Business management software is expensive. We get it. In fact, all sorts of software for small businesses can become prohibitive when developers charge licensing fees on a per-seat basis. Licensing fees can be expensive enough that companies share logins among employees in order to save money. Is that a good idea? No.

Sharing logins, which is to say usernames and passwords, is also sharing credentials. Doing so could lead to a whole host of problems small businesses never anticipate when software is new. So rather than sharing logins to save money, it is a better idea to source your business software from a company that will not nickel and dime you to death. Hint: Modest is one such company. More on that later.

In the meantime, check out these reasons explaining why sharing logins is a bad idea:

Reason #1: It Could Be Illegal

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is a 1986 law enacted by the federal government to address hacking. It has been modified and updated many times since its inception. However, its core purpose remains the same: to prevent access to computer systems and networks “without authorization” or in a way deemed to be “exceeding authorized access”.

To access computer systems without authorization is pretty clear. If someone outside of your organization attempts to get into your software without your permission, they are breaking the law. But what about the idea of “exceeding authorized access”?

A piece of software that requires one license per seat authorizes just that. Sharing logins creates multiple users per seat which is in excess of the software license. That could be considered an attempt to exceed authorized access, thereby being a violation of the law.

Reason #2: Sharing Creates Security Risks

Credentials are important security tools for protecting against network and software intrusion. Each user is given a unique username and password that is linked to their credentials. Here is the problem: sharing logins creates a security risk by compromising credentials. And if something goes wrong with shared credentials, how can you determine if one of the employees using those credentials is at fault?

Reason #3: It Dilutes Software Company Profits

Next up, consider the fact that sharing logins to save money is essentially taking revenue from your software developer. Doing so eats into their profits. While you may not think that this is such a bad thing, how do you feel about customers trying to gain the system to save money on your products and services? Do you appreciate it when they dilute your profits? Probably not.

It is easy to justify sharing logins because business software can be so expensive. It’s easy to convince yourself that sharing is okay because you’re not dealing with a product that’s manufactured by the piece. But software is as much a product as anything you could hold in your hand. License fees are the only way software companies can make money on the products they produce.

Less Expensive Software is the Way to Go

Rather than purchasing expensive software and then trying to save money by sharing logins, investing in less expensive software is the better way to go. But here is the thing: you can get less expensive software and still get everything you need.

Modest believes in building custom business software with all the essential features and none of the fluff. Our software development philosophy saves you money by not requiring you to pay for things you don’t need or want. And when you save money on the product itself, you do not have to game the system by sharing logins.

Just about every office has one: a spreadsheet king or queen. This individual is a person who has mastered the spreadsheet like a software jedi, a person who can make an average spreadsheet sing like a world-famous tenor with a few formulas thrown in. But spreadsheets are so yesterday. There is a better way to manage your processes.

We offer that way with custom business software designed around how you already do business. Rather than having to modify your processes to work with our software, the software comes ready to be plugged into your processes as-is. You can manage your processes right from the software instead of having to rely on external spreadsheets.

Why are you still using spreadsheets?

Before you can honestly assess Modest software for small business, you really need to know why your company does things the way they are currently done. So ask yourself this question: why are you still using spreadsheets? We can think of tons of reasons:

• Spreadsheets are free.
• They are fairly easy to use.
• They require minimal training.
• They are adaptable to all sorts of data.
• They are easily integrated with business software.

All the reasons for managing processes with spreadsheets are legitimate. We would never argue otherwise. But think about efficiency. Think about doing duplicate work. Think about using a tool that was brilliant for its day but is now outdated and showing its age.

Could your office stand to be more efficient?

As long as we’re asking questions, here is another one: could your office stand to be more efficient? We don’t know a single office manager who would answer that question with a ‘no’. Greater efficiency is always a good thing. It only helps businesses be better at what they do.

For all the advantages spreadsheets bring to the table, their big disadvantage in terms of managing business processes is inefficiency. For starters, the office spreadsheet king or queen needs to manually create a new spreadsheet – along with all its formulas and automated tasks – for every new business process requiring management. There is a lot of labor upfront. Creating new spreadsheets is less efficient than software with process management built in.

Spreadsheets also need to be manually maintained. When processes change, so do the spreadsheets attached to them. Someone needs to manually make those changes. That is not very efficient.

What if you had software that did the same thing but better?

Do not misunderstand this post as an attempt to shoot down spreadsheets. As a company that develops custom business management software, we truly understand the spreadsheet’s appeal. What was originally designed as a tool for managing numerical data has proved to be so much more. Business owners and managers love spreadsheets for obvious reasons. But what if you had custom business software that did the same thing, only better?

