Sooner or later, every growing business reaches the same fork in the road. The way things are done is no longer working, some kind of software is needed, and there are two ways to get it.
You can buy something that already exists. Or you can have something built for you.
We build custom software, so you might expect us to say "build" every time. We do not. For many businesses, ready-made software is the right answer, and saying otherwise would cost you money. Here is how we think about the choice.
What each one really is
Off-the-shelf software is made for many businesses at once. You pay a subscription or a licence, switch it on and use it more or less as it comes. Accounting packages and email are the obvious examples.
Custom software is made for one business. Someone studies how you work and builds a system that fits it. You are not sharing it with anyone, and it does what you asked for.
Between the two there is a middle path, which we will come to, because it is often the best one.
When off-the-shelf is the right choice
- What you need is something every business needs. Bookkeeping, payroll calculations, email, video calls. There is little reason to build these from nothing.
- You are just starting out. Your way of working has not settled yet, and you should not fix it in software too early.
- You need it this week. Ready-made software can be running in a day.
- The budget is small. A monthly fee is easier to bear than a project.
If a product does most of what you need, and the rest is a matter of adjusting a habit or two, take it. That is good judgment, not settling.
When it starts to pinch
The trouble with software made for everyone is that it is made for no one in particular.
- You bend to fit it. Your team changes how they work because the software cannot do it your way.
- You pay for what you do not use. Dozens of features sit untouched while the one you need is missing.
- The price grows as you do. Per-user and per-branch fees are small at first and large later.
- It does not talk to your other tools. So staff copy figures from one system into another by hand.
- It does not know Kenya. M-Pesa, local tax invoicing, statutory deductions and the way business is actually done here are an afterthought in many foreign products.
- Your data lives with someone else. Getting it out, in a useful form, can be harder than you would think.
One of these is tolerable. Several together mean the software has started costing you more than its subscription.
When custom is worth it
- Your way of working is your advantage. If you do something differently from your competitors, and that is why customers choose you, generic software will flatten it.
- Nothing on the market fits. Some businesses are unusual, and that is fine.
- You are stitching several tools together. If your staff work across four systems and a spreadsheet, one built system can replace the lot.
- The volume is high. When a task is done hundreds of times a day, saving a minute on each is worth a great deal.
- You want to own it. No per-user fees, no sudden price rise, no dependence on a supplier's plans.
Custom software costs more at the start and takes longer. Over several years it can cost less, because you are not renting it for ever. But only if it is built well, and only if you really need it.
The middle path
In practice, the best answer is often neither extreme.
Start from a proven foundation that already handles the common things, such as sales, stock, accounts and users, and tailor it to the way your business runs. You get most of the fit of custom software without paying to reinvent what every business needs.
That is how we approach our business systems. The core for a school, a restaurant or a property company already exists and has been tested. What we change is everything that makes your school, restaurant or company different from the next one.
Five questions to help you decide
- Does an existing product do at least most of what we need?
- Are we changing how we work to suit our software?
- How many times is the same information typed into different places?
- What will our current tools cost us in three years, at the size we expect to be?
- Is the way we work something worth protecting?
If the first answer is yes and the rest are comfortable, buy. If you find yourself wincing at the others, it is time to talk about building.
Buy what makes you the same as everyone else. Build what makes you different.
Whatever you choose
Do not start with the software. Start with a clear picture of how work moves through your business today and where it gets stuck. With that in hand, the right choice is usually obvious.
If you would like help drawing that picture, that is a conversation we enjoy. And if the honest answer is that a ready-made product will serve you well, we will tell you so.
