ProblemBought software
The software we bought does not fit how we work
Before replacing anything, find out whether the product is wrong for you or was simply never set up for you. The second is far more common and far cheaper to fix.
When bought software does not fit, there are four options: set it up properly, change your process to match it, add a small tool beside it for the missing part, or replace it. Try them in that order. Replacing a system with one built for you is justified only where your way of working is what earns your money and no product follows it. A business system built around your process starts at N$24,999.99.
What you see, and what it usually means
| What you see | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Staff keep a spreadsheet beside the system | The system cannot hold something the work needs. Find out exactly what. |
| Fields are used for the wrong thing | “Fax number” holding an ID number means the product has no place for a fact you need. |
| Only two of twenty features are used | You are paying for a larger product than the job requires. |
| Nobody was trained | A fit problem cannot be judged until people have been shown how the product is meant to work. |
| The supplier says “it cannot do that” | A real limit. Decide whether that thing matters enough to act on. |
What you can do yourself
These cost nothing but time. Do them before paying for software, including ours.
List what does not fit, exactly
Not “it is bad”. Write each case: “we cannot record a deposit against a booking”. Ten specific lines are worth more than a meeting.
Ask the supplier about each line
Many will be settings, a different plan, or a feature nobody showed you.
Get the training you never had
One proper session often clears half the list.
Ask whether your process should change
If every similar business works the product's way, your way may be habit rather than advantage.
Check how to get your data out
Find the export. You need to know you can leave before deciding whether to.
Today, and with a system
Today
- The system, plus a spreadsheet beside it
- Licences paid for features nobody uses
- Workarounds that only old staff know
- Reports that need fixing by hand
With a system
- Screens that follow your steps, in your words
- Only what you use, nothing else to learn
- Rules enforced by the system, not by memory
- You own it, with no fee per user
- The list is still long after setup and training.
- What does not fit is the part of your work that customers pay you for.
- Monthly licences for all your users now exceed what a build would cost over two or three years.
- The supplier has stopped improving the product, or supporting it in Namibia.
What we would build
We read your list with you and say plainly which lines look like setup, which need a small tool beside the current system, and which mean it is the wrong product. If a small add-on solves it, we will recommend that, because it is cheaper for you.
A system built around your own process starts at N$24,999.99 and takes six to ten weeks. Your records are moved across from the old one.
Common questions
Is custom software not always more expensive?
To start, yes. Over time it depends on licences. A product charged per user, every month, for twenty users, can pass the cost of a build within a few years. Build or buy shows the arithmetic.
Can you add to the system we have instead of replacing it?
Often, if it lets other software read or write its data. That is usually the better first step. See integrations.
What about our data in the old system?
If it can be exported, it can be moved. We check the export before quoting, and bringing old records across is priced as an extra.
Describe the problem. We will send back a scope.
Say what is slowing the work down and who is affected. You get a one-page scope in plain words: what would be built first, how long it takes and what it costs. It is free, and you owe nothing if you do not go ahead.