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Custom software or an off-the-shelf program: what a small firm should choose
An off-the-shelf program is the right choice when you work like everyone else. Custom software is the right one when your way of working is the reason your business runs well. Between the two there is a third way: tuning the ready-made and connecting your programs.
When the off-the-shelf program is enough
Off-the-shelf software is a good choice when your process is like that of most businesses in the industry: the same documents, the same steps, the same reports. It has been tried by many users, it comes with support from the vendor and it is often cheaper than writing something new. If a ready-made program does the job for little money, buy it. We will tell you to do so as well.
Where the off-the-shelf program starts to weigh
The problem starts when your way of working does not fit the ready-made product. Then someone pays for the difference, and usually it is your people, with manual work between the programs. Here are four signs:
- The program wants you to change your process, and people do what they can in it and finish in Excel.
- The data sits in five places: the mailbox, spreadsheets, chats, one old program and a colleague’s head.
- The same data is typed twice: once in one program and again in another.
- A new report or a new screen means a request to the vendor and a wait with no date.
Where custom software carries risk
A custom system is not free of cost or risk. It has to be written, tested and maintained. If the contractor disappears and the system is not clearly described, you stay dependent on them. That is why with us the system is yours, it is written on your data and documents, and after launch we stay with you for fixes and new screens.
The risk is also in the scope. Custom software is justified for the few things that make your work different, not for everything that can already be bought ready-made. That is why we do not write anything you can buy off the shelf for little money.
The third way: tuning the ready-made and connections
Between the two poles there is an option that is often the most sensible: you leave the ready-made program for what it does well, tune it fully and write only the connections and additions it lacks. That way data is entered once, and you do not pay for a second system that does the same thing.
That is why we first check what the platform you use can already do. Often part of the need is covered by tuning, and only the remainder requires writing.
Six questions before you decide
- How much of our work fits the ready-made program without workarounds?
- Where do our people finish by hand and how often?
- How much of our data is entered more than once?
- How long do we wait for the vendor for a change and what does the wait cost us?
- What does it cost us if the system stops or the contractor disappears?
- Which two or three things are really different at our place and deserve to be made to measure?
How we start
With one meeting where we listen first, and a demo on examples from your own work before you decide. If it becomes clear at the meeting that a ready-made program does the job, we will tell you to buy it.
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