Comparing COTS Products and Bespoke Development

Digital transformation in various industries has placed a number of considerations on organisations, chief among which is identifying exactly how they will digitise their services. There are three broad paths these companies can follow when determining the most effective means of digitalisation – commercial off-the-shelf products, bespoke development, or a mixture of both. 

While going for tried-and-tested COTS products may reduce the time taken to build the solution, their use sacrifices the flexibility of bespoke solutions. Equally, going bespoke may allow for a greater sense of ownership over a product, yet the newness of the solution naturally means more ‘unknowns’ exist when journeying through the development process. 

In this guidebook, learn more about:

• The similarities and differences between COTS products and bespoke solutions
• Why each has its own impact on key metrics, including return on investment and total cost of ownership 
• How software accelerators can act as a middle-ground between the two 
• Critical Software’s capabilities in integrating and developing COTS and bespoke-based solutions