Week 6: Clear - Application Software development

Should you build or buy your company's application software? It's a fairly difficult decision to make. Both have their pros and cons, but like every business decision you must think strategically and base it on what the business needs. If your company needs a certain functionality and it is available, either commercially or in open-source, buying will give you the benefits of support, expertise, and possibly training. On the other hand, if your company needs application functionality that is NOT available, either commercially or in open-source, having it built from the ground up is probably best. Having it built essentially has only one benefit, it's customized for your organization's needs. On the other hand, there are downfalls to having it built, which include limited support, expertise, and flexibility to change with your business.





About six (6) years ago I was employed with a private investigation firm. My primary responsibilities there were IT support and computer forensics. The company's primary software for conducting their reconciliation service was a custom built application by a father-son development team. It was built using Microsoft Visual FoxPro. I did not have any experience in software development, but my company managers began having me shadow the application developer and learn as a backup developer. There was not enough time and resources for me to become a master of all three trades at once. The development transitioned to a web application in Active Server Pages (ASP) with database transactions. This developer did a great job at building software that enhanced business efficiency.

Microsoft Visual FoxPro: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms950411.aspx

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