What is Custom Programming?

Custom programming is the process of developing web, desktop, and mobile applications to fulfill a specific business need. The need can be as simple as integrating your central business system with your web-based assets or adding a unique functionality to an existing software.

Custom programming will also allow you to build new applications when commercial software solutions fail to meet your needs.

The following are some of the most common types of custom programming:

Importing data from spreadsheets or other sources for display on your website or desktop application.
Delivering data from your website, desktop or mobile application to your accounting software, warehouse, or supplier.
Having a centralized database management system used by different departments in your organization.

A custom application is required to process the data because the data formats are constantly different. Custom programming can be done for third-party service and product integrations, interactive components on your web pages, or specialized processing or calculations relevant to your business model.

What is a Custom Program?

We'll begin with what it isn't. It’s not a software that can be purchased online. There are several apps available on the market to meet certain demands. QuickBooks is an example of a bookkeeping program and is an excellent product.

Programmer typing on laptop and QuickBooks software customizing standard templates for some transactions.

Furthermore, the greatest products have attempted to anticipate customer expectations and have ways in place to adapt the product to fit a specific demand. As a result, QuickBooks allows you to customize their standard templates for some sorts of transactions.

Benefits of Developing Your Own Custom Program

Functionality Modification

When an application cannot be modified to do things your way and there are no better options on the market, you may want to explore our custom programming services.

QuickBooks is developed in C++ and runs on a Sybase database. If there is no product to meet your needs, you must consider doing it the same way QuickBooks did.

Choose a programming specialization or language that is suited for your needs, as well as a database if one is required, and start creating it. Cambria's business has been creating such custom programs for our clients from scratch since 1984.

Efficiency

Custom software is designed to support processes quickly and effectively, eliminating the need to modify commercial products.

Scalability

Customizing your own software can help your company adapt to changes as it grows and expands. As part of the requirements-collecting process, designers and developers can estimate future demands.

These future variables can be included within the application instead of acquiring extra licenses or subscriptions from commercial apps.

Lower integration costs

Many people prefer to have a custom software developed since it is often less expensive than an otherwise good commercial application on the market to perform what they want.

Building true flexibility into a commercial product is tough and costly, but a software developed just for you can ignore unnecessary features and do things your way.

It is critical to understand whether a commercial software is compatible with existing and legacy applications. Companies may require extra software to connect and function with their existing infrastructure if this is not the case. Custom software can be created to integrate with the environment in which it will be used.

Longevity

Commercial applications can't readily foresee new innovations, and if they are vanishing from the market, they cannot be designed to accommodate them. When this happens, as long as you choose the programming language and database wisely, you should be OK. We can always update your software source code if Cambria wrote it for you.

If Cambria is no longer on the planet and you have ensured that you own the source code, you can always find a programmer that specializes in custom software development and have them continue to maintain the software. As stated by Roger Williams, former President of Industrial Health, Inc. in Palo Alto, “If you are not in control of your software, you are not in control of your company."

Custom Application Development Company

Custom Software Development Experience

We may have more software development experience than any software consulting company. We have been in this difficult business since 1984 and are still going strong. There are many types of programming, and very few companies do them all.

Cambria custom software developers smiling and building desktop mobile applications, and web applications.

Cambria develops desktop applications, mobile applications, and web applications. Within these categories are different sub-categories, tool sets and programming languages.

Cambria has a team of custom programmers that have experience in all of the major programming tools required to develop web programs, dynamic web sites, mobile applications, and the old, dependable desktop programs we've been creating for over 38 years. That is, we have no vested interest in endorsing one programming method over another.

Cambria has the expertise in any type of programming you need done. We can select the appropriate tool and type of program for the work in collaboration with our clients.

Familiarity with a Variety of Business Processes for Your Custom Program

Your interest in custom programming is most likely a result of a business process. Many programmers lack practical business experience. Cambria has expertise in numerous business processes as a result of the various industries we have served in the past.

This means that we will create software that is tailored to the client's unique requirements. What our British clients refer to as bespoke software. It could be a product that our clients want to create or software for an internal requirement when they can't find competitively priced commercial programs that will perform the job.

Custom software programming was the original service provided by our company when it was founded in 1984 and is still the centerpiece of our activities.

