There are people specialized in telling computers what to do.  They are commonly called computer programmers but we prefer the term software engineers.  These are the people who analyse what needs to be done and then instruct the computer by entering instructions into the computer - programming the computer.

Applications, or software, of all kinds exists that you can buy at a store.  These are commonly called off-the-shelf packages, so-called because you go to a store and, much like selecting the food you want to eat that week, you select the food items from a grocery store shelf.  Right off the shelf.

The big disadvantage of off-the-shelf software is that you get what you buy.  There are many features that the manufacturer and puts into the application that you may never use.  You pay for features you may not want.  This is not normally a problem and can be seen as added value.  However, there may be some features you may want in the software.  If the manufacturer hasn't put a wanted feature into it, you cannot add it yourself.  You may ask to put that feature in.  The manufacturer may do this if enough customers want the feature or they may not.  If they do, you have to wait for the next version to come out.  Even then it may not be what you really wanted.

You see, in order to satisfy the largest possible number of people, off-the-shelf software manufacturers put as many features in.  That is why most people use only about 20 percent of the features of their word processing application or other types of applications.  The manufacturer is also trying to sell as many units as possible and is why off-the-shelf packages are relatively inexpensive so that anyone can afford to buy it.

Sometimes, you need an application that does things that no off-the-shelf software can do.  Why does it not exist?  Simply because there is not enough market for an application that does what you want.  It is too specialized and must be customized, built just for you.

At Lucid Software, we create two types of custom software that we call custom and semi-custom.

Custom software is where a software engineer - usually a team of them - is hired to design and build a system to your exact specifications.  You have total control of what the software will do.  Organizations that do this are usually the government and very large companies since custom software can easily cost millions of dollars.  Often however, it is special software that may be developed in a few months and only cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Semi-custom software is software that already exists but can be modified to each indivdual situation.  An example would be an application just for managing a fleet of trucks.  Since this is a narrow and specialized market, you don't see that sort of software on your computer store's shelves.  You may hire consultants to develop it if you wanted to.

Some software companies have developed software for trucking companies and sell it to others.  However, it may not be what the trucking company needs since it was originally developed for another trucking company that does business differently than you do. It becomes in effect off-the-shelf software that may not need all of your needs.

At Lucid Software we realize that not all businesses are alike even in the same industry.  Some companies have developed a "shell" containing the basic software that most users will need and use.  You can then add "modules" to the basic software that will add functionality required by different clients.  Some will even go further and modify the basic software to meet your very special needs.  Lucid Software develops that kind of software which we call semi-custom.  Semi-custom software is an order of magnitude cheaper than totally custom software but with the same benefits.  And since many of the components and code is already written, the development is faster as well.