Custom system or off-the-shelf: how to decide
When an off-the-shelf management system is enough, and when it makes sense to pay for one built for your company.
We build custom systems, and even so the right answer is often that you do not need one. These are the questions we use to decide, in the order we ask them.
Does your operation look like that of other companies in your industry?
If you invoice, collect and control stock the way most companies do, an off-the-shelf system has already solved your problem for thousands of businesses. It will be cheaper and you will have it running in days.
A custom system starts to make sense when the way you work is part of what sets you apart, or when your industry has rules general systems do not cover.
How much of your work stays outside the system?
The clearest sign is the parallel spreadsheet. If you have an off-the-shelf system but half of the operation still runs on Excel, you are paying twice: the licence, and the manual work of keeping the two in agreement.
Do you adapt to the system, or does the system adapt to you?
An off-the-shelf system asks you to work its way. Sometimes that is fine, because its way is better than yours. Other times it forces steps that add nothing, or stops you from doing something that is central to your business.
In a system for health-food shops, for example, the central thing was the till: scan, charge and give change in seconds, with store credit and customer accounts. A generic system was too complex for the counter.
Is the system part of what you sell?
If you are going to give your customers access, offer it under your brand or build a service on top of it, depending on someone else's product leaves you without control over something that is yours.
What about cost?
An off-the-shelf system is paid every month, usually per user, for as long as you use it. A custom one has a higher entry cost and the code is yours. Neither is always cheaper: it depends on how many users you have and how many years you will use it.
A simple rule
If an off-the-shelf system covers almost everything, use it. If it covers half and the other half is exactly what makes your company different, look at a custom one, and start with that half.
This page explains how we work on custom management systems and the projects where we have done it.
Need a technical decision reviewed?
Bring us the system, the constraint and the tradeoff. We will help you choose the path with the least long-term drag.