We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: off-the-shelf software cannot fit the needs of unique businesses. Instead, businesses need a custom solution that functions in specific ways tailored to their operations. However, amongst all the growth and chaos associated with running a business, it is common for business owners to be unable to afford large budgets or years of development time — processes need to be repaired and profitability needs to improve quickly.
Fortunately, there is FileMaker. FileMaker is the ideal platform for custom built software for these types of companies, as it creates a flexible foundation that’s both secure and completely customizable.
At The Alchemy Group, we have over two decades of FileMaker development experience, enabling us to provide you with a custom software solution that is tailored to your business. Our developers and FileMaker programmers provide our clients with elegant yet powerful solutions to suit any need. And the cost of development and deployment of our solutions is significantly less than “big iron” enterprise databases. In this post, we’ll cover why you should choose a software consultant group that specializes in FileMaker development when searching for custom built software.
Types of Businesses Using FileMaker
A solid software is often considered as the backbone of any business in today’s technology-driven world. Stats have shown that over 75 percent of entrepreneurs are continually incorporating software into their business operations. The reality is, there are certain operations that have unique requirements that off-the-shelf or retail business software is not able to provide. Custom built software can increase business performance and efficiency in various situations.
When it comes to businesses that are utilizing custom software, nearly every type of business in varying industries has used FileMaker to create robust software solutions quickly and cost-effectively, including those in the following industries:
- Real Estate
- Restaurants
- Advertising
- Construction
- Education
- Government
- Insurance
- Manufacturing
- Medical
- Non-Profits
- Service Industries
What Can FileMaker Be Used For?
FileMaker can be used to create just about any solution for your business, both quickly and cost-effectively, including customer relationship management, databases, and enterprise resource planning. The FileMaker platform is extremely flexible, enabling the ability to create custom software and application solutions, both for desktops and for mobile, as well as databases. At The Alchemy Group, our FileMaker programmers are to create software efficiently, which can be beneficial in various ways, including:
- Cost. Hiring an in-house software developer or from-scratch development can become costly.
- Time. Building software from scratch takes considerable amounts of time. FileMaker allows developers to build software rapidly so that solutions can deploy quickly.
Businesses have problems that require solving, and in most cases, time and money is something they don’t want to throw away. With a platform like FileMaker, custom built software can be created quickly and cost-effectively.
FileMaker Features For Businesses
Over the years, FileMaker has added numerous features that are designed to accommodate businesses and make operations more efficient and profitable. Each year, a new version of FileMaker is rolled out, typically coming with new, easy to use, features that are ideal for building custom applications for all business types and sizes. While there are various fantastic features that developers are using in creative ways, here are a few of the most popular Filemaker features.
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- Signature Capture and Printing Solution. Automate signature capture for contracts, and easily generate invoices and receipts.
- Starter Apps. Combining predefined apps with additional tables for additional functionality help speed up the development of custom solutions.
- Data API. Data API exposes data from FileMaker apps in the standard JSON format, and a data connector offers integration with Tableau.
These are just a few of the many FileMaker features that keep their businesses running smoothly.
Efficient FileMaker Integrations
As mentioned, FileMaker is a flexible platform. With a variety of plugins and integrations already available, combined with how easy it is to connect to external data and integrate with other popular apps and web services through powerful APIs, businesses are able to connect custom business software created with FileMaker to nearly any other software or database. Popular integrations and plug-ins included in the platform include WordPress, Office 365, HubSpot, Adobe PDF, Amazon, and more!
Robust CRM Capabilities
No matter how many employees a business has, using custom CRM software tailored to your business can help improve productivity for sales teams and the number of satisfied customers. Businesses will be able to manage client contacts, foster quality leads, and track the fulfillment process. The FileMaker platform makes it easy to do nearly anything with ease — from basics like logging each client contact, scheduling follow-ups with current clients, and nurturing contacts with prospects are all simple to more robust capabilities such as tracking total spending per client, monitoring buying habits, and tracking types of purchases. FileMaker also makes it easy to automate a variety of tasks and processes to streamline cross-selling and upselling, increasing your company’s revenue
FileMaker: A Quick, Affordable, and Highly-Customizable Platform To Create Custom Built Software
Thanks to FileMaker capabilities and features, it’s an ideal platform for companies who either need to build a custom business software solution quickly or for those who want a cost-effective way to improve profitability and efficiency.
If you’re interested in exploring the possibility of using FileMaker to create your custom software solution for your business, see what The Alchemy Group has to offer as a Platinum FileMaker Business Alliance member. We not only offer the best pricing on FileMaker licensing, but we also have extensive experience developing custom software solutions in a variety of industries.
