Enterprise Software Development vs. Standard Software Development: Which One Works Best For You?

Paritoshik Paul February 8, 2021

If you're familiar with the product development spectrum, you may have realized that consumer and enterprise software solutions are extremely different.

But what exactly separates the two, and how do you choose which development framework to choose for your business?

What is Enterprise Software Development?

In simple terms, enterprise software is created to address an organization’s specific needs, typically to improve sales, streamline communication, reduce inefficiencies, and many others.

Common examples of enterprise software

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
• Supply Chain Management (SCM)
• Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
• Business Intelligence (BI)
• Accounting/Treasury Software

What is Standard or Consumer Software Development?

With the technological advancement running at a remarkable speed, businesses ride the tide by outsourcing these services through standard or consumer software development.

Standard or Consumer Software Development is a model by which pre-created tools are sold directly to users for plug-and-play. These types of software can be installed on individual devices commonly as an application rather than a system.

Common examples of consumer software

• Media and Games (games and music players)
• Information Tools (maps, financial data, news, etc.)
• Educational Software (language learning apps)
• Communication Tools (Voice-over-IP software or messaging apps)
• Office Productivity Tools (Tools for creating documents)
• Financial Tools (Tax software and other personal financial tools)
• Personal Productivity (Planning, organizational, and productivity tools)
• Creativity Tools (Tools for creating music, art, or crafts)
• Information Security (virus scanner, etc.)

Finding the right software for your business

Taking a deeper dive at software development, these points are some factors to keep in mind when you’re choosing between enterprise or standard software:

USAGE: Enterprise software solutions are designed to create solutions for business’ entire community in one internal system. On the other hand, standard or consumer software solutions solve the needs of a single end-user.

USER FEEDBACK: User feedback allows enterprise software developers to fix issues and problems, while the same option is not always given for programmers of consumer software solutions. For users of the latter, it is more common to switch to a different software than send feedback.

PRICING AND PACKAGE: The package and cost for enterprise software development vary depending on the requirements set by the client. However, the price for consumer software is usually based on an individual's spending power and is determined by the developer.

REQUIREMENTS: Enterprise software development is designed to cater to the specific needs of an organization. In developing this software solution, programmers need to consider the engineering requirements including localization, hardware, interoperability, scalability, security amongst others at the start of the development cycle. With standard or consumer software solution, they take what is available. The power to decide which features to add or remove is reserved only for the developers.

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