British bespoke software development partnership deal and custom software programming provided by Cambria.

Our custom software staff includes programming experts in a wide range of languages and tools necessary to create custom software, from a compact Microsoft Access database to high-performance data-driven web sites or software to operate on a mobile device such as a smartphone.

Custom Programming Process

An efficient custom software development process flow includes five critical stages. Following this development method will aid in the success of your custom software development project, regardless of its size and scope.

Creating a Strategy

The first step in the custom programming development process is to define your plan for turning your concept into a successful program. During this phase, you must identify your users and the functionality your program will offer to solve the business need.

Analysis and Planning

The process of analysis and planning begins with the definition of use cases and the capture of precise functional requirements. This involves prioritizing the needs for the custom program and categorizing them into delivery milestones while optimizing your usage of time, resources, and expenses.

UI / UX Design

The goal of software design is to provide seamless user experiences with a professional appearance. Polished user interface designs will provide intuitive user experiences.

Programming and Development

Before we begin real development and programming activities, you must describe your program's technical architecture and select the best and most appropriate technology stack for it. Defining development milestones as part of the custom software programming process aids in iterative development of your software.

Testing and Deployment

Thorough quality assurance (QA) testing during the custom programming process ensures that the program is reliable, useful, and secure. Familiarity with your software's functional requirements and objectives will aid in the creation of realistic test cases.

Expert Custom Software Programmers

Cambria's Approach to High-Quality Customized Software

In one sense, it is rather simple. We only recruit experienced custom software developers. We don't have any entry-level or mid-level custom programmers.
Examine the profiles of our experienced programmers. Nobody here has fewer than 5 years of custom software development expertise, while the majority have more. They are all capable of working directly with our clients and have project leadership abilities.
And this is important! There will be no middlemen.
Our clients deal directly with these professionals without going through some middle manager. Anyone who has dealt with offshore programmers will appreciate this. And most of us are in Manila, Philippines.

How we Select the Best Custom Software Developers

Companies selecting the best custom software developers in the Philippines for desktop, mobile, and web applications.

Cambria develops desktop applications, mobile applications, and web applications. Within these categories are different sub-categories, tool sets and programming languages.

Cambria has a team of custom programmers that have experience in all of the major programming tools required to develop web programs, dynamic web sites, mobile applications, and the old, dependable desktop programs we've been creating for over 38 years. That is, we have no vested interest in endorsing one programming method over another.

Talent

The Philippines has a population of over 112 million people, and no country has a monopoly on talent. Here, there is a broad education system that generates more educated English-speaking individuals than the country can absorb.

Selectivity

Nobody even gets invited to an interview unless they have 5 years professional experience. This is now a hard and fast rule at Cambria and is important. But experience alone is not enough. They have to also be really good at what they do.

Rigorous Testing

The visits of interviewees begin with a series of written exams. First, a broad one to assess logical ability when confronted with typical programming scenarios. Following that, we will conduct skill-specific exams using information from the internet as well as our own specialists. Those that fail, which number between 80 and 90 percent, are politely dismissed.

Structured and In-depth Personal Interviews

Only a handful make it this far, and only a small percentage of those who do are offered a position on our team. Those that do make it must be good. However, functioning under pressure and meeting deadlines can be difficult. As a result, we make full use of Philippine legislation, which permits for dismissal without cause for the first six months.

Intense Trial Period

A new programmer at Cambria is usually put on one of our larger projects and works under the guidance of permanent staff. We already know skills are good. This is where we find out if they can maintain good client communication, perform to spec and meet deadlines. If a programmer passes this final stage they become members of our permanent staff.

Lifelong Learning

We promote the continuous and self-motivated quest of knowledge about numerous current technologies as it improves social inclusion, active citizenship, and personal growth while also increasing a programmer's competitiveness.

Analysis of Programmer Selection

Past Experience

When we initially arrived in Manila, Philippines in 2007, we had to learn from our mistakes during our first few years here. We attempted to utilize James in California, USA as a middleman as this seemed sensible at the time. But it didn't work, and the resultant overwork and late hours led to the loss of one of our finest.

Later, we proceeded in the same manner as in the United States, by conducting informal interviews with graduates from prestigious universities and making on-the-spot decisions.

