Bespoke software: industries where it is crucial for success

Virtually every industry can use its own software solutions. Think about your own company. How much more effective can your software become if it is fully aligned with your business practices? Think about your potential return on investment.

While almost any company can benefit from custom software, some industries need it more than others. We've listed those industries below. 

• Healthcare

The healthcare industry is one of the largest in the global marketplace. According to Deloitte's Global Health Care Outlook study, the value of the global healthcare market has reached $7.724 trillion.  In the infographic below, you can see how spendings on healthcare industry's software have increased during the year of the epidemic.

The healthcare market includes all companies that provide clinical services, healthcare support, and drug and medical device development. So it is natural that the need for custom healthcare software development is so acute. 

Healthcare work goes far beyond treating patients and writing prescriptions. Having a custom software solution that allows the medical center to provide superior customer service, efficient facility and data management is critical to thriving. By implementing it, among other things, facilities are able to:

• Store electronic medical records and access structured patient information from anywhere, anytime. The data will be organized based on your wishes and the specifics of your institution, whereas template solutions will focus everything on the largest segment of the market;
• Apply the individual approach to the patient, solve atypical medical tasks that ready-made solutions cannot;
• Implement AI to solve problems that people or software solutions can't;
• Allow patients to create their own profiles so they can access their medical data and schedule appointments whenever they need them;
• Track health care orders and health insurance claims to avoid doubling or missing bills;
• Collect data to identify and track treatment patterns;
• Securely store and process patient data and level the possibility of regulatory issues by complying with all industry standards regarding security and regulations such as HIPAA and GDPR.

Custom healthcare software development will transform a rudimentary paper-based system into a digital one that will certainly provide portability as well as improve patient safety and make your healthcare facility more efficient. Medical Records Software for Hospital Group is a successful example. MassMedia Group developed this web-based application to streamline hospital records and medical records. It has allowed hospital services in U.S. hospitals to be set up and managed on a whole new level.  

Also worth noting is the use of artificial intelligence in patient care. It has reached a fairly large scale in the market and thus is expected to be around $33.1 billion by 2025. Even greater use of artificial intelligence can also be expected in robotic surgery, fraud detection, pre-diagnosis, reducing dosing errors, and other areas. 

Here are some notable examples of the use of AI during the COVID 19 pandemic:

• Google's DeepMind is helping scientists study various features of SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus) and has predicted that the virus has a protein structure.
• Several artificial intelligence-based computer vision systems have been deployed in China and around the world to scan crowds for COVID-19 symptoms and monitor people during isolation.
• FluSense, a non-contact syndromic surveillance platform, is used to predict outbreaks of seasonal influenza and other respiratory viral diseases such as pandemic COVID-19 or SARS.
• Autonomous service robots based on artificial intelligence and Cloud Ginger (aka XR-1) humanoid robots are used in hospitals in Wuhan, China. The former is used to help medical workers deliver food and medicine to patients, and the latter is used to entertain patients during the quarantine.
• The AI BlueDot can be used as an early warning system for disease outbreaks. The AI-driven algorithm not only successfully detected the Zika virus outbreak in Florida but also detected COVID-19 nine days before the WHO issued its statement warning people about the disease.
• Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) and Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei Province, have developed an artificial intelligence diagnostic tool (XGBoost machine learning-based predictive model) that can quickly analyze blood samples to predict survival rates of patients infected with COVID-19. The software is 90% accurate.
• In Wuhan, China, an artificial intelligence diagnostic tool is used to distinguish COVID-19 from other types of pneumonia within seconds by analyzing patients' chest CT images. The creators of the software claim that their new model has great potential to reduce the workload of advanced radiologists, improve early diagnosis, isolation, and treatment, and thus help control the epidemic.
• COVID-Net, a deep learning model, is designed to identify COVID-19 positive cases with chest X-rays and accelerate treatment for those who need it most.

Rarely boxed solutions contain full AI-based functionality, so if you decide to enhance your workflow with innovative technology, custom software is a must-have for you.

• Hotel business and hospitality

Custom software is especially popular in the hotel industry. Running a hotel or real estate agency without a software solution that automates and thus supports most business processes is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Most customer interactions happen online, so having a custom web platform is a necessity to cover all needs. In particular, a good custom solution can allow property managers to:

• Address all the nuances of the business model in the software; 
• Reduce human to human contact;
• Make the software uniquely tailored to your brand, so it is recognizable;
• Store all rental agreements and other documents in the cloud, so you can be sure that confidential customer details are protected;
• manage advertising campaigns, implement a customer loyalty program, satisfaction surveys, evaluations, and more;
• Offer flexible rate management for different room types, policies, value-added services, incentives, etc;
• Accept online payments and enable customers to pay online to get paid faster;
• Conduct online checks to save hours of administrative work;
• Provide residents with access to their profiles to make their stay easier and improve communication;
• Manage maintenance requests online to speed up the maintenance process.

