Which entrepreneur would choose, for their company, a logo selected from a library of standard templates already in use? Which marketing manager would create a brochure by reusing texts written for other companies? With reasonable certainty the answer is: none. The reason is easy to say: every entrepreneur tries to get the most for the brands that identify their products and services, because the goal is to be unique, easily recognisable, in short to have the most effective marketing tools possible.
It is surprising, then, that if we shift our attention towards the adoption of the software tools that every activity needs, we do not find the same attention towards the concepts of customization and uniqueness which we mentioned earlier and which instead can make a substantial difference. In fact, it is quite normal that hundreds of very different companies (in terms of product sector, size and depth of the market, sales strategy, etc.) prefer standard software solutions - i.e. designed for everyone and therefore for no one - rather than custom-designed solutions. Why this? Why doesn't the choice of tools that have a significant impact on business processes receive the same attention? The answer is simple: fear of the cost of development.
But how much does it cost to develop software, be it accounting, management or CRM? If we look from the right perspective, we will easily realize that the correct question should be another: how much does it cost me to adopt standard software, low cost or even free? This is a much more complex question, as the lack of customization of a software that does not take into consideration the specific application context, the business processes and that does not look at future prospects, can have a greater impact than customized software.
Substantially, adopting generic and generalist software means not considering the specificities of a company, which has needs that almost never overlap with those of another activity. Thus we stop at the details of the costs of a quote but do not reflect enough on the hidden costs futures of a non-personalized choice. You end up relying on any software development agency when the history of your company would require a system integration specialist. You opt for an apparently economical local management software solution when you could save a lot on infrastructure by choosing a Cloud IT solution, or you prefer development from scratch when a simpler migration of something already existing would be enough.
A customized software is like a suit made by a tailor: apparently it costs more but the quality is not comparable to a suit from a department store. The product will last longer, because the raw materials are better, so the costs are spread over several years. And if your body changes, you can choose to make some changes rather than having to throw away the old to buy the new. For tailor-made management software, the question is completely similar.
Why, then, should an entrepreneur choose a company that designs and develops customized applications? If you think that the answer is between the lines of any example of a quote for the development of customized software, you are wrong, because the answer is not in the costs but in the needs and peculiarities of your company. Let's try to list the reasons that should push you to choose a type of tailor-made software and you will be autonomous in deciding which path to follow:
And if tomorrow there are changes to the processes, you will be forced to decide whether to switch to new generic software or, finally, choose for a customized solution. In short, the reflection we want to stimulate is that the choice of tailor-made software cannot be made only by virtue of a cost problem. The choice is first and foremost strategic. So much so that answering the question "how much does customized software cost?" is much simpler than answering "how much does generalist software cost?", because with the second option there are numerous hidden costs that cannot be immediately foreseen and it is difficult to quantify the negative impact on the management dynamics of the company compared to the real cost of a software designed according to your needs.