We had some triumphs but far too many failures, and we realized that we needed a method that rigorously screened candidates before wasting professional time on interviews, and then structured and arranged the interviews themselves. It has been enormously successful.

The Disadvantages of this Method

The processes mentioned take a long time to complete. During one point in 2015, we searched for an acceptable .NET programmer for 4 months.

As a result, we cannot be employed for a specific job that comes in, and our hiring methods are consistent, and we frequently hire the appropriate individual even if there is no immediate work for him/her. We frequently have to decline off projects due to a lack of employees to reply swiftly.

Advantages of this Method for Dick

Dick, the chairman, can sleep well and relax on weekends knowing that projects are typically always handled properly and correctly. Furthermore, because our clients stay with us, our growth is consistent because existing clients stick with us and new clients just add to our business.

Advantages of this Method for the Client

The major advantage is that the task is done correctly the first time. However, because we have a low turnover rate, the programmer you last worked with and who is familiar with your system will be available in the future if needed.

Custom Programming Company Failures

Incomplete Projects

One issue is that the project may be completed and perform rather well, but it is still a messy project with poor code and a lack of internal documentation.

This will be obvious if you have taken the precaution of owning the source code and hiring another programmer to maintain it. If it is poorly written, it will be costly to maintain, and it may be recommended that it be completely rewritten.

Wrong Choice of Programming Language

Computer languages, like custom programs, require maintenance. They require the backing of the company that owns and sells them. And it's difficult for someone who isn't in the computer business to advise you how to choose.

You might believe, as many do, that "you can't go wrong with a Microsoft language." However, Microsoft is also guilty of leaving people in the cold. FoxPro, a popular programming language in the 1980s, is an example of one that was abandoned.

Classic ASP, a completely acceptable and pioneering back-end scripting language that was used in hundreds of thousands of websites costing millions of dollars, is being left to wither and is no longer being developed. Microsoft Access and Visual Basic are on the same path.

Wrong Database

A “Structured Query Language” (SQL) is a standard means of querying a database for information in modern databases. Check to see if this applies to your project or find a solid reason why it does not. Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, and Oracle are a few examples.

Older non-SQL systems, such as dBase, FoxPro, Paradox, and many more, had proprietary databases with non-standard methods of contacting them. Even Microsoft Access fits within this category, although unlike the others stated, upgrading an Access database to a standard such as Microsoft SQL server is relatively simple.

Tips for Choosing a Custom Programming Company

A lot can go wrong when you choose a substandard custom programming company. The ancient adage "you get what you pay for" applies just as much to the programming profession as it does to any other.

Programmers' talents vary, as they do in other occupations. I'm sure Cambria is not alone in taking up projects started by others that were either never finished or done so poorly that a never-ending cycle of debugging was necessary. Sloppy programming is frequent, particularly among self-taught and inexperienced programmers.

Ask for references

However, keep in mind that any programmer with enough experience to have worked on a variety of projects may cherry pick two or three of those references. You may try to acquire a typical example by asking for a list of every customer they've worked with in the previous 6 or 12 months. And double-check each one.

How many years of professional experience do you have?

How long have you been in your current job?

This is crucial if they work for a programming company. If they are good, the company will make every effort to maintain them.

How many jobs have you had in the previous ten years?

This and other information should be included in the resume.

The most essential of these is selecting the appropriate programmer. You can avoid the other pitfalls if you follow his/her advice.

Outsource Custom Software Development Services to the Philippines

Cambria is a 38-year-old California company that mostly develops in Metro Manila, Philippines. You will receive the same high-quality programming that we have always offered, but at a far lower cost as compared to the United States.

The Philippines is the world's second-largest English-speaking country after the United States, and because of its American culture and history, our development team will be as easy to work with as any American company.

Our team is reliable and competent. You can count on the individuals you work with to be there at Cambria the next time you need them. This is because, in addition to being the best in their area, they are compensated and treated like professionals.

As a result, don't anticipate the lowest costs in Asia. We are not bottom feeders. However, we are still in Asia, and our rates are inexpensive in comparison to costs in the industrialized world. You'll be hard pushed to find a better combination of pricing and programming quality.

Custom Programming Examples

Here are some custom programs that we've made, and unsolicited testimonials
from our clients.

Software Development Outsourcing

IT Staff Augmentation

Custom Programming Services