In this week’s episode, Ben Slavin, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Design, and Vincent Sharps, Chief Business Officer and Executive Vice President at Mindgrub, will discuss the pros and cons of custom application development vs. off-the-shelf software solutions.
Speaker 1: On behalf of AWS and Carahsoft, we would like to welcome you to today's podcast session for a federal podcast series, where Ben Slavin Senior Vice President of Strategy and Design, and Vincent Sharps Chief Business Officer and Executive Vice President at Mindgrub will discuss pros of custom app development versus off the shelf. Vincent, the floor is all yours.
Vincent Sharps: Hi there in special thanks to the team at Carahsoft for having us. I'm Vincent Sharps CBO at Mindgrub. We're a full service digital agency and Carahsoft partner specializing custom digital solutions for the public sector. Ben, why don't you kick us off by sharing a little bit about Mindgrub, our work with government agencies and what we'll be discussing today?
Ben Slavin: Sure events at a high level we'll be talking about how listeners in the public sector can be sure they're making smart choices for their software roadmap. Mindgrub has been working with federal agencies. Since we were founded in 2002. We focus on digital product development, marketing, and interactive and user experience. We also provide enterprise application development and support services. And regularly we work with emerging technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality. Outside of our public sector practice, we've worked with a really diverse set of clients, including leaders in higher education, healthcare, cybersecurity, retail, and even national utility providers. We found a lot of value in applying the lessons we learned from our work with those clients to projects for our state or federal clients. And today we'll be answering one of the questions we often hear from public sector clients when they consider their investment in their digital experience. Specifically, should they invest in building a custom application from scratch? Or is there more value in an off the shelf software solution?
Vincent Sharps: Ben, let me guess the short answer to that question is it depends.
Ben Slavin: You're right, Vince it does. But I think we can break down the pros and cons of each option. Give our listeners some questions to ask on the path to making a decision.
Vincent Sharps: Excellent. Let's start with the basics. How do we define an application? And how are they being used by government agencies and their constituents?
Ben Slavin: So an application really is a piece of software that allows a user to do something. There are web based applications that run in a web browser, you can think about most times you logged in on a website, and desktop and mobile applications that run either on your computer or a mobile device. A lot can be done with web applications these days. But native desktop and mobile apps can usually offer faster speeds, better overall performance and access to advanced functionality. I should also mention that web applications are distinct from websites, which are usually focused on either marketing or disseminating information. If you're looking to publish a blog, share information with the public about topics and programs, or publish contact information than a website is your best bet. If you're looking to enable collaboration, provide digital services, or give your users a tool that lets them explore data and information. That's a perfect fit for an application. Just one example that we've worked on recently is the NASA Space Apps Challenge. We built a custom web application that enabled them to run a global hackathon that connected more than 25,000 citizen scientists with each other that really allowed those citizen scientists to explore and work with data to solve challenges that NASA identified and wanted to put in front of them.
Vincent Sharps: So Ben, let me get this right. Once you've determined that your goals are engaging with your audience will be best met by developing an application versus just a website, you're faced with the question of custom versus out of the box. How would you define those two options?
Ben Slavin: Great question. So a custom application, which is what Mindgrub specializes in, is designed and engineered from scratch. Every feature of the application is developed specifically to meet the needs of your agency and your users. Often we'll build these applications on AWS, which gives our teams and vast array of options for infrastructure design, and optimization, as well as a vast ecosystem of integrations to improve the value and performance of the app over time. An off the shelf or out of box app is a prepackaged solution. While you may be able to customize the look and feel of the app to fit within your agency's brand standards. All of the software features have been built for a general audience. You can think maybe about SharePoint or confluences out of the box solutions that you customize, whereas websites and products built with technologies like Drupal or Node JS, anything on mobile, even WordPress are really those custom experiences.
Vincent Sharps: So we already determined that there isn't one right answer for every guy. From an agency, there are cases when an off the shelf application is the right option to meet the goals of the project. And there are cases when a custom app will be the better fit. Let's start with the off the shelf option. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing a ready-made software tool especially for government agencies?
Ben Slavin: The way that we look at it, there are four main advantages to an off the shelf approach. The first is quicker deployment. An app that's available for licensing comes with pre-built functionality, and there's little decision making involved in determining feature sets or actually developing anything. If time to market is one of your most important factors off the shelf may be the way to go. The second advantage has to do with lower initial implementation costs. Rather than investing in design, engineering, testing and integration with your existing systems, your upfront costs are usually limited to the cost of the initial purchase, along with the process of customizing the white label solution with your visual branding, and systems integration on the back end. A third plus is that costs are typically more predictable with off the shelf apps with fewer options for customization off the shelf software companies can have a well-defined pricing structure, you'll likely pay one upfront cost and then a monthly subscription fee to maintain access. That subscription might be fixed, or it might depend on the number of end users who are using the application. Finally, because off the shelf applications are already built, all the features are in place and ready for use when you buy it. You won't spend time waiting for new elements to be developed, tested and implemented like you would if you built a custom application. Instead, you have a wide selection of ready-made features that may just take some minor configuration to make available.
Vincent Sharps: Okay, so there's some pretty compelling reasons for some teams to select an out of the box app. But there have to be some potential downsides as well. What are those look like then?
