Buy vs. Building Mobile Software Solutions

Regularly companies that need mobile software solutions for their field force are confronted by the choice of whether they should buy a mobile solution or build their own custom solution. This is a fair question, and I am sure there are times when your requirements may be so specialized that custom building is the only way, but this is rare. In most cases your needs are very similar to other companies, and the ability to reuse solution templates and proven frameworks is the better choice.

MobileDataforce invested over 12 man years into the development of PointSync. Our goal, which we have now achieved, was to provide a rapid application development solution for mobile environments. We invested in the grunt work so you would not have to. Most of our customers find that their solution is over 80% completed before they even start. They can configure a database connection, instead of coding it. They can configure their mobile application interface, rather than code it. They can configure synchronizations, rather than code it. They can use one of the 130 pre-built functions from our library, rather than code it. One of the biggest advantages is we have been debugging, documenting and improving PointSync through 3 versions. This is a time consuming and often tedious process, but it reaps rewards for our customers. I would not wish this process on anyone.

Using PointSync, you can focus on perfecting your mobile business processes rather than on perfecting your code. The value and ROI from your mobile application comes from the business efficiencies it brings to your field force. The faster you can deliver it, and the smoother the implementation, the happier your field force and management will be.

Although building it yourself may be necessary in rare cases, most often if you can configure a proven application to enable you to rapidly implement a mobile solution, you, your CFO and your field force will be much happier.