Debunking the Myths of Custom Software: Part II

By Rich Eichacker
Vibrance Technology Corporation

In Part II of this 2-part series I address the 2nd myth of custom software: cost.

Myth #2: Only large corporations can afford custom software

As I mentioned in Part I, shoehorning your business into a software system that doesn’t work for you will actually cost you more money. This happens as you struggle to adapt your business to the software’s model. Custom software, on the other hand, conforms to your culture and processes increasing efficiency and information throughput while reducing worker frustration and training issues.

It’s important to note that both off-the-shelf and custom software can be expensive. The best solution is always the one that gives you the highest return on investment (ROI). One possible way to optimize value is to create a mix of commercial and custom software tools to maximize your ROI. For example, off-the-shelf packages such as QuickBooks or MAS90/200 are ideal for small and mid-sized business. They can handle the day-to-day accounting tasks that every business must conduct. A custom package can bridge the gap by exchanging data with these systems and creating additional functionality. For example, the inventory module in QuickBooks may not be suitable for your business. A custom inventory system however, could be created according to your requirements and then integrated with QuickBooks so that data is shared between the two systems. This scenario can also apply to complex order entry situations, sales reporting, production scheduling, etc. In each case, you’ve leveraged the generalness of a commercial package with the uniqueness of a custom one.

Here are a couple factors to consider when looking at the cost of custom software:

  1. What to customize. As I mentioned above, don’t customize common, “housekeeping” functions unless you really need to. Accounting and payroll are good examples, with plenty of commercial vendors providing good solutions. Scheduling, production, inventory, sales commissions/reporting; these functions may be worth customizing if your needs are unique enough.
  2. ROI. Once you’ve decided what to customize, this custom system should improve productivity and processing time without the expense of excessive retraining and reorganization. In short, it should fit your business like a glove.
  3. Phased development. You can mitigate the costs of a custom software project by breaking the development effort into phases and then spreading the phases over a period of time.
  4. Future flexibility. Consider the ease and cost of adding functionality to the software in the future. Chances are, it will be easier and cheaper to add new features to the custom package than the commercial package.

Custom software is an affordable alternative or addition to commercial off-the-shelf software, providing functionality where none exists or extending and enhancing systems that already exist. This is true for both small businesses and large companies alike.

Summer 2005 -Volume 15, Number 3

 

 

All articles are copyrighted by the authors in the year published.