Now you are talking our language here at Modest. We believe in better. We believe in better business software tailor made to accommodate a client’s processes. We believe in better software that eliminates the need for spreadsheets, includes built-in automation, streamlines office operations, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. That is exactly what you get with Modest business software.

We cannot guarantee our software will eliminate all your spreadsheets, but it’s a pretty safe bet we can eliminate the ones you utilize to manage your processes. Our software is built around your processes so that they can be managed within a single business platform. You end up with a much more efficient system that does exactly what you need it to do.

If we have heard it once, we’ve heard it a million times: “We don’t need custom software. All software for small business is essentially the same.” On the one hand, knowing what we know about off-the-shelf software makes such sentiments hard to argue with. On the other hand, Modest is different because we do software for small businesses differently.

The Every website recently published a fascinating piece about how software companies develop and sell their products. It is an exceptionally long read but well worth it if you want to understand a bit more about the world of software development. The article’s premise is that “every software business has the same playbook.” Its author eventually reaches the conclusion that software companies need to find a way to distinguish themselves despite the fact that their competitors use the same playbook.

Not Exclusive to Software

Every piece makes some particularly good points about software development. But most of its points are not exclusive to companies that produce software for small business. Having a single industry playbook to work with is nearly universal in modern business. You can see it in manufacturing, construction, healthcare, and on and on.

So why do companies stick with an established playbook? Because doing so works. You find out how another company makes money, and you copy it. That is the American way. But when it comes to software development, sticking to the traditional playbook isn’t necessarily the best way to meet customer needs.

For the record, there are four steps described in the software development playbook offered by the Every article:

1. Developing a point solution.
2. Adding new products to that solution.
3. Transitioning from products to a platform.
4. Turning around and starting at step 1 again.

Relying on this playbook requires anticipating how business processes will be accomplished several years down the road. But guess what you end up with? Generic software that forces companies to adjust their processes accordingly. We think there is a better way.

Giving Companies What They Need Now

It is not absolutely necessary that a software developer follow the traditional playbook. In fact, there is good reason to adopt an entirely new playbook. That reason is rooted in giving companies what they need now. If you can do that, you can gain and keep customers based on your own abilities to develop business software rather than copying everyone else and hoping for the best.

It should be noted that a software company can develop custom software for small businesses using the traditional playbook. But in order to complete the four steps, there needs to be a certain level of anticipation about future business processes. That inevitably leads to less customization for the here and now.

You are essentially working with a hybrid model that doesn’t offer full customization but also doesn’t throw customization out the window altogether. We suspect such an approach would not be very helpful to a brand’s long-term growth strategies.

All Business Software Isn’t the Same

The reality is that all business software isn’t the same. While it is true that a lot of businesses use the same software, it’s also true that companies like Modest build custom software on a per-customer basis. Our software for small business is customized to align with client processes rather than forcing the client to align with our assumptions of what they do.

If you are of the mind that all business software is the same, we challenge you to think again. Most software developers might follow the same playbook, but some of us choose to do things differently.

Explaining to our customers that custom software development isn’t a one-size-fits-all gig is by no means revolutionary. By definition, customization is anything but one-size-fits-all. But let us unpack this a little bit. Let us dig deeper than the obvious fact that custom development allows you to get exactly what you want in a business software package.

It is a given that we can leverage our modular software development approach to create whatever a client wants and needs. But there is more to software customization than just the end product. Customization extends all the way back to the beginning of the development process when new software is first in the inception stages.

Different Ways to Develop Software

There are many ways to develop software from the ground up. We utilize a modular approach that starts with basic modules we can adapt, build on, and customize. But even within the modular approach, there are different schools of thought. There are different approaches, so to speak.

One of the older approaches is known as waterfall development. Under a waterfall scenario, you begin with one stage. You complete that stage before you move to the next. No stage can be started until the previous stage is completed. It is like water going over the falls and then flowing down a river.

A newer, more modern approach is known as agile software development. Under the agile model, development is broken down into individual tasks that are then assigned to teams. Each task is being developed simultaneously. Developers and teams get together on a regular basis to analyze, compare, and integrate their work.

Neither waterfall nor agile software development is superior or inferior to the other. They are just different ways of doing things. Once again, custom software development is not a one-size-fits-all gig.

In-House Development and Outsourcing Custom Software Development

Yet another example of how customization changes things is observed in who actually takes on development. A company choosing custom software has made the decision not to buy an off-the-shelf product. But from where do they get the software they want?

One company might rely on a team of developers already on the payroll. They develop the software in-house. Another company might bring in independent contractors to handle the project. Still, another might outsource everything to a software development company.

