Bespoke or off the shelf: how to decide

Off-the-shelf software is built once and sold to many businesses. Bespoke software is built for one business and the way it works. Neither is better in general. The right choice depends on the job.

When off the shelf is the right answer

• The job is the same in every business, such as accounts, payroll, email or document storage.
• A product already fits how you work with little or no change.
• You need it running this week, not in a few months.
• The process isn't what sets your business apart.

In these cases, buying is almost always cheaper and quicker. We'd rather tell you that than build something you don't need.

The signs you've outgrown it

• Your team keeps a spreadsheet next to the software to fill the gaps.
• You pay for several products and still copy data between them.
• You've changed how you work to suit the software, and it's costing you.
• Subscription costs rise every year for features you don't use.
• The way you do something is part of why customers choose you, and the software can't support it.

The middle route most people miss

It isn't always one or the other. Often the best answer is to keep the off-the-shelf products that work, such as your accounts package, and build a small bespoke layer that connects them and handles the part that makes you different.

That usually costs far less than replacing everything, and it removes the copying and checking that eats your team's week.

Comparing the costs fairly

Off-the-shelf software looks cheaper because the cost arrives monthly. Bespoke looks expensive because more of the cost arrives at the start. To compare them fairly, add up everything over three to five years.

• For off the shelf: subscriptions for every user, add-ons, price rises and the staff time spent on workarounds.
• For bespoke: the build, hosting, support and the changes you'll want as you grow.

The staff time is the figure people leave out, and it's often the biggest.

Five questions to decide

• Does a product already fit how we work, without workarounds?
• Is this process part of what makes us different?
• How many hours a week go on copying, checking and fixing data?
• What will the subscriptions cost over five years, with price rises?
• Could we keep what works and connect it, rather than replace it?