Provide a brief explanation of the various alternatives that should be investigated if development continues, including in-house development and any other possible strategies.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a growing trend where software companies offer their services and support over the internet. Many businesses have processes that are standard throughout the industry, and with minor tweaks can easily fit into an already developed SaaS system. This option eliminates the need for companies to host their own infrastructure. Since SaaS is internet based, one of the disadvantages could be possible outages from the internet, or problems with the SaaS company’s own infrastructure.
Outsourcing is an option that involves allowing a third party to oversee the development, management and support of a company’s systems. Outsourcing can be beneficial to a company that doesn’t have a team of infrastructure or software developers to build and maintain the system, and their business processes are too complicated or unique to fit into a SaaS. Data security is a concern when outsourcing since a company must turn over its data to the third party. Another concern is that the quality of the product delivered may not be up to the company’s standards which could cause major delays in delivery and could cause contractual problems.
In-House Software development is an option for a company with a large enough IT department to handle the task of designing, developing, and supporting the software. One of the main advantages to in-house development is if the business processes are constantly changing, the development team should be able to adapt the system to meet those changes. As with outsourcing, in-house development benefits companies whose processes are complicated and unique, and do not necessarily fit into an already developed application. Also, if a company has constraints built around legacy systems, this approach will allow design and development with those systems in mind.