There is no right or wrong approach here. Companies need to choose the development model that suits them best. In-house development is not right for every company and every project. Neither are the other two models.

Testing Software Prior to Release

Although we could continue this line of thinking indefinitely, we do need to limit the length of this post. Therefore, one last thing to consider is how software is tested prior to official release. A good software developer will put a product through its paces before declaring it ready for production.

One approach is to rely exclusively on internal testing. Another is to send a software product out for external testing. A third approach is to combine both internal and external options.

There are differences in what is tested, as well. Sometimes developers expect testers to try to break their software. Other times it is a matter of testing a GUI for user-friendliness. The possibilities are limited only by the limits of the software itself.

The final word on all of this is that custom software development is distinct and different from standardized, off-the-shelf development at nearly every level. When you are building custom software for business, you need to build it in whatever way is best for the client. It cannot be one-size-fits-all because every client is different.

Explaining to our customers that custom software development isn’t a one-size-fits-all gig is by no means revolutionary. By definition, customization is anything but one-size-fits-all. But let us unpack this a little bit. Let us dig deeper than the obvious fact that custom development allows you to get exactly what you want in a business software package.

It is a given that we can leverage our modular software development approach to create whatever a client wants and needs. But there is more to software customization than just the end product. Customization extends all the way back to the beginning of the development process when new software is first in the inception stages.

Different Ways to Develop Software

There are many ways to develop software from the ground up. We utilize a modular approach that starts with basic modules we can adapt, build on, and customize. But even within the modular approach, there are different schools of thought. There are different approaches, so to speak.

One of the older approaches is known as waterfall development. Under a waterfall scenario, you begin with one stage. You complete that stage before you move to the next. No stage can be started until the previous stage is completed. It is like water going over the falls and then flowing down a river.

A newer, more modern approach is known as agile software development. Under the agile model, development is broken down into individual tasks that are then assigned to teams. Each task is being developed simultaneously. Developers and teams get together on a regular basis to analyze, compare, and integrate their work.

Neither waterfall nor agile software development is superior or inferior to the other. They are just different ways of doing things. Once again, custom software development is not a one-size-fits-all gig.

In-House Development and Outsourcing Custom Software Development

Yet another example of how customization changes things is observed in who actually takes on development. A company choosing custom software has made the decision not to buy an off-the-shelf product. But from where do they get the software they want?

One company might rely on a team of developers already on the payroll. They develop the software in-house. Another company might bring in independent contractors to handle the project. Still, another might outsource everything to a software development company.

There is no right or wrong approach here. Companies need to choose the development model that suits them best. In-house development is not right for every company and every project. Neither are the other two models.

Testing Software Prior to Release

Although we could continue this line of thinking indefinitely, we do need to limit the length of this post. Therefore, one last thing to consider is how software is tested prior to official release. A good software developer will put a product through its paces before declaring it ready for production.

One approach is to rely exclusively on internal testing. Another is to send a software product out for external testing. A third approach is to combine both internal and external options.

There are differences in what is tested, as well. Sometimes developers expect testers to try to break their software. Other times it is a matter of testing a GUI for user-friendliness. The possibilities are limited only by the limits of the software itself.

The final word on all of this is that custom software development is distinct and different from standardized, off-the-shelf development at nearly every level. When you are building custom software for business, you need to build it in whatever way is best for the client. It cannot be one-size-fits-all because every client is different.

We have done our fair share of designing custom business software for startups. As small businesses are just getting off the ground, startups still need reliable business software that allows them to run their businesses efficiently. That being the case, we believe custom software is often the best choice for them.

Opting against custom business software leaves startups with only one other choice: off-the-shelf solutions. No doubt there are off-the-shelf packages that can work. But how well they work is another matter entirely. More than one entrepreneur has been frustrated by off-the-shelf software that requires workarounds to achieve the necessary functionality.

You Have Your Processes

Reading this post suggests that you are either a startup entrepreneur or are curious about how startups acquire business software. Let us assume the former. Here’s the first thing we learned about you and your fellow entrepreneurs when we first started developing software: you have your processes.

Regardless of the particular industry you are involved in, you have set your business up in a way that you find logical, efficient, and productive. You have processes in place for everything you and your employees do. Now you need business software that is compatible with those processes.

You might get lucky and find an off-the-shelf product perfectly suited to the way you do business. But your chances of doing so aren’t great. Why? Because off-the-shelf packages need to be designed to appeal to the broadest base possible. That generally means software that isn’t compatible with at least some of your processes.

Customization Is the Answer

You and your team being content with workarounds and compromises might be okay as long as your off-the-shelf software doesn’t seriously inhibit your ability to work efficiently. But if that ability is hampered, customization is the solution. It is the answer to all those questions about why your current software doesn’t work so well.

