In today’s digital world, there are 1000s of products, applications, and software solutions to solve our business needs. Since there are so many off the shelf solutions it’s easy to get stuck in the spiderweb of building your business dependent and on the whim of these products. Off the shelf solutions, or SaaS, can be very helpful. However, the company built the product to appeal to the masses and work for most cases and not all. Leading to the purchase of custom software.
The business leader of XYZ Inc is determining which direction she wants to take her company, whether to develop custom software or purchase multiple off the shelf solution for her business. So, she schedules two lunch meetings with her top two business analysts and asked them to pick the restaurant. The first analyst suggests eating at his favorite restaurant Le’ Buffet. This was her dining experience:
The Positives:
- Does the buffet appeal to the masses? Yes.
- Will it do the job of filling you up? Yes, but I don’t feel great
- Is a meal expensive? Not necessarily, $11.55
The Negatives:
- Did the buffet leave you feeling physically good? No, it’s a buffet.
- Did you try every entree & side they offer? No, but I still paid for it.
- Did the buffet organize the food in an easy way to load up the perfect plate? No, the items I want are in two different sides of the restaurant’s buffet.
- Was the quality good? It’s not bad but not great, it’s a buffet
- Was there food from other serving trays in the food you wanted? Yes.
- Did the dish you always get have less area on the buffet due to the adding of additional entrees and sides requested by other patrons or is no longer the main focus? Yes
- Does eating at the buffet daily lead you to a long term better life? No.
Meanwhile, after lunch and a good discussion on off the shelf software, she gets back to the office and feeling tired and lazy from all the fried and processed food. She continued to work but, knew she wasn’t efficient and had work rolled over onto the next day.
The next morning she isn’t able to catch up from yesterday and goes to get ready to head out to lunch with your other analyst. He suggests you go to his favorite restaurant “EarthFood 4U” a sit-down restaurant where a chef makes every item fresh to order. Her meal goes something like this:
The Positives:
- Did the restaurant leave you feeling physically good? Yes, the food left me full and full of energy
- Was the quality of food good? Yes, a chef made it for me fresh!
- Did you pay for more than you ate? No, I only paid for what I ordered.
- Did the restaurant present the dish in an appealing manner? Yes, the dish was visually appealing
- Was there food from other meals on your plate? No, the restaurant made everything fresh
- Was the dish you always get on the menu still? Yes, the restaurant only has its few main dishes and that it cooks
- Does eating at the EarthFood 4U daily lead you to a long term better life? Yes!
The Negatives:
- Did the restaurant appeal to the masses? No. The restaurant appealed to its exact target: health conscious individuals
- Was the meal expensive? No, but more than the buffet $18.75
With another lunch in the books, the business owner gets back to their office feeling energized after a great meal and another insightful conversation with an analyst. After that, she gets back to work and even catches up on all the other work she had left over from yesterday! At last, towards the end of the day on the way out the door, as she reflects on her lunches from the past two days, a light-bulb goes off in her head. In Conclusion, an off the shelf software is quite similar to a buffet and custom software is like a healthy meal from a restaurant.
Off the shelf Software (Le’ Buffet)
The Positives:
- Does Off-the-Shelf Software appeal to the masses? Yes.
- Does it do the job you need it to? Yes, but not in an efficient manner
- Is the software expensive? Not necessarily. Low Upfront CapEx, Long Term High OpEx.
The Negatives
- Did you finish your job feeling satisfied? No, because it’s made for all not for me or my business needs.
- Did you use every feature & tool in the Software? No, but still I paid for it
- Did the company develop the software in a clean and user-friendly way? No, not to me and my business, we like the feel of Microsoft Office applications, and the off the shelf solution had no similarities to the usability
- Is the quality good? It’s not bad but it’s not great as it’s for the masses and not my business
- Is there data from other businesses mixed into your data? Hopefully no, but often time due to multi-tenant systems, database errors happen and information gets cross contaminated.
- Did developers push the feature that originally made you buy the software to the side, due to other patrons needing new features? Yes.
- Does an off the shelf software add the lifetime value of your business? No, your entire business is dependent upon this software, if that business closes your business is out of luck and just lost all the processes and infrastructure it previously had.
VS
Custom Software (EarthFood 4U restaurant)
The Positives:
- Did the software leave you feeling satisfied? Yes, it does exactly what we need it to do, and nothing more
- Is the quality of a custom solution good? Yes, as long as the company plans accordingly
- Did you pay for software features that you do not need? No, you only pay for what you need.
- Did the company develop the software in an appealing manner for a user? Yes, your business needs are taken into consideration when creating custom software. That means if the business is dependent upon a common design, we can make the solution match that look.
- Is there data from other software in your program? No, your business is the only one who has this solution! Meaning your data will never be contaminated.
- Is the main feature of your app still the main feature? Yes, and it will remain the main feature until you decided to change the program.
- Does using a software solution made specifically for you make your more efficient? Yes!
The Negatives:
- As a Saas (sometimes) you can’t productize your custom software, due to the fact that you customized it to your business needs
- Is Custom Software Expensive? No, it does have a higher upfront CapEx but your OpEx will be less over time.
Evidently, these similarities are a great depiction of the difference between off the shelf solutions vs a Custom software. One is great for the masses and is cheaper up front but the other is made directly for you & adds value to your business. Similarly, after the buffet, the owner could only complete some work the owner was tired from eating too much of an unhealthy lunch. Likewise, an off the shelf solution lets the owner gets the job done, but at a slower rate. Meaning the owner completes fewer jobs over a set amount of time. However, the healthy lunch left the owner full of energy, although it is a few dollars more expensive. Just as a Custom Software, the user is able to complete more tasks in the day due to them building it specifically for the business’ needs!
Contact Grata if you’re interested in a software upgrade today! Whether it be off the shelf of custom we can help!