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What is a "White Label Software Development Service"?

All About White Label Software Development Services

White Label

What is White Labeling?

White labelling is simply the business practice in which a company manufactures products or services and then sell them to another company that then rebrand those products or services and sell them as its own goods.

White-labelled products or services will not bear the name of the original manufacturer or developer but will go on the market bearing the branding of the company to whom the products or services are sold.

White label products are quite common in retail industries; for instance in grocery stores, the “store brand” goods are usually manufactured by large companies that mass produce these items, then sell them to different grocery stores which put their own labels on these products and sell them as their own goods.

White labelling isn’t limited to just household items; in the software development industry and tech worlds - software, apps, cloud-based services and digital programs can also be white-labelled. Though outsourcing shares some features with white labelling and often outsourced projects are white-labelled, these two are not interchangeable.

Value of White-Label Software Development Services

White-labeling in software development works the same way as it does in other industries; the software solutions won’t carry the names of the original developers but their client’s names. White-labeling holds significant value in software development especially when it comes to big projects; the company takes third-party services for the development of certain aspects of the project to which they lack in-house expertise (or if their in-house team is occupied with other projects) and save time, allowing companies to meet tight deadlines.

When it comes to finances, the cost of the final project incorporates the price paid for the white-label solutions of the software and the end client is charged accordingly.

How does White Label Software Development work?

White label software development is a faster way of offering your customers the desired services; through this, businesses can charge for the services bought from other company and re-label them as their own. This not only saves the time required for development from scratch but can also yield a profit when the product is sold at a marked up price.

For software developers, white labelling is a great time-saving tool as they capitalize on bigger offers. For companies lacking in-house expertise, white labelling can provide their clients with the services they asked for whilst expanding the company portfolio and adding new value to the existing customer base without investing time in product development.

Aspects of White Label Software Development

Companies that offer white label software development services usually make use of agile methodology to conceptualise the client’s vision and swiftly work on it to design and build the finalised product for the client. The range of white-labeled software development services is endless; from website development to web apps, from enterprise software platforms to mobile apps, from cloud-based services to desktop-based solutions; the white label is popular in all software development domains.

Some of the key features of white labeling include:

  • Creating end-to-end products ready for sale and execution.
  • Configuring and integrating the new solutions with the main platform and requested technology.
  • Hosting the applications on the behalf of the customers on a specialist server hardware.
  • Monitoring the performance and extending support and maintenance to ensure smooth working of the services.
  • Managing the security and reliability of the white labeled products.

How to use White Label Software Development Services

There is not a single way of using white label, brandable, private label or rebranded software, neither the software development solutions are restricted to any specific type of company or industry. Here are the 3 common ways, organizations can make use of white label development services

  • Internally:

    Internally, enterprises can use software to communicate, collaborate and engage with their employee. Such software allows businesses to customise the appearance to sync with their brands. Some software even allows companies to train their employees; and upon the employee logging on to the training portal of the software, the appearance of the software will seamlessly integrate with the business’s website for a cohesive appeal.

  • Externally:

    Consumer-facing platforms provided by white-label software providers let the companies connect with their consumers through third-party solutions. For instance Starbucks, Nickelodeon, Yamaha, etc offer customer loyalty programs to their consumers (which are custom designed for their brands) through white-labeled software solutions.

  • Reselling:

    Some white-label software service providers offer both of the above-mentioned services as well as the option to resell or co-sell their software solutions. This way the businesses collaborating with the service providers will encourage their clients to use that software and upon the sale of every license, they’ll get a referral fee or a portion of revenue.

  • Technologies:

    Just like regular software development service providers, those offering white-labeled software also work in all sort of technologies such as AI ML, Big Data, JAVA, ASP.NET, PHP, .Net Core, HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, C#, etc. Moreover, different vendors offer to work in the language preferred by the client.

Advantages of White Labeling:

  • Swift Solutions

    White labeled solutions offer swift implementation because they don’t require resources from the client.

  • Create Your Brand

    White labeling is an easy and effective way to build your own brand; through white-labeled development services and solutions, business can enhance brand visibility in the marketplace. Moreover, they can contact different vendors and mix and match the development services they provide; adding value to the brand and optimizing the range of services provided. White label development is best for startups to make their place in this competitive business environment.

  • Scale Your Revenue

    Maximizing profits is quite easy with white labeled services; when reselling the vendor’s offerings under your name, it’s your choice to charge as much as you want and thus can make the most of them.

  • Scale Your Offerings

    White labeling makes it simple and swift to offer new services to the customers; retaining a presence in a market and quickly reacting to the competition is essential for the survival of a brand and white labeling makes it pretty easy to do so.

    The third-party development services will be tried and tested; presenting the client's brand in a good light and ensure high levels of customer satisfaction. White-labeling will help in the growth and expansion of your business.

  • Scale Your Cost

    White labeling prevents businesses having to hire additional tech experts to meet the IT requirements of the companies; neither the in-house team will be under pressure nor additional resources and expenses will be required for the training of the staff.

  • Save Time

    White labeling saves time and effort; software and application development are time-consuming tasks and require a lot of man-hours and expertise. Brands can save themselves from all the hassles of software development through white labeled services and invest their time and energy in promoting their services and reaching their consumers.

