Decision-making
An honest guide to choosing between an off-the-shelf tool and your own system. Including the cases where we'll talk you out of it.
Off-the-shelf comes first
Let's be honest from the start: in most cases, an off-the-shelf tool is the better choice. Accounting, email, invoicing and task management work much the same in most companies. Ready-made apps have years of development behind them, support included, and no upfront cost.
Choose an off-the-shelf tool when:
- your process is common and the tool covers all or nearly all of it,
- you're a small team and the process is still taking shape,
- you need a solution now and the budget is limited.
When an off-the-shelf tool stops being enough
The turning point rarely comes with one big failure. It comes with small things that add up:
- You work around the tool with spreadsheets. Whatever it can't do, you handle on the side in Excel. So now you have the tool and the spreadsheets.
- You pay for five tools and connect them by hand. CRM, stock, invoicing, online shop, each on its own, with people moving data between them.
- Licences grow with the team. A per-user price that was negligible for five people becomes a big line item for thirty.
- Your process is your advantage. If you do things differently from competitors and that's what sets you apart, you don't want to bend it to fit a generic tool.
How to work it out
Don't just compare the licence price with the development price. Count the total cost over time, including the hours people spend working around the tool.
A sample calculation for a company with 20 users. Plug in your own numbers:
| Off-the-shelf tool | Custom system | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | CZK 0 | CZK 350,000 |
| Licence or running cost per month | CZK 10,000 (CZK 500 × 20 people) | CZK 6,000 |
| Time spent working around the tool per month | CZK 12,000 (30 h × CZK 400) | CZK 0 |
| Total for year 1 | CZK 264,000 | CZK 422,000 |
| Total over 3 years | CZK 792,000 | CZK 566,000 |
What that tells you
In this example, the custom system breaks even around month 22 and saves money from then on. But if nobody had to work around the tool, the off-the-shelf option would stay cheaper for a long time. What decides it is the time people lose, not the licence price.
When we'll talk you out of custom software
Yes, it happens. We'll recommend an off-the-shelf tool, or waiting, when:
- your process isn't settled yet and changes every month,
- a ready-made tool covers everything important and only small things are missing,
- nobody in the company would "own" the system and decide how it develops,
- the volume of work is so small that the development would never pay back.
What to ask a supplier
If you decide on a custom system, ask every supplier these five questions:
- Who owns the source code? It should be you.
- What happens if we part ways? You should be able to hand the system to another supplier, documentation included.
- What do hosting and support cost per month? Not just the build.
- When will I see the first working version? Weeks, not months.
- How are changes handled? A change along the way shouldn't mean a new contract.
In one sentence
Custom software is neither a luxury nor a necessity. It's an investment that pays off only when it saves time you're genuinely losing today.