When custom software costs less than off-the-shelf

Off-the-shelf is an excellent choice when your operations are standard. The trouble starts when you have to bend your process to fit the software instead of the other way round.

Work out the true cost: the monthly fee times your user count times the years, plus the hours lost working around the tool’s limits, plus what it will cost to migrate off it later.

In most of the comparisons we have run with clients, the two even out within two to three years — with the difference that the custom system becomes an asset you own rather than a recurring bill.