  • Less Risky

    A bespoke application or software developed according to brand requirements from scratch no doubt sounds great in theory, but the practical implications are uncertainty surrounding the quality of the end product and whether or not it meets Client expectations. It's difficult to assess the accurate amount of resources that will be required for the development of an original solution and still there won’t be any guarantee of success.

    Commercially testing new solutions or services is always risky but white labeled solutions reduce these commercial risks to a great extent; with them, businesses can take proven services and test the market.

  • Benefit from the Knowledge of Experts

    White labeled software solutions allow a company to take advantage of the knowledge of specialists of the field and capitalise on it to build the company’s name and reputation. With plenty of proficient developers out there in the market, they’ll create the solutions from experience allowing the business to simply enjoy the white label services.

  • Beneficial for Big Enterprises

    It's not just only startups - big organisations also prefer white label software development because of the number of benefits it provides. With white labeling, big companies make a deal with third-party service providers and make them promote their products under their brand. This helps them with increased ROI, sales and marketing of their services.

  • Increased ROI

    White labeling helps the companies with increased ROI, increased product distribution, increased product visibility in the market and reduced development cost.

  • Flexibility

    Companies don’t have to disclose that the software solutions they’re providing are white labeled. Moreover, if the service suppliers offer flexibility, it allows improvisation on the acquired software solutions and control of their functionality and features as per desire.

  • Core Values of the Business

    When you have ready-made software solutions at hand, this will spare you from spending time and energy on the development of the software features and you will be able to focus more on the core values of the business.

Disadvantages of White Labeling

  • Misunderstanding

    Misunderstanding is one of the key risks that companies encounter when deciding to take the help of a third-party company because they won’t be directly communicating to the project team. Instead, the business will have to contact a software agency and describe their vision and service description to them. The agency will then pass on the information to the project manager, who according to the specific requirements of the project, will pass on the details to the respective development team.

    In this entire stream of information passing, there are chances that the technical details may get distorted at some step and some of the important aspects of your vision about the services may go missing along the way. Even if you keep on updating the agency with your feedback, the feedback loop may face similar miscommunication affecting the core agenda of the project.

  • Delayed Products

    Miscommunication often results in compromised projects which lead to an unwanted delay in the development of the software solutions; this delay and any unwanted functions and designs of the software (which need to be rectified) will increase the overall cost of the services.

    Low-quality – There is always a risk of getting trapped by the cheap price tags (because who doesn’t want low price?) – but low price mostly comes with low-quality work. Before finalizing a deal with white-label service providers, users need to carry out extensive research and properly evaluate their expertise and offerings. Because, in the end, it would be their branding that will be attached to those products and services and low-grade products will ultimately harbour a bad reputation. So, ensuring beforehand that the offerings of the white label service are up to the brand’s standards is paramount.

  • Inconsistent Branding

    When working with third-party service providers, the possibility of inconsistent branding cannot be ruled out. Even professionally designed white-label solutions will fail to bring the desired results if the branding doesn’t fit and they fail to work in symbiosis with the core services of client's company. Making sure that the partners the client instructs understand this; the products and services should be in synchronization with the company’s branding and match the overall outlook of the brand - otherwise it not only will look unprofessional but will also make customers suspicious of the brand.

  • Difficult to Modify

    When purchasing white-label software services, the finished product comes completely developed and there are chances that the client may not get their hands on the technical details involved in the development of the software. Due to this restriction, it will become difficult to update or modify the products in the future and the client will remain dependent upon the original developer for the modifications.

Choosing the White Label Software Development Partner and Product:

If you have decided to go for white-labeled, rebrandable or resellable software services or solutions, then it’s crucial to work with trustworthy service providers. Consider the following aspects before deciding about the desired solutions and finalizing the contract with a white label vendor:

  • Right Product

    Good product isn’t sufficient to make a decision, you require the right product for your business. A right product will be the one which will seamlessly integrate with the existing services of your business, is user-friendly, easy to modify and secure; so that you can trust it with your and your client’s data.

  • Track Record of The Vendor

    Go through the track record of your selected vendors; assess their accomplishments, size of operation, evaluate their business strategy and determine how they will avoid conflict of interest.

  • Reputation of The Vendor

    Reputation of the vendor holds great importance because you’re going to take their services and a bad name attached to the vendor will directly affect your brand. Ask for references from the vendors and contact their clients to learn about them because the last thing you would want is a partnership with a disreputable vendor.

  • Service and Support

    Look for the services and support that your white label providers offer – determine how quickly they will deliver and let you sell their software services. Moreover, ask whether the vendors offer free training for the products or not.

  • Contract

    Last but not least, pay attention to the contract. It’s crucial before entering in any business arrangement and so in a deal with white label service providers. Both parties should agree to the terms and conditions of the contract; it should contain details about the minimum lock-in period, trial period, and the pricing of the products.

Bottom line

White labeling software development services is indeed a great option that offers substantial business gains. It lets you own software solutions and give them your name without actually developing them. Potential benefits of white labelling such as lowered costs, fewer risks, faster launches, and diversification are making enterprises to pick the ready-made solutions instead of going after bespoke software services.

Though there are few downsides of white labelling such as a compromised product, less control over features, poor integration, miscommunication, and delays they are outdone by the constructive aspects of the white labeling. However, the key to reap benefits of white labeling lies in accurate planning, selecting the right firm and choosing the right products for your business.