If you operate your business online, or even if you just have a business website, you undoubtedly will have heard of WordPress. In fact, with over 455 million websites using WordPress* making it the world’s most popular CMS (Content Management System), the chances are you will have used it yourself! As a Software Development team, we can definitely say it is as amazing as it sounds. 

So why do so many businesses choose to use WordPress for their website? One of the main reasons it appeals so much is because of its ease of use and functionality. User-friendly features such as the simple dashboard and navigation menus are easy to follow, allowing even complete novices to be able to build and maintain their own websites. The basic software is also free to use which is a major bonus when budgets are tight.

Of course, as with many free platforms, WordPress does have its limitations. Where those limitations start to hinder the growth of a business it can become a real problem and this is when clients often come to us, frustrated as to what they can achieve with their website.

How might that look?

Well, it may be that you start to experience slow page loading speeds, for example. As you’ll no doubt know, if a customer has to wait more than a couple of seconds to reach the page they have clicked on they won’t hang around to see if it sorts itself out – they will just move on. Every second spent waiting is money wasted.

Similarly, if your business requires a complex website with lots of plugins, or you are looking to build a multifaceted website as your business scales up, you may well come up against restrictions as to what you can and can’t do. When that happens don’t despair; it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to expand the way you want to, or that you will never be able to build the complexity of the website that your business demands.

Instead, rather than simply looking to WordPress for the answer, you need to explore what options are available to you from an IT Software Development point of view.

 

Bespoke Software Development for individual business needs

Though there’s no doubt that WordPress offers a vast amount of functionality and plug-ins, your website likely won’t need or use everything it offers. What works for one company won’t necessarily work for another and each business website should be considered based on its own individual requirements.

For many companies, the ability to be able to integrate with other systems is key to achieving growth and scaling up. Linking your website to other applications can also smooth out business processes and improve efficiencies across the board. It may be that you want to integrate with an eCommerce application or perhaps connect to multiple databases that can provide real-time customer information. Or perhaps you want to integrate with accounting software for ease of payment and managing invoices.

Where specific features are needed and more complex integration is required, this is often where proprietary CMSs alone can falter. And that’s where bespoke Software Development can come in – tailored to your own business, a website can be created that takes the basics of a proprietary CMS and combines it with the addition of bespoke features designed with your business needs in mind.

The result is a website that contains all the functionality and usability of a WordPress template, with all the additional features, complexities and sophisticated aesthetics of a bespoke build.

 

Below are just a few examples of how our IT Support Development team have been able to effectively ‘bridge the gap’ between different applications and processes for our clients, by integrating their websites using WordPress and other proprietary website products into bespoke software:

 

      • Mailing and fulfilment systems – streamlining the process using automation, direct integration and bespoke software to deliver with confidence to customers.

      • Stock and inventory systems – enabling clients to easily track stock levels and changes in prices, monitor sales and purchase orders, and manage bulk items seamlessly.

      • Reservations and booking calendars – automated booking to improve the customer experience, speed up the process and reduce errors and delays.

      • Accounts and financial systems – enabling our clients to track revenue and outgoings in real-time and drive conversions while providing heightened data security.

      • Corporate legacy and specialist systems – updating legacy software systems and integrating with specialist systems using a bespoke software package

     

    If your current website isn’t quite up to scratch and you’d like to know more about a bespoke build – and more importantly what it can offer your business and your customers – then please do give us a call. We’d be very happy to have a conversation about what your requirements might be and to answer any questions you may have.

     

    Reference:

    *https://techjury.net – as of 2021

    If you’re looking to make some changes to the way your software operates, or perhaps you’re unhappy with your current Software Development, why not get in touch?