Off the shelf or custom software:how to choose

An old question with a new twist

Should we buy a standard package or have software built? Companies have asked this for decades. AI adds a twist: many standard packages now promise AI features, and building custom software has become faster. The choice is less obvious than it used to be, which makes a clear way of deciding more useful.

When to buy

Buy for work that is the same in every company. Accounting, payroll, mail, video calls: thousands of companies do these the same way, and good standard software exists at a fraction of what building it would cost. There is no advantage in having your own accounting package.

Standard software also makes sense when your process is still young or changing quickly. Use a package, learn what you really need, and decide later whether the gaps are worth closing.

When to build

Build where your way of working is what makes you different. How you plan your teams, how you follow up a file, how you handle a client request: if that is why clients choose you, forcing it into a standard package means giving up part of your edge.

Building also makes sense when you are stacking workarounds. If your team runs a standard package plus three Excel files plus a lot of copy and paste to make it fit, you are already paying for custom software. You are just paying in hours instead of in a project.

Usually: both

In practice most of our projects combine the two. Keep the standard software that works, build what is missing and connect everything so data flows instead of being retyped. An ERP stays the place for orders and invoices, a custom platform handles the flow around it, and AI reads what comes in and puts it in the right place.

That way you do not replace what works, and you do not force your process into a tool that does not fit.

Where AI changes the picture

AI features in standard packages help with generic tasks: summarising, drafting, searching. They rarely know your process, your clients or the rules that matter in your company. AI built into a custom flow can, because it works with your data and your rules.

AI also lowers the cost of custom work. Steps that used to need complex code, such as reading free text from mails or documents, are now a model call with good context. That makes custom solutions viable for companies that could not justify them before.

Comparing the cost honestly

Standard software looks cheaper because the price is per user per month. Add the time your team spends on workarounds, the extra tools around it and the cost of switching later, and the picture often changes. Custom software has a higher start cost, but you own it and it follows your way of working.

Compare over three to five years, include the hours spent on retyping and searching, and the answer is usually clear.

Risks on both sides

Standard software comes with vendor risk: prices rise, features disappear, the product is sold or discontinued, and your data sits in a format you do not control. Custom software comes with project risk: unclear requirements, a partner who disappears, software nobody can maintain.

You reduce vendor risk by keeping your own data accessible and avoiding lock in where you can. You reduce project risk by starting small, building in short sprints with working software early, and choosing a partner who builds with mainstream technology and documents what they build. At Encima, for example, we build in Java, a language your next developer will know.

What owning software means

Owning custom software means it follows your company instead of the other way around. When your process changes, the software changes with it. It also means you are responsible for keeping it running and up to date, usually together with the partner who built it. Plan for that from the start, with clear agreements on support and on who owns the code and the data.

Choosing a partner for custom work

Look for a partner who starts by understanding how you work instead of presenting a solution. Ask to see working software early, not after months. Ask who will build it and who will support it afterwards. Make sure the code and the data are yours. And check how they handle change, because your process will change while the software is being built, and the software should follow.

A partner who also knows when to tell you to buy a standard package is usually a partner you can trust with the parts worth building.

A simple way to decide

List your processes. Mark the ones that are the same everywhere and the ones that make you different. Buy for the first group, build or adapt for the second, and plan the connections from the start. Not sure which group a process belongs to? That is exactly what we map together with you.