Here at Modest, we start with a selection of modules built around common business tasks. We put together the modules that your business needs to do what it does. Then we finish it off with further customizations that deliver a solution tailor-made to your organization and how it does business.

You get all the features you need and none that you don’t. You get functions that make sense to you and your team. You get software tools that do what you need them to do without relying on workarounds.

Custom Business Software Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive

By now, you might be seeing dollar signs flashing before your eyes. We get it. In the past, purchasing customized business software could put a serious dent in any startup’s limited budget. Customized software just wasn’t feasible until a startup became self-sufficient. But at that point, what is the point?

One of our goals as a leading software developer is to make custom business software affordable. That is where our modular approach comes in. Building software on top of prebuilt modules allows us to do what we do more cost-effectively. We make customization affordable for companies of all sizes.

Customization Is Within Reach

We would like to say that the Modest model ensures that customization is within reach of just about any company. Even startups can afford customized software that does exactly what they need it to do. That includes your company.

It is our opinion that custom business software is often the best option for startups. If you would like to know more, contact us. We will be happy to explain the Modest concept and how we can develop custom business software for your organization. You have nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain.

Custom software development is our business here at Modest. We do what we do based on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. Interestingly, the SaaS concept has been around for a long time. It is older than most people think. It’s a concept that goes back to the earliest days of commercial computing.

If your company was looking for custom business software designed around the SaaS model, your developer – hopefully Modest, by the way – would leverage all the latest development and cloud technologies to come up with something that meets your needs. That is what we do. We build software with a selection of modules that allow us to customize for virtually any need. But still, we owe our success to the decades-old SaaS concept.

Back in the Days of Mainframes

In the early days of commercial computing, all the heavy lifting was accomplished by mainframe computers. These giant beasts took up entire rooms in large, commercial buildings. Individual users would access the mainframe through a terminal sitting at a desk or table. There was literally no software stored or running on that terminal.

Among the many disadvantages of this type of setup was the inability of multiple users to access the software simultaneously, at least without investing in very expensive equipment. But by the early 1960s, engineers had come up with a solution known as time-sharing.

In a time-sharing scenario, multiple users could access the same mainframe environment with minimal hardware requirements. Time-sharing actually ushered in the age of commercial computing on a large scale.

Then Came the PC

Mainframe computers were the only game in town until the late 1970s. That is when PCs were introduced. PCs operated as individual computers running their own local software. They ushered in the end of the time-sharing concept, at least until the public internet became a thing.

Once the internet was launched, companies began looking into the idea of offering software online. Time-sharing was reborn as SaaS. The big difference is that SaaS delivered applications over the Internet while time-sharing was limited to local mainframe networks.

SaaS and the Cloud

What we consider the modern SaaS environment got a huge boost with the introduction of cloud computing in the 1990s. Strangely enough, cloud computing is just mainframe computing on a larger scale with the internet as its backbone. Time-sharing on mainframes ultimately became SaaS in the cloud.

At any rate, SaaS is now the dominant delivery model for business software. It offers numerous advantages that are hard to beat. Here are just some of them:

• Subscriptions – Locally hosted software can only be used with a license. Meanwhile, SaaS is delivered via subscription. Companies often spend less on SaaS solutions than locally hosted software.
• Maintenance and Upgrades – The subscription model allows software developers to put more time and effort into maintenance and upgrades. Meanwhile, subscribers don’t have to wait for major releases to get all the latest and greatest upgrades.
• Software Security – The ability to automatically push the latest upgrades makes it easier for software developers to keep their products secure. Believe it or not, the modern cloud is at least as secure as a well-protected local network. Some clouds are even more secure.

We love the SaaS model. For us, it offers the ability to provide custom software development services for small businesses, midsize companies, and corporations alike. If you have been looking for custom business software based on the SaaS concept, let us talk. The Modest team might be able to give you exactly what you’re looking for. We specialize in business software customized to each organization’s exact needs.

Have you ever heard of modular homes? How about modular hotel construction? The modular concept represents a way to build both residential and commercial structures quicker and more cost-effectively. It turns out we can do the same thing with software.

The Modest software development approach is based on hundreds of different modules, or ‘blocks’ as we like to call them, being assembled and adapted to meet a client’s needs. This model allows us to develop custom business software that is still affordable, even for small businesses.

Building software with blocks doesn’t hamper function or force companies to do with less. In fact, it is just the opposite. Modular software design is capable of giving small businesses everything they need along with nothing they don’t need, including a high final cost.

