When developing web applications, organizations are often presented with a challenge of selecting between custom development or development based on proprietary hosted platform. While development based on proprietary hosted platform may seem like a viable option with potential advantages (like comparatively stable platform, availability of pre-built modules or plugins), it also has very serious long-term downsides that need to be carefully considered.
Long-term downsides and considerations
1. Web system will not be portable, client will be locked into a proprietary solution
2. Possibly higher cost and longer development timeline (or functionality trade-offs) as certain desired functionality may be beyond existing capabilities of such platform
3. Narrow or non-existent developers base which means higher cost for support and future development
4. Platform owner has full monopoly and can raise costs or refuse service at any time, thus creating long-term uncertainty
5. Risk of hosted platform becoming technically obsolete or going out of business
6. Moving away from hosted platform will most likely mean full rebuild, with complete loss of initial investment, which may also be complicated by absence of system documentation (no normally provided in such cases)
So what do you do?
A solution built by a well-qualified development team on either open-source platform, or a fully custom application using industry-standard technology stack will be fully portable, well documented, with wide support base. Not to be disregarded, custom development carries its own set of considerations, but expert team will be able to guide client during development process and hand off product for further maintenance.
Why do you want to do this?
It is simple – you save a lot long-term and have less risk. You will not be locked in any long-term contracts and will be able to take over or higher outside help for future support and development. A well-built system will be easy to maintain and grow using industry-standard tools, with manageable costs and high availability of resources. The fact that your product is not tied in its core to the technology provider of application means you can sleep well and know that you actually own the technology and have control over resources and application.
Are you interested in discussing application development? Contact us to receive a comprehensive proposal for your project.