Databases

Most database applications are to do with People, Places, Dates and Items. Items can be anything from Products to Information and/or Images.

Databases are intrinsic to modern life as they control our salaries, video rentals, holiday bookings, council tax etc. A Database correctly designed will make your job easier, time spent will be more effective and will hence Increase Profitability.

Off-the-shelf database software is available. Any accounting program, tax program, etc. - and there are many others - is basically a database application. These programs are relatively inexpensive compared to the actual development cost due to the large number of people who purchase them, but they are also fairly rigid in that they have been designed to work with fairly 'standard' processes.

The reason some companies decide to have a custom database built is that the off-the-shelve applications are not flexible enough to work they way their company works. Many of those companies started with an off-the-shelf program but later found it to be too limiting. They either decided it would be better to create a custom application to change their internal procedures or they found they needed additional functionality that would not be available otherwise.

Another factor is that most off-the-shelf applications may be designed to include only those features needed most often. It is not cost effective for them to include features that would only be used by a few customers. A custom database application doesn't have this restriction so each application can be designed to work exactly the way your company works.

Many companies consider their custom database to be a part of their competitive edge over the competition.

Contact Edwards Micros for a discussion about your requirements.