As travelers become younger and more demanding, personalization and ultra-fast service become keys to their hearts. Indeed, why wait to make a reservation in front of a desk at a hotel instead of tapping your smartphone a couple of times? What's more, why not use your smartphone instead of the pesky key card to check-in and check out of your hotel? It's all forming into a new industry called TravelTech. No wonder hotels around the world are adopting new digital solutions for their guests and considering options for a hotel management program.

Statistics also prove that the hotel industry relies heavily on digital technology. According to Socialtables, about 92% of hotel guests carry smartphones, while about 40% of them already use hotel apps for a range of services. In addition, about 74% of hotel guests surveyed were willing to join individual hotel loyalty programs, receive customized email offers, and share their personal information such as gender and age.

• Manufacturing

Regardless of the type of product, large-scale manufacturing means the need to implement custom software. In a globalized world, businesses need to reduce order dispatch times, generate and prioritize orders, and manage their production to improve customer service and thereby gain a competitive edge. A quality custom software solution can contain functionality for all of these purposes, allowing its users:

• automate business processes they need; 
• establish a clear management system that suits their business;
• establish and automate supply chains; 
• implement innovative technologies to improve production and get ahead of the competition;
• transform a proposal into a purchase order with the click of a mouse to speed up production and shipping processes;
• synchronize all processes from all departments to gain control over production;
• create financial reports to better manage savings;
• create an advanced and multi-level Bill of Materials (BOM), without relying on spreadsheets, to access the database from anywhere, anytime.

No company can afford to fall behind the new industry performance standard. Manufacturers understand that their products are only as good as their production methods, which is why they are all unique and know-how-based. This is why the choice of software is especially important. If the software doesn't match the production method, people work around the system, leading to duplication of effort, efficiency leaks, and possible errors. And simple errors can have costly side effects in an industry where expensive parts are ordered in bulk. Obviously, custom software gives manufacturing companies more flexibility and options than they ever had.

• Finance

According to a recent Statista report, global growth in financial app usage during COVID-19 was highest in Japan at 55%. This was followed by South Korea (35%), the US (20%), China (20%), Germany (15%), and Italy (15%). Even before the pandemic, global investment in financial technology was on the rise. Although with a slight decline in investment in 2019, at $137.5 billion compared to $141 billion in 2018, FinTech showed positive growth in most of its sectors.

One way or another, the average use of Fintech applications around the world is only expected to grow. So it's time for financial technology companies that are developing innovative technology solutions to gain momentum, find their niche, and expand their business. And it can be done with the help of custom software.

Development of custom fintech solutions gives an opportunity to implement unique ideas and business models in a particular web/mobile application, or set of applications. The creation and implementation of such software allow to increase profits, reduce costs, improve user experience, and increase the number of users. By closing the needs specific to your business, the target audience increases, which positively affects the further development of the company. Such software will be a strong competitive advantage and will help to break into the leaders of the financial industry, which is proved by the example of Defero. It is a service that allows authorized users to receive a report on financial activity. The report is updated on a monthly basis using statistical and objective assessment. During registration, the user goes through a two-step registration procedure, which first confirms the identity through authorization in the BankID system, which means increased security measures. With such examples, it is not surprising that there are hundreds of new companies working all over the world developing original solutions for their clients. 

• The regulatory area uses technology to help banks enforce compliance in the easiest and most cost-effective way possible; 
• A custom solution allows you to implement a unique idea that traditional banks don't have, to create something revolutionary;
• Custom software enables the usage of advanced innovations such as AI, ML, and Blockchain;
• Technology is changing insurance models. Today's systems pull information from public databases and immediately provide an estimated cost of insurance;
• Loans are made by individuals to each other. This provides risk mitigation through the use of real-time software analysis tools; 
• The use of financial technology has significantly transformed the lending industry. Innovations include p2p lending, obtaining financing at the interest of unpaid bills, and crowdfunding; 
• Expanding access to financial services is one of the most interesting applications of financial technology because we are talking about attracting about 4.5 billion people to the financial services system who previously had no access to such services. 

It's no exaggeration to say that digital banks with a high-quality, custom solution in their arsenal represent a real threat to traditional banks, as they attract younger, Internet-connected customers who want easier ways to manage their finances. According to a CASI report, from 2017 to 2022, the number of consumer visits to banks will decline by 36%, while the number of mobile transactions will increase by 121% over the same time period. 

This news is good not only for tech companies, but primarily for customers, who should expect stiff competition for their attention and, as a result, better service. Custom digital banks have the advantage of flexibility, and what's more, they typically offer innovative services at much lower rates than traditional players. 

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Of course, there is a wide range of industries that have not been mentioned in this article. Basically, almost any company would benefit from custom software. They don't have to be unique or large enterprises. Often organizations that can buy off-the-shelf software still choose to do custom to gain a competitive advantage. Anyone who needs improved communication with their customers, a better understanding of the customer experience, and enhanced security should certainly have such software. And to do that, you need to have the support of a reliable team of specialists, but you can read about them in another article.

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