Custom app or off-the-shelf?
Off-the-shelf software is the right answer more often than people who sell custom software admit. Here is how to tell.
For the numbers, see what a custom app costs.
Short answer. Choose off-the-shelf software when your work looks like everyone else’s and a product covers nearly all of it. Choose a custom app when your process is what makes you good, several tools do not share information, per-user prices add up, or the reports you need take days to build by hand.
When is off-the-shelf software the right choice?
- Your work looks like everybody else's in your field.
- A product covers nearly all of it and the rest is minor.
- Your team is small, so per-user prices stay low.
- You do not need it to talk to your other systems.
When is a custom app worth it?
- Your process is what makes you good, and the software keeps forcing you to change it.
- You pay for three or four tools that still do not share information.
- Someone retypes the same data from one system into another.
- Per-user subscriptions add up across a large crew or volunteer team.
- The reports your board, owners or funders need take days to build by hand.
Questions
Can we start off-the-shelf and switch later?
Yes. Many clients do. When you outgrow a product, we move your data into the custom app.
Can a custom app work alongside our off-the-shelf tools?
Yes. Often the best answer is to keep the products that work and build the missing piece that connects them.
Will you tell us if we do not need custom software?
Yes. If a product you can buy today does the job, we will say so in the first conversation.
Tell us how the work gets done today.
Use the contact form or write to hello@sarasoris.com. The first conversation is free.
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