Custom software vs SaaS: when to build and when to buy

• The process is standard: accounting, payroll, email, basic scheduling, a CRM with no special needs.
• There's a mature tool already used by businesses like yours.
• You can adapt your process to the tool without losing anything important.
• You need to start now and volume is still low.

• Your workflow differs from your industry's, and that difference is part of your value.
• You pay for several overlapping tools and some steps are still done by hand.
• Data lives in several systems and gets entered more than once.
• You need control over where your data lives, who accesses it and how it's integrated.
• The product is what you sell: a platform for your customers, not a support tool.

It isn't always one or the other. Often the best move is to keep the SaaS that works and build what's missing around it:

• An integration that connects two systems so nothing is entered twice.
• An internal tool on top of the data you already have.
• A client portal that reads from your current system.

With SaaS:

• Per-user licences that grow with the team.
• Plan limits that force an upgrade.
• Price or feature changes you don't decide.
• The manual work to cover what the tool doesn't do.

With custom software:

• The upfront design and development investment.
• Maintenance: updates, bugs and changes over time.
• The need for someone in your company to own the tool.

• Which part of the process happens outside the tool today, by hand?
• How many hours a week does that work cost?
• Will the process stay the same next year, or does it still change every month?
• Who in your company would be responsible for the software after launch?

If the answers point to buying, that's a good answer. We'll tell you before making a proposal.