08 Feb Beyond Configuration: How building fit-for-purpose solutions for unique business needs improves extended workforce strategy.
Organizations’ extended workforce technical requirements are getting increasingly complex. The idea that technology meets exact needs, no matter how specific, is also becoming an expectation.
One thing to note is that the more complex the requirements, the more difficult it is to find an off-the-shelf solution that fits those needs. Often, to meet complex business requirements, software must be customized and/or configured.
Customization vs configuration – what are the differences?
Knowing the differences between these is key to being able to pinpoint what you need and improve the extended workforce strategy based on that information.
Customization is a feature, extension, or modification that requires custom coding and/or some form of special implementation.
Configuration is using tools that are native to the technology solution to change its behavior or modify features.
Most traditional, legacy Vendor Management Systems (VMS) are built on a custom code stack. That means any enhancements you need to the application require core code changes. In other words, using custom code!
Challenges of customizing your VMS include:
Limited Scalability: Slow implementation can delay scaling, leading to missed deadlines for new features.
Integration Difficulties: Custom code integration can take too much time and resources, leading to ineffective standalone applications.
More Risk and Effort: Heavy customization leads to longer implementation times, higher costs, and getting a solution that does not meet requirements.
Total Cost of Ownership: High TCO due to maintenance and upgrades, requiring costly in-house technical resources.
Heavy IT Requirements: Competition and skills shortages make it challenging to keep up and scale.
Continued Investment: Customizing a solution makes it hard to remove and can force continued investments as business needs change.
Some of the challenges custom code creates can be small and some can impact ROI and the extended workforce strategy on a much bigger scale.
To manage these downsides, solution providers drove towards more configurability as a more valuable approach. But traditional configuration options can also be limited to what a customer can do and pose limitations on configurability.
Flextrack and Next Generation of Configuration
Low-code applications were born out of necessity as another way to meet the requirements traditional configuration options could not. Almost 65% of all new applications being built will use this technology by 2024 and market size is expected a 44% annual growth rate by 2028
The main feature differentiating low-code and no-code platforms from traditional software is the level of configuration and customization available. Flextrack has the added benefit of being built on the world’s most powerful CRM, Salesforce – giving it additional power and flexibility in the market.
Seven Benefits and advantages of A low-code or no-code extended workforce management Platform
- Agility down to the data level: With native workflow engines and low-code/no-code tools, applications can be created faster to automate processes and address challenges – you can create custom fields and send them through an API almost instantly to meet specific needs.
- Easy Maintenance: Low-code applications are designed for easy configuration and maintenance with intuitive UI, allowing for easy additions or changes.
- Low Risk: Low-code development minimizes risk and effort while meeting complex business requirements.
- Total Cost of Ownership: Low-code ensures IT/business alignment while minimizing TCO by following best practices and aligning with existing IT infrastructure.
- Integrations: IPAS solutions allow for easy integration through drag-and-drop development.
- User Experience: Third-party apps can enhance the user experience.
- Customizable Data: Custom fields can be created and sent via API to meet specific data needs.
Flextrack is built on the Salesforce platform which is the most utilized low–code/no–code platform available in the market today. This means customers can make environment modifications without relying on custom code.
We are the only VMS on the market that is a true PaaS and therefore uses configuration to drive workflows, approvals, integrations, changes, and reporting. Our platform makes that process more efficient and aligned to the speed of delivery that organizations require for success.
Want to know more about the benefits of configuration and how PaaS can benefit your extended workforce strategy?
Mark Zolkos
Mark has over 25 years of experience in the workforce solutions industry. Mark has been responsible for implementing, operating, and transforming contingent workforce solutions for hundreds of organizations worldwide. Mark has also led technology teams that built and managed VMS solutions and other technology solutions to digitize and transform extended workforce solutions.
