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Upcoming Research:
Decide between Custom Development and Off-the-Shelf Software

Custom vs. COTS: Understand the strategy behind deciding to build or buy.

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Your Challenge

Understanding what the business needs are is the first step to being able to make the decision between build and buy. Before any business can/or should make the decision to purchase, they must understand the business requirements at the smallest level. It can be a fatal mistake for IT/Development managers to invest company money into a COTS solution only to find out that it doesn’t meet the requirements, or that the workarounds are frustrating the users and creating productivity issues throughout the organization.

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Reduce Maintenance Costs for COTS Applications

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) applications involve significant costs for most enterprises. Follow five key strategies to drive the costs out of the COTS portfolio.

Note

Custom vs. COTS: Tailor Requirements Gathering for a Tighter Fit

Many IT teams approach requirements gathering for software purchasing the same way they approach custom development requirements. It is important, however, to note the differences between these scenarios from the perspective of requirements gathering. Understand the differences to make sure the right approach is taken to solve enterprise software problems.

Tool

TCO Comparison Tool: OSS vs. COTS Software

Licensing savings are just a small part of the cost considerations when adopting an open source solution. Use this total cost of ownership calculator to assess the real cost difference between open source and off-the-shelf software.

Note

Requirements Gathering: What Every IT Manager Needs to Know

Requirements gathering is a critical part of custom software development and the procurement of commercial applications. Poor requirements gathering can lead to costly rework, expensive workarounds, and/or poor purchasing decisions. Learn the fundamentals of the requirements gathering process to build or purchase an application that fits business needs.

Tags

business requirements, build, buy, COTS, off the shelf, Custom development

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  1. Software Configuration Management Solutions: TCO Comparison Tool
  2. Software Configuration Management Tools: Comparative TCO Calculator
  3. TCO Comparison Tool: OSS vs. COTS Software
  4. Data Integration Build vs. Buy TCO Calculator
  5. Choose the Right Elicitation Techniques to Improve Requirements
Custom vs. COTS: Understand the strategy behind deciding to build or buy.

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4. Decide between Custom Development and Off-the-Shelf Software
Custom vs. COTS: Understand the strategy behind deciding to build or buy.
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