built communication tools, automation, and monitoring, you can remove the strain whilst ensuring your customer base is offered the proper level of service from your business.

Benefits we’ve previously covered, like operational efficiency, reducing errors, and safeguarding sensitive data, result in a better output quality when dealing with customers and clients, and projecting this standard of attentiveness can truly enhance client and stakeholder relations.

Netflix’s Chaos Monkey is one solid example of custom software contributing to better customer satisfaction. Chaos Monkey is a tool developed to regularly test Netflix by shutting down servers in its production network at random. This forces Netflix to constantly stress test its system to ensure it can survive different types of failures without interrupting the customer experience.

Quality Defects

How many products are returned or complained about? How many defects are wasted before entering the market? The number and extent of quality defects directly impact the productivity of a business as it works to maintain a status quo in customer expectations.

Reducing Quality Defects with Custom Software

This is another area in which automation can improve efficiency and, therefore, productivity. Automated quality control processes are capable of identifying and rectifying potential defects and removing them from the system before they reach the market.

In design, manufacturing, and execution of processes, a customer software tool could improve accuracy and precision to reduce the chance of defective products being created from the initial stages; another benefit that reduces unnecessary costs and time. Safety and compliance protocols can be in-built into custom software, too.

People

Employee Satisfaction

When employees are satisfied, feeling valued and fulfilled by their jobs, they are more productive. So, employee satisfaction is a lesser recognised but equally impactful KPI in overall business productivity.

Increasing Employee Satisfaction with Custom Software

According to research by Oxford University, happy staff are 13% more productive at work. When you think about how straightforward some methods of increasing staff satisfaction are, that’s a quick win for your business. But how can this be achieved through custom software?

Earlier, we mentioned how custom software can make digital processes less complex and more approachable for staff. It’s true that custom software can and should be designed to be intuitive, but we can go one further. It should be easy and fun to use. A user-centric approach makes your workforce the priority and aims to create a satisfying and enjoyable experience. From modern UI design to gamifying processes, custom software can provide positive stimulation for staff.

Task automation removes boring, repetitive tasks that tend to torture the human brain, freeing up your staff for the more creative tasks they excel at. Streamlined workflows eliminate redundant steps and hurdles to make task completion more satisfying.

Training Levels

A strong foundation is essential when talking about staff productivity, so training must be efficient and high quality to get them started on the right foot.

Improving Training with Custom Software

If there’s one thing we can almost guarantee every business needs a bespoke solution for, it’s training. No two businesses operate in the same way, and although you can mix and match COTS solutions until the cows come home, nothing beats a bespoke training module that shows new starters the ropes for your exact business. Custom training modules can lead to higher skill levels and capabilities among staff and improve efficiency in training and induction.

Interactive learning and CPD are made easy with custom software too, further enhancing the training experience. Simulations and gamification create more engaging and stimulating training experiences, with the potential for staff to practice protocols in scenarios that wouldn’t otherwise be safe to simulate in real life. Skills upgrading, practice tools, and resources can ensure staff have access to continuous learning.

Employee Turnover Rate

The rate at which staff leave a company is defined as employee turnover. This metric is a good indicator of staff satisfaction and whether the work environment is positive or filled with disruptions. There are many other productivity KPIs that affect staff turnover and are affected by staff turnover, so improving this is key to success.

Reducing Employee Turnover Rate with Custom Software

How is staff turnover improved? Encouraging staff to stay loyal to a company for longer involves creating and fostering a positive environment conducive to work and aspirations whilst balancing life, wellbeing, and individuality.

We’ve established that custom software can take care of task automation to remove those mundane jobs from employees’ plates, provide more stimulating and fun interfaces, and create smooth workflows. What about collaboration tools to improve and encourage team collaboration and socialising? Enabling remote working with custom software to provide better work flexibility? Adapting for the future with flexible working models is key to the longevity of staff retention.

Custom software can even help you track personal development, identify areas for improvement, and reward hard work where it’s deserved. With a satisfied workforce that is loyal to your brand, custom software can set you on a path to business growth and success. The market for custom software is booming, and if your competitors are investing in custom software, you’ll quickly fall by the wayside.

If any of these productivity stumbling blocks sound familiar to you, custom software might be the solution. Send us a message today, and we’ll discuss how we can help build you a piece of software to revitalise your workflow.