On paper, the technology needs of member-based organizations can look quite similar: a place to manage members, run events, and deliver learning and continuing education. You also have payments, reports, forms, emails…the list goes on!
But then there are the requirements that get specific. Like, really specific. One organization may have a unique approval process. Another may need certain information checked or routed differently before a member can move forward.
When it comes to meeting those needs, you’ll usually encounter two familiar options: configuration and customization. So, what’s the difference, and which one does your organization actually need?
In this article, we’ll look at when each approach makes sense and how greater flexibility can help when your organization’s processes don’t fit neatly into a box. Let’s get started!
Key Takeaways
- Configuration adjusts a platform’s settings and preferences without changing its core code. When configuration can’t meet an organization’s needs, customization may be needed to modify the code.
- In practice, configuration is often easier than customization. The right approach depends on your organization’s needs and the platform’s capabilities.
- Customization can be more complex, often requiring additional development, testing, maintenance, and vendor involvement.
- The more configurable a platform is, the more requirements an organization may be able to meet without custom development.
What’s the Difference?
Before comparing the two, it helps to first define exactly what configuration and customization are. Eyjolfsson (2023) describes configuration as “adjusting the settings and preferences of an existing software application to meet the specific needs of a user or an organization, without changing its core code.”
Customization, on the other hand, goes a bit further. It usually “involves making changes to the software’s core code to add new features, change its behavior, or integrate it with other applications” (Eyjolfsson, 2023).
In practice, it’s often easier to configure than to customize. But does that mean configuration always wins? Not necessarily. Sometimes, an organization may need customization because the functionality simply isn’t available within the existing platform!
That being said, we generally still recommend configuration over customization when possible. As Arena Marketing (2017) puts it, “configuration requires no changes to the software source code; this one distinction has powerful business ramifications that have driven many companies to move far away from customizable toolkits.”
In the end, the right approach depends on what your organization actually needs and what the platform is capable of doing. So, rather than dwelling on which one is “better,” let’s look at how each works in a realistic scenario:
The Configured Way
Let’s say a professional regulatory body manages an annual renewal process for several different membership or license types. Most members follow the same general steps, but the details vary.
For example, one group may need to answer additional questions, while another has to upload supporting documents. On top of that, certain applications may require staff to review items first before approving.
Depending on a platform’s capabilities, an organization can configure its processes using tools that already exist within the system. For instance, staff members could:
- Add the necessary fields to the renewal form
- Determine which questions appear for different member types
- Set permissions
- Create approval steps
- Build reports to track outstanding renewals
The organization gets a process that reflects how it operates without changing the underlying software. That’s what makes it a configuration solution: you take the existing building blocks the platform gives you, then arrange them to meet your organization’s requirements.
The Customized Way
Now, say you’re a professional regulatory body with a far more specific renewal process. In our example, your members hold one of two license types, and each must complete a competency assessment during renewal. What happens next depends on their license type and their score.
First, all renewing members take the competency test.
- A License A member who scores between 0 and 50 must first complete a learning path, while a License B member with the same score must complete a different learning path. They must complete their respective learning paths before proceeding to renew their membership.
- Members scoring 51 to 75 must complete a single course, with the exact course depending on their license type. They must complete their respective courses before proceeding to renew their membership.
- Finally, those who score 76 and above move directly to renewal.
In this case, the platform now has to:
- Evaluate several variables together
- Determine which combination applies to each member
- Assign the appropriate requirements
- Decide what happens once those requirements are complete
At that level of complexity, the workflow may exceed what the platform’s existing configuration tools can support. Custom programming may be required to follow a highly specific set of rules unique to its renewal process. In this case, customization might be the right option!
The Potential Complications of Customization
As you can see, customization certainly has its place. Unfortunately, it can also get complicated, fast. Plus, custom functionality usually comes with more moving parts…and the more things move, the trickier things can get!
This can mean requiring additional:
- Development: Custom functionality has to be designed and built specifically for your organization, usually by a developer (or even an entire development team!).
- Testing: That specific functionality then needs to be checked carefully to make sure it works as intended without affecting other parts of the platform.
- Maintenance: Sometimes, it may need ongoing attention as your processes change or the underlying platform evolves.
- Vendor involvement: Changes that might otherwise be handled internally may require a developer or vendor to step back in, especially when that functionality needs to be updated later.
And, if the custom functionality is part of a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, too much customization can also mean that your organization may no longer get the same SaaS benefits!
This is because it’s no longer the same infrastructure getting the same updates across the board; it’s become too much of its own instance, so updates have to be done manually. This can require extra resources (and cost!).
According to Orbit Analytics (2020), the “limitations of software customization often lead to long-term complications that organizations fail to anticipate.” Those complications can become more noticeable as the platform evolves, particularly if custom functionality requires ongoing upkeep.
Now, we’re really not trying to scare you away from customization. It still plays an important role when it’s truly called for! The key is being thoughtful about what truly needs to be custom-built and what could be handled through configuration instead.
Flexible Platforms for More Capable Configuration
If it sounds like there are no solutions, we get it; this can sound like a lot. But there’s actually a way to reduce the need for customization: by choosing a platform with greater configurability.
The more flexible a platform’s configuration tools are (like Vocalmeet’s!), the more requirements an organization may be able to accommodate without custom development.
Let’s go back to our customization scenario from earlier. Remember the regulatory body whose renewal process depended on multiple variables? A highly configurable platform may offer another option: breaking the workflow into smaller steps!
First, staff could configure memberships to be split into License A and License B members.
Next, they could run reports on the competency assessments and divide members into groups by score:
- License A
- 0-50
- 51-75
- 76+
- License B
- 0-50
- 51-75
- 76+
These groups could then be assigned their relevant learning or renewal statuses. For the groups that require completion of a learning path or course, running reports on these items would give staff lists of who else is currently eligible for renewal.
Note that some manual work may be required in the configured version (like periodically exporting a report and then uploading it elsewhere to create a group). However, the majority of the process remains automated, and no costly customization is required. So, your best option really just depends on how flexible you are with your process and where you want to put your resources!
Conclusion
When it comes down to it, while it’s easy to be dazzled by a software’s many bells and whistles, the important factor is flexibility. That flexibility can come from your organization’s ability to adapt its workflows, your vendor’s configuration options, or a combination of both. If your processes can’t be tweaked and your platform’s configurations can’t meet them where they’re at, then customization is likely the way to go.
Talk it through with your technology provider and think about what will be easiest for your team to manage over time. Whichever route you take, your goal is simple: your technology should always make things better for the people who use it!
Sources
Arena Marketing. (2017, October 12). Why more companies chose configurable over customizable solutions. Arena. https://www.arenasolutions.com/blog/why-more-companies-chose-configurable-over-customizable-solutions/
Eyjolfsson, F. (2023, October 3). Configuration vs. customization: The right approach for your software. Academy.Broadcom.Com. https://academy.broadcom.com/blog/valueops/software-configuration-versus-customization
Orbit Analytics. (2020, May 6). Why software customization challenges can hurt your business. Oracle EBS Reporting, BI & Analytics Software Solutions | Ad Hoc Reporting. https://www.orbitanalytics.com/blog/software-customization-challenges/