Ben Slavin: There are some downsides and they're less obvious than the points that I just mentioned. First, ongoing fees tend to add up. Maintenance and support are expected costs that are sometimes overlooked when making a purchasing decision. Other factors that could increase cost above the initial licensing fee include things like publishing limits, per seat or per user costs, traffic or use based fees, activating new features or optional features, recurring licensing fees, or even just increased rates of contract renewal, once you're locked in. The specifics will depend a lot on the type of application and the vendor that you use. It's important to understand these fees though is they can sometimes cost as much or more than the initial purchase, sometimes more than even a custom alternative. A second disadvantage is limited customization offered by off the shelf software, very rarely have the ability to add features to the base product. As a public sector agency, it may be important to modify the experience to meet your needs. Whether those needs are driven by policy, or by serving the needs of a diverse audience. An off the shelf app may not provide for that kind of flexibility, you also probably won't own the code that powers the app. That means that if you ever wanted to bring the app in house, you'd have to start from scratch with a new mobile, desktop or web application. Additionally, it'll be harder if not impossible to fix any bugs on your own, or even with the help of an external vendor. Instead, you'll rely on whatever third party vendors providing that off the shelf solution to resolve any issues that might arise. Without ownership of the code. You're also relying on the vendor for security, your ecosystem of third party software tools increases. As your ecosystem of third party software tools increases, so does your cybersecurity risk. If you build the application yourself, you can make informed decisions about platform and application security. I'll talk about this in a minute. But we found the security posture of AWS to be a huge asset for our clients. With an out of the box option, you may not be able to choose the platform your vendors use.
Vincent Sharps: Great. So to some of the decision making factors for off the shelf apps, we can launch faster with more functionality out of the gate while saving some upfront costs. But the cost can increase over time. Agencies have limited options for customization to meet their audience needs. And lack of ownership of the code can cause long term problems with the security and scalability. That's right. Let's switch gears then to talk about custom applications. When an agency comes to your team, and is considering a software solution, what are some of the reasons why you would recommend the custom option?
Ben Slavin: The biggest plus is the fact that agencies can customize the experience to meet the needs of their users and the needs of the agency. They can prioritize the development of features based on those needs, the policies that guide the agency and the people or regions that they serve. I think a great example this is some of the work that we've done with NASA apple. It's one of their Knowledge management programs and training programs within NASA, where we really tailor their online platform and tool, including some advanced search functionality to meet the needs of their audience. This customization expands to security to AWS, as a platform has a lot of built in security features, they can be configured for specific use cases, and are available to every one of their customers. Building a custom solution on AWS lets us eliminate a lot of security risk. And lets us do it in a way that can be scaled over time. Along the same lines, you own the code that makes up an app you build. And that ownership extends to the ABS content, design and features, you can transfer application support to an in house or external team at any time. And because you don't have to pay licensing fees, you can see long term cost savings over the life of the product. One more benefit of the custom route is scalability, you will have the ability to build a custom tech stack that meets your needs now and as they evolve. If your custom app is well designed, you'll be able to add new features without added licensing costs and increased capacity as your traffic grows without being bumped to a higher pricing tier.
Vincent Sharps: So then let me make sure I have this right. Opting for custom app addresses a lot of the pain points we talked about with off the shelf options, like the lack of code ownership, the potential for security vulnerabilities. And in the inflexibility as far as the user experience supporting tech stack and featured set is concerned.
Ben Slavin: Exactly. It's not a clear cut choice, though. There are times when we advise our clients choose an off the shelf option based on their unique circumstances. Okay, so what are some of those considerations? Practically speaking, one of the drawbacks of a custom app build is the fact that they take longer to develop and deploy an off the shelf options. So if you need something yesterday, it might be the right choice. That being said, if your team is fully involved in the development process, like many of our federal clients are, you will find that the learning curve after the software is released is significantly lower than when implementing an out of the box solution, you can maximize the value of the software investment a lot sooner and build out additional functionality after the initial launch. To get that full value of custom software, though, you need to be involved or someone from your team does. With off the shelf you aren't involved during its creation, with custom you have to be, you will know your needs best. In order to build something your customers want to use, you'll need to work closely with your app development team and share the insights you have about your audience. A great example of that is some of the work that we're doing with the Air Force in the tech product center. We're building a custom application that allows mapping and advanced functionality. It's used by first responders and others. And the insight that that team has about what a firefighter needs, or what a first responder needs has allowed us to do some incredible things that we might not have seen on our own, that partnership has been absolutely key.
Vincent Sharps: Man, Ben great points, there's definitely a difference in the total cost of ownership between these two options. But when considered over the long term, custom may not only come out as the more effective route, but also pay off more in terms of efficiency, user satisfaction, decreases in delayed bill or fee payments, etc.
Ben Slavin: Yeah, and I may be biased here. But I think the most exciting benefit that comes with custom app build is the opportunity it creates for innovation to do something better, you aren't limited by the grid of choices that come with off the shelf offerings, you can tailor a custom app to solve your problems, focusing on the things that create real value. As end user expectations continue to be shaped by experiences we have with commercial sector, the likelihood that there'll be frustrated by an experience in the public sector that doesn't quite increases whether your users or your own employees, first responders warfighters general public, we're all living in this highly digital world. There was an extensive study that came out recently that found that 73% of respondents said that improving digital government services would positively change their overall satisfaction with government and 69% would be more willing to engage with government. If their digital experiences were better. There's so much more agencies could do to make progress on these fronts with custom software that's accessible, cohesive and rooted in Human Centered Design.
Vincent Sharps: Man, Ben, I think you'll cosign just from what we've experienced here at Mindgrub during the disruption that is spot on. That's about all the time we have today. Ben, how can our listeners find out more about application development and Mindgrub generally?
Ben Slavin: Well, listeners, I encourage you to visit us online at mindgrub.com. Thanks to all of you for listening, and we wish you all the best with your digital transformation initiatives.
Vincent Sharps: Thanks so much. I'll hand it back over to the Carahsoft team.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. If you'd like more information on how Carahsoft or AWS can assist you, please visit www.carahsoft.com or email us at AWS@carahsoft.com. Thanks again for listening and have a great day.