Constructing with Modules

Modular home and hotel construction is based on a pretty simple premise: building individual modules in a factory setting and then assembling them on site to create the final structure. Modules can be customized to meet the specific needs of the client.

One of the earliest examples of modular construction is found in Walt Disney World’s Contemporary and Polynesian resorts. Both were built via the same process. The frames of the buildings were constructed on site while contractors were building modular rooms at another site located nearby. Once the frame was finished, the modules were trucked to the site and lifted into place via crane.

Although the idea was deemed brilliant, it was also new. The project exceeded anticipated expenses and took longer than planned. But architects and engineers learned a lot. Fifty years later, modular construction is a lot more mature. It works well and saves money.

Building Custom Software Solutions with Blocks

Building software with blocks has followed a similar pattern. In the early days, there was a lot to learn. Software developers had to figure out how to build an endless number of blocks that could be interchangeably added and removed to create the perfect piece of software. These days, the process works extremely well.

To build custom business software with blocks, a developer first needs to fully understand the client’s business. That means getting to know the client’s industry, how software is used, and exactly what software needs to accomplish. Getting it right will not happen if the developer doesn’t understand what the client really needs.

With needs understood, the next step is to create the basic framework with the fundamental blocks that will power the software. From there, additional blocks can be added to create the kind of function the client wants. Modifications to those blocks fine-tune everything.

The Perfect Software Every Time

We’ll be honest and say that we love building custom business software using blocks. It allows us to create the perfect software every time. Our customers get exactly what they want without bloat. They get the functions they want, the access control that will keep their software secure, a more affordable fee structure, regular updates, and unparalleled support from our team.

We do all of this in a secure software-as-a-service (SaaS) environment. We give our clients cloud-based software that does exactly what they want it to do. And we owe it all to the block concept.

Building software in blocks might seem strange to you. If so, we get it. But a lot of people thought that Disney was crazy for building two hotels with modular rooms. The truth is that the modular concept works extremely well if it is applied correctly. It works with software just as well as it does with residential homes and commercial buildings.

Software for small businesses comes in all shapes and sizes. You have off-the-shelf software companies buy for less if they can live with limited function. There are off-label deployments of commercial software packages that were designed for an entirely different purpose but that can be utilized effectively enough with some workarounds. Then there is custom software.

Custom software business is what we do. We create software specific to each client’s needs based on a modular system that keeps costs in check without sacrificing function. We are firmly committed to custom software as a better solution than off-the-shelf packages and off-label commercial deployments.

That being said, not all custom software solutions are created equally. If you are thinking about software customization, be careful about the vendor you ultimately choose. Here are some key characteristics you should insist on:

1. User Friendliness

There is always the temptation among software developers to create solutions from their point of view rather than the view of those users who will ultimately have to work with it. The end result can be a package that isn’t user-friendly. This is a non-starter for a lot of companies searching for new software.

Software for small business should always be user-friendly. It should have as gentle a learning curve as possible. Users should be able to master the software in a few weeks. It should never take months for users to get comfortable.

2. Built-In Scalability

Custom software for small business should offer built-in scalability. Otherwise, a company is left having to deploy multiple solutions as their business grows and expands. That might be good for a software developer looking to maximize revenues, but it is not good for the small business. As the customer, a small business deserves scalability.

3. Some Amount of Flexibility

Custom business software should be flexible enough to adapt to a company’s unique needs. However, it should not be so flexible as to be filled with bloat (see the next point). It should definitely not be so rigid as to force users to change workflow unless, of course, changing the workflow would make things more efficient.

Unfortunately, this particular aspect is generally touch-and-go for software developers. It can be hard for them to determine how much flexibility a package needs because they will not be working with the finished project in the wild. Their experiences will be limited to the more sterile development environment.

4. No Bloat (or as little as possible)

For some companies, the impetus for going with custom business software is the opportunity to get a tailor-made solution without any bloat. You know the score. So many off-the-shelf commercial products are so bloated as to be difficult to use. They offer tons of features that never get utilized. In the end, they are paying developers to create a whole bunch of bells and whistles that will remain forever buried in so many menus.

Minimizing bloat makes software more efficient. Just saying no to bloat makes software easier to use, more secure, and decidedly more user-friendly. A smaller footprint on the company’s network is an added bonus.

5. A Budget Friendly Price

Last but not least is a budget-friendly price. Companies in need of custom software for small business should not have to pay an arm and a leg to get it. Granted, it’s probably going to be more expensive than off-the-shelf software. Still, custom software should be affordable.

Modest specializes in custom software for small business. If you would like to know more about what we do, we are always willing to answer questions, discuss software needs, and propose the best solutions we can.