Why are we still putting up with off the shelf software?

For most of my career, when something in the business wasn't working, the answer was to use or buy software to fix it.

We'd sit through the demos and pick the product that came closest to how we worked. But closest isn't the same as right, and the gap only showed once the system was live. Within weeks the team was working the way the software wanted. Anything it couldn't handle became a spreadsheet, and before long someone was spending an hour every Friday rebuilding a report the system couldn't produce.

None of it felt unusual at the time. That's how most growing businesses end up running.

The cost nobody adds up

Each compromise looks small on its own. That Friday report alone is over 50 hours a year, and it leaves the business depending on the few people who know how it's put together. Then there's the information typed by hand from one system into another, which eventually gets typed wrong and only comes to light when a client points out an issue.

The team is rarely the problem. They work hard because the business has grown up around half a dozen workarounds like these, and together they cost hundreds of hours a year.

Over time, the business stops asking how the work should be done and starts asking what the system will allow. That's what worries me most, because the way you work is often what made you good in the first place.

Generic software for work that isn't generic

Some work is the same in every business. For accounts, payroll and email, a good off the shelf product is the right answer. Nobody wins customers by doing payroll differently.

How you quote, plan and look after customers is different. That's usually what sets you apart, so it's the worst place to bend the business around something generic. Most businesses have done it anyway, because bespoke software used to mean a development team and a bill only larger companies could justify.

What AI changes

That's no longer true. AI has made building software far quicker and cheaper, so the awkward processes no product ever fitted can be fixed on their own, without replacing the systems you've already paid for. A business turning over a few million pounds rarely needs a six figure overhaul. It usually needs three or four ugly processes fixed properly, and its systems joined up.

Getting it right

Cheaper doesn't mean easier. The real risk is building the wrong thing, usually because the person building it has never had to run the process. In 14 years of running operations, I've seen plenty of systems that looked right in the demo and failed in practice. It's taught me to look at the work before the software, because automating a bad process just gives you the same problem faster.

Most businesses have at least one process held together by a spreadsheet, or by the one person who knows how it works. That's usually the best place to start. If you've got one in mind, I'm always happy to take a look. Get in touch.