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OutSystems allows you to create virtually any type of enterprise web and mobile application, given its openness and extensibility. However, there are a few (rare) instances where another solution might be better or the answer is to work with OutSystems to complement what you already have rather than starting from the ground up.
OutSystems is highly optimized for top productivity, with reusable patterns, automation and all the constructs needed to build for transactional and informational types of applications. From business-to-consumer mobile banking or customer loyalty apps to business-to-business and business-to employee field services or sales apps, OutSystems accelerates the delivery of a great mobile experience.
But OutSystems is not optimized to deliver the next Angry Birds. Although animation and highly interactive touch patterns are part of the OutSystems visual toolset, for heavily customized, multi-threaded, 2D and 3D interactions, you should consider using specific SDKs or specific frameworks. In these scenarios OutSystems can support your back-end services. You can easily store data, integrate with payment, campaign management and other external systems and expose them as APIs to your app, while you work on native algorithms to create such dynamic interactions.
OutSystems was envisioned, designed and built to bring great productivity when building web and mobile apps, but its greater value lies in the productivity it brings when you need to change those apps. Given its completeness and flexibility, we are often asked by our customers where the sweet spot is in terms of building/rebuilding/replacing with it. The answer is change. The more a set of requirements is prone to change because of business needs, innovation processes, regulatory reasons and new technology, the more it should be implemented with OutSystems.
Customers with existing CRM or ERP packages that have processes that are constantly changing, yet the flexibility to change is limited and expensive, often ask if they should rebuild these systems from the ground up with OutSystems. Although they could do so if they wanted, a better scenario would be to carve out and replace part of the CRM or ERP with an OutSystems application. This result is the power to change quickly and the ability to mash-up other data sources and build unique applications and processes that are very costly to build with traditional development technologies.
One OutSystems customer, Liberty Seguros, used OutSystems to integrate and extend their existing back-end insurance systems and create front-ends tailored specifically to their innovative business model.
If a customer portal needs content management but the company has a corporate CMS, the dilemma to solve is whether to use the corporate CMS APIs or build a CMS system with OutSystems. In this case, the content management requirements are very specific and will change constantly due to the nature of the business, the solution is to build a content management piece with OutSystems. A healthcare system did just that with OutSystems. José de Mello Saúde used OutSystems to create a single content management system for 20 websites managed.
If the CMS requirements are not likely to change and are covered by the current package, the existing APIs can be used.
For companies in an industry with ERP or any big and complex system requirements that are so specific that there is no package to fit their needs, the answer is yes: they should build their ERPs with OutSystems.
OutSystems is well-equipped to build ERP and similar large, complex systems with the desired performance and scalability. The system will get to market faster--and with a unique set of features, but most importantly, it will be future proof, able to change at the pace of business. For example, Playright was able to consolidate multiple, highly-complex processes into a unified system for managing artists’ rights payments with OutSystems in just under a year.