There was a good job on the table. A home furnishings retailer with four legal entities, five branches and an order system that has been going since 2006. Eleven salespeople running into it every day. The question was whether we could build something better.
Yes, we could. We did not do it.
What we did first
Before you can advise against something you have to know what you are talking about. We wrote out the process: twelve steps, from the conversation in the shop to the invoice. Then a list of requirements, 119 of them in twelve categories, each with a priority. Eight of those were knock-outs — without those eight, no system makes any sense.
That is boring work. It is also the only work that answers the question.
What came out of it
Three options were on the table.
A trade package. Ready-made for the home furnishings business. Fell down on the knock-outs: the costing with pleat factors, cutting waste and composite pricing did not fit into it, and that is exactly where this company makes its margin.
Building an ERP ourselves. We costed it. Roughly 750 to 1,200 hours for the full build including roll-out. That is not impossible, but it is a system that in five years' time is once again a system nobody dares to touch. Precisely the problem we were solving.
A standard package with our own layer on top. The package does what every package does — orders, stock, invoices. We only build the costing layer, because that is the part you cannot buy anywhere.
Option three became the recommendation.
Why this is bad for us
Option two is the better job for us. More hours, a longer tie, and a client who can no longer walk away. Option three is a fraction of the work and the client buys the core from somebody else.
That is exactly why you can take the advice seriously. A supplier who can build anything has no reason to tell you what not to build. And that is the reason so many small and mid-sized companies have a bespoke system they are not happy with: there was nobody to say no.
The rule of thumb
Only build what sets you apart. Buy the rest.
Storing an order line does not set you apart. Keeping track of stock does not set you apart. Producing an invoice certainly does not. Thousands of companies have already solved that problem and it is sitting there ready for a few hundred euros a month.
What sets you apart is usually one calculation, one judgement or one step you do differently from the rest. That is where your margin is. That is where bespoke is worth the trouble.
At this client it was the costing. At a dealer group it is the purchase appraisal. At a service company it is the knowledge in the heads of the engineers.
For the rest: buy something that works and that you can get rid of.