When a spreadsheet stops being enough, there are two obvious options: buy a product that many companies use, or have a tool built for your own process. Both can be right. Wrong choices usually come from comparing the wrong things: the first invoice instead of the cost over several years, or a feature list instead of the way your staff actually work.
When off-the-shelf software is the better choice
Start here, because a standard product is often the sensible answer. It is likely to be the better choice when:
- the process is much the same in most businesses, as with accounting, payroll, email or calendars;
- a product covers most of what you need, and the gaps are ones you can live with;
- the rules change regularly and the vendor keeps the product up to date for all its customers;
- you need a working solution within days rather than weeks;
- nobody in your company wants to be responsible for a piece of software.
In these cases, building something of your own adds cost and responsibility without a matching benefit.
When a custom tool earns its cost
Custom software makes sense when the way you work is specific to your business and important to it. Signs to look for:
- Your staff keep a standard product running with workarounds, extra spreadsheets or the same data typed in twice.
- The task connects several systems that do not talk to each other.
- The process is stable and well understood: you can describe how it should work.
- The way you handle this task is part of what makes your business different.
- You want control over which data is stored and where it is processed.
A custom tool does not have to be large. Often it is one defined workflow, taken out of spreadsheets and put into a tool your staff use every day, connected to the systems you already have.
Compare the cost over several years
The two options spread their costs differently, so compare them over the period you expect to use the solution:
- Off-the-shelf: little or no start-up cost, then recurring licence fees that often grow with the number of users, plus the time your staff spend on workarounds.
- Custom: a one-off build cost, then hosting and maintenance, and optional support for further development.
Licence prices vary by product and plan, so check the current figures with the vendors themselves. For a custom project, the written offer should list the recurring costs before any work starts.
Know the risks on both sides
Each option comes with its own dependency:
- Off-the-shelf: the vendor decides on prices, features and the product’s future. Before you commit, check how you can export your data if you ever want to leave.
- Custom: you depend on whoever maintains the tool. Insist on a proper handover of the source code, the access and the documentation, so that another developer could take over.
Data protection matters in both cases. Find out where each option processes your data; for a custom project, the written offer states it.
The middle ground
The choice is not always either-or. Three options in between are often worth considering:
- Configure the standard product further, if it allows it, before replacing it.
- Keep your standard tools and connect them, so that data flows between them automatically instead of being typed in twice.
- Build a small tool for the one step the standard product does not cover, and let it work alongside the rest.
Questions to settle before you decide
- Which task exactly should the software handle, and who will use it?
- How does that task work today, including the exceptions?
- Which existing products have you tried, and where do they fall short?
- Which systems does the solution need to connect to?
- How much time does the current way of working cost each week?
- Who will operate and maintain the solution after launch?
With these answers, both options can be assessed honestly, and any offer you receive can be precise.
What MomentumQ offers
An internal tool starts from CHF 6'000 and typically takes three to six weeks for a defined workflow. It includes a workflow tailored to your staff, data views with appropriate access, testing, documentation and a handover. Connecting existing tools through workflow automation starts from CHF 8'000 and typically takes three to eight weeks.
Larger projects are scoped individually: a new web application starts from CHF 12'000 and a mobile app from CHF 18'000. For a complex project, a paid one-week planning phase from CHF 1'800 produces the requirements, a technical plan and a fixed-price offer for the build.
The first conversation is free and takes 30 minutes. If it turns out that existing software would serve you better, that is a useful result too.