Custom software or a standard package: what fits your business?

"Should we have something custom built, or do we take something that already exists?" A question we hear come up often, and one most people would rather steer clear of. As a software company we face the same choice ourselves, because for some clients it is perfectly fine to go with a solution that is easy and quick.

When a standard package is just fine

For most everyday business processes, there are already so many software packages. Bookkeeping, planning, a simple webshop, email marketing, project management. Almost everyone uses them, and that makes it just as easy for you to use them too.

A standard package has a few big upsides. It works immediately, keeps running without you thinking about it, and the price is predictable.

Where we really start to notice the difference ourselves is when it comes to optimising business processes. Everyone has to send an invoice, but how do we make sure you can get to invoicing faster?

When custom becomes worth it

Custom becomes interesting the moment a process in your business sets you apart. That is why we often see custom solutions come to life when we start looking at tools that get a customer to request a quote sooner, pay earlier, or at least reach a buying decision faster.

Not the bookkeeping, which works the same everywhere, but the one part where your customers experience something different from the competition.

A few signs you are bumping into the walls of a standard package:

• You build around the software with Excels, scripts, or manual steps that nobody wants to document.
• The data you want to see does not fit in the screens you get.
• You pay for licenses you barely use, or you are missing the one feature that would make all the rest worthwhile.

At that point, custom shifts from a luxury to an investment. Not because it is prettier, but because it moves with how your business actually works.

What really decides it in practice

In conversations it usually comes down to three questions. How unique is this part to your business? How long do you plan to keep working with it? And how much dependence on an outside party are you willing to accept?

A hybrid is often wiser than a choice. A standard package for the generic work, a custom piece of software on top for the part that sets you apart. A lot of the custom work we build runs that way: integrations on top of existing systems, not full replacements.

A custom app or platform asks for an honest weighing. Want to talk through whether your situation is one for custom? See how we work on mobile apps, or book a call. Sometimes the answer ends up being "stay with what you have", and we just say that.