Bespoke software will usually require more upfront investment than buying another licence or adapting an existing platform, so it is understandable that cost is often the first concern.
However, the more useful question is what the current way of working is already costing the business, and whether solving that problem properly would create enough value to justify the investment. We wanted to put together a short guide for any business considering an investment in bespoke software, because starting from scratch is not automatically the best solution. In many cases, an existing system can be improved, integrated or extended without the need to replace it.
What is the current compromise already costing?
A system does not have to be failing for it to be expensive. One area to look at is whether employees spend time moving information between systems, correcting data manually, maintaining spreadsheets or simply completing extra steps.
Across a team and over the course of a year, those workarounds can add up. The important question is therefore not simply whether the system works, but how much effort is required to keep it working.
Those costs are often less visible than a software licence, but they are still part of the overall cost of the current setup.
What happens when the business grows?
A lot of companies have a good idea of what their business is forecast to achieve over the coming year and potentially further ahead. For many, that means growth.
Growth can expose limitations that were not a problem when a system was first introduced. A process that is manageable at one volume may require significantly more administration when increased. If the answer is simply to keep adding people to handle the workload, the cost of the process can grow at the same rate as the business.
That is often where bespoke development starts to become more commercially viable. The aim is not necessarily to remove people from the process. It may be to make better use of their time and increase capacity without adding headcount at the same rate.
Bespoke does not always mean replacing everything
One of the biggest misconceptions around bespoke software is that it always means a complete rebuild, which is not necessarily the case.
We regularly integrate with existing ERP, finance, production and reporting systems where those platforms still perform their role effectively. Bespoke development can then be used to add the missing functionality around them.
Instead of replacing a system that already delivers 80% of what the business needs, the project may focus on the remaining 20% that is creating the operational or commercial constraint. That approach also reduces disruption and avoids recreating functionality that already works.
How should you compare the options?
A business may have several realistic options:
- Continue with the current system
- Improve or extend what is already in place
- Introduce an off the shelf solution
- Build a bespoke application
Each option should be considered against the same commercial questions:
- What will it cost to implement?
- What ongoing licences or support will be required?
- How much internal resource will it continue to consume?
- Will it support future growth?
- How much disruption will the change create?
- Most importantly, what measurable improvement should the organisation expect in return?
The cheapest option at the point of purchase is not always the lowest-cost option over the life of the system.
Equally, bespoke software is not automatically better value simply because it is tailored.
When does bespoke software become worth it?
In most cases, bespoke software becomes worth serious consideration when the recurring cost, restriction or lost opportunity created by the current approach becomes greater than the cost of addressing the problem properly.
