Bespoke software pays off when the day-to-day work is specific to the business, repeats often, and no longer fits in a spreadsheet or in off-the-shelf software. If an existing program does the essentials, it’s usually the better choice. The hard case sits in between: when the program forces a change in how people work, or when the spreadsheet has become a system only one person understands.
Signs the spreadsheet is no longer enough
A spreadsheet is a good tool to start with, and some companies run well on one for years. The trouble begins when it takes on the role of a system without any of a system’s safeguards.
- There are several versions of the same file, and nobody knows which is right
- The same information is typed by hand in two or three places
- Only one person knows how the file works
- Everyone sees everything, because there’s no simple way to grant access per person
- Requests, applications or orders arrive by email and get lost among messages
- Month-end is spent gathering figures from several places
One sign on its own isn’t enough to decide. Three or four at once usually mean the work already calls for another tool.
First, what already exists
Before thinking about bespoke software, it’s worth checking whether off-the-shelf software will do. For invoicing, accounting or payroll there are certified programs maintained by people who do nothing else, and reinventing them rarely pays.
Off-the-shelf software is the better choice when it does the essentials without making the company work against it. It starts quickly, charges a monthly fee and is updated by others.
When off-the-shelf falls short
Off-the-shelf software falls short when the process is what sets the business apart, or when the company pays for dozens of features and uses three. It also fails when several programs don’t talk to each other, and someone bridges them by hand every day.
In those cases, bespoke software does only what the business needs, with the names and steps people already use. It connects to the website, the email and the programs that stay, rather than replacing them.
On the ProjSuBe Group platform, vacancies are written in the management area, and applications arrive with a CV and move through their own stages, from New to Hired or Rejected. CVs can be downloaded, the list exports to a spreadsheet and notifications go out by email.
Website, web application and system
A website presents and persuades: it’s read by people who don’t yet know the business. A web application is a program that runs in the browser, with nothing to install, and is used to get work done: recording, approving, looking things up.
A bespoke system is almost always a web application built for one specific process, with access per person. It can stand alone or sit behind a website, like vacancy management behind a careers page.
The cost, and how to reduce the risk
The cost of a bespoke system depends on the number of screens, the kinds of access, the links to other programs and the business rules. There’s no honest reference figure without knowing the process, and I distrust anyone who gives one before seeing it.
The risk shrinks by starting small. In my projects, the first version is ready in around 5 weeks and handles the part of the work that costs most today; the rest is added with the system already in use.
A first version in use teaches more than months of specification. The people using it say what’s missing, and what isn’t needed never gets built.
What must stay on the company’s side
A bespoke system holds business data and, often, personal data about customers or candidates. The GDPR requires it to be protected with technical measures appropriate to the risk1, and that shapes the design from day one: who sees what, backups, access logs.
In my projects, the rights to commissioned work pass to the client on full payment, and the code and access are handed over on request. A system the company depends on can’t be held hostage by whoever coded it.
Three tools, three moments
- Spreadsheet: to start, with few people and a process that still changes every week
- Off-the-shelf software: when it does the essentials and the process is common, such as invoicing or accounting
- Bespoke software: when the process is specific, repeats often and involves several people or programs
The bespoke systems I build start by understanding the work as it’s done today, with the spreadsheets and emails that exist. A request starts with the type of project, a name and an email, and the first conversation is for deciding whether this is the right path.