Benefits of Custom-Made Apps for Businesses

Era of personalization

One of the early examples of personalization that comes to my mind can be traced back to the publishing industry, where personalized books and newspapers were produced as far back as the 1800s. Today, personalization is a major trend across various industries, with its presence being felt from e-commerce to healthcare. Numerous companies have implemented personalization to create unique and tailored client experiences. Undeniably, we live in a period of personalization as technology advances, allowing personalized experiences to become more widespread in our everyday lives.

Use Case 

Your business has an audience. An audience is combined from different and various groups of people. They are your loyal clients who use and buy your products. You sell the exact same thing to each one. How do you increase sales and revenue?

Possible solution

Identify a fundamental feature of your product that should remain unchanged and serves as the primary driver of conversions. While keeping this core feature intact, you can customize and adjust other aspects of the product, such as branding, appearance, and minor details, without affecting its functionality. By creating multiple versions of the product with unique looks and branding, each tailored to a specific customer group, you can generate more sales as each group gravitates towards their preferred product version. These versions serve the same purpose but differ enough to appeal to specific customer groups and drive more sales.

Software personalization

Today, with the help of modern technology, we can really maximize the process of customizing software to fit the specific needs and preferences of different individuals or user groups. Personalization can involve various aspects of software, such as user interfaces, features, settings, content, and workflows.

Personalization aims to enhance the user experience by tailoring software to fit individual unique requirements and behaviors. This can include modifying the interface’s visual design, adding or removing features, changing default settings, and offering personalized recommendations based on the user’s past activities.

Several ways to achieve software personalization include rule-based personalization, collaborative filtering, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. These approaches use different algorithms and techniques to collect and analyze data about individuals and user groups and their behavior to create personalized experiences.

Personalization driven by data

Software can be tailored to fit an entity’s specific needs, such as individuals, groups, or organizations, by capitalizing on data regarding their behaviors and preferences to create customized experiences.

1. Data Collection: The first step is to collect data about the entity. This can be done through various means, such as user surveys, behavioral tracking, user feedback, or third-party data sources.
2. Data Analysis: Once the data is collected, it needs to be analyzed to extract meaningful insights. We can do this by using statistical methods, machine learning algorithms, or other analytics tools.
3. User Segmentation: User segmentation involves grouping users with similar characteristics or behaviors into segments. Factors like demographics, behavior patterns, and preferences can all be considered when creating these segments, which can help better personalize software to the needs of specific user groups.
4. Personalization: Based on insights and segmentation, software can be adapted to the needs of an individual user. For example, personalized recommendations can be provided based on the user’s past behavior, or the software’s interface can be customized to fully accommodate their preferences.
5. Getting feedback from the entity is essential to keep refining the personalization process and improving the user experience. Gathering this feedback is key to enhancing algorithms for personalization and the overall user experience. 

Personalization examples

Amazon:

Amazon is known for its personalized product recommendations based on a customer’s browsing and purchase history. The company uses machine learning algorithms to suggest products that a customer is most likely to be interested in and has also introduced features like personalized storefronts for businesses and individuals alike.

Netflix:

Netflix is an incredibly successful streaming service that uses algorithms to recommend movies and TV shows based on users’ viewing habits. The company’s personalized recommendation system is one of the key factors contributing to its success.

Nike:

One of the most popular forms of Nike personalization is the Nike By You program, formerly known as NikeiD. The program allows customers to customize their Nike shoes by selecting different colors and materials for various shoe parts, such as the upper, midsole, and outsole. Customers can also add their own text or graphics to the shoe, such as their name or a personal message.

Reusing open-source software

What if I told you that there are already solutions waiting for you? Open source software is computer software made freely available to the public, along with the underlying source code used to build the software. This means anyone can view, modify, and distribute the software without asking for permission or paying fees.

When discussing reusing open source software, it means that a person or organization can take an existing piece of open source software and use it as a starting point for their own software project. They can modify the code as needed to fit their particular needs and then use the resulting software in their own work or business.

Reusing open source software is an amazing way to leverage the work of others to make your own software development faster, easier, and more cost-effective.  It’s a great option for those without in-depth technical knowledge, as it still allows them to benefit from the advantages of open source software.

Real life example

You’re looking to create a personalized solution for your IoT devices. But before starting from scratch, it’s worth considering existing solutions. For example, there are several open-source platforms available, such as Home Assistant, ThingsBoard, and OpenHAB, with various features for home automation, device management, and data processing. Consider forking one of these platforms and adding unique elements that align with your business needs. This way, you can create and distribute the customized product as a separate entity.

https://github.com/home-assistant – Open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. It is powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. 

https://github.com/thingsboard – loY device management, data collection, processing and visualization for your loT projects.

https://github.com/openhab – An open source home automation platform that allows users to connect and control a wide range of smart home devices from a single interface. 

Now you can create your own version of, i.e. HomeAssistant and customize it with features that are unique to your business. You can then distribute it as its own separate product.

Disclaimer: These open-source projects exist because there are communities around them. Always check licenses, respect their work, and I strongly encourage you to contribute!

To sum up

In short, software personalization is a powerful method for developing a one-of-a-kind software product that caters to the particular needs of an individual or organization. By utilizing techniques like data analytics and user feedback, the software can be customized to the exact specifications of its intended users. This results in a personalized and intuitive user experience, boosting engagement and overall satisfaction. Additionally, software personalization can be expedited by utilizing open-source software and reusable libraries, which provide a foundation of pre-existing code to build on.