CUSTOM SOFTWARE
When what’s out there doesn’t fit how you work.
Custom software is a program built for the specific process of your business. Tools made for your process, not processes reshaped to fit a tool.
When a business needs custom software
Hardly anyone starts out wanting custom software. You get there after trying to manage with what was already available.
- Information is scattered across places that don’t talk to each other
- Every answer means piecing the context together by hand, and it gets pieced together differently depending on who does it.
- The process moves because someone pushes it
- If that person is away, the process stops. What looked like a method was a habit.
- The tool that used to work has been outgrown
- It works for what it was bought for and not for what you do now, so it gets padded out with spreadsheets on the side.
When the spreadsheet stops being enough
A spreadsheet holds up for longer than it seems, and replacing it too early is money thrown away. Here are the four signs that it is time.
- One person maintains it and nobody else knows how
- While that person is around, it works. The day they aren’t, the process stops and nobody knows where to pick it up.
- There is more than one version and nobody knows which is right
- As soon as it is copied so people can work in parallel, each copy starts telling a different story, and reconciling them is manual work.
- The same data is typed in twice
- It is entered in the spreadsheet and then in the invoicing software, or the other way round. That doesn’t just use up hours: it brings errors with it.
- You can no longer tell who changed what
- With no trail of changes, a number that doesn’t add up means checking the whole spreadsheet instead of looking at the last change.
What it costs to leave it
Hours lost moving information from one place to another, and decisions made without being able to look at the data because gathering it costs more than deciding by eye.
What no longer depends on one person
A system that does what your team does, and that doesn’t depend on one particular person remembering the next step.
- A working system, with its code and documentation.
- Hours you no longer waste, and decisions backed by data.
- A foundation that holds up as you grow, instead of holding you back.
What custom software we build
- Internal operations platforms
- The tool your team uses every day, built for your process and not for a generic sector.
- Integration with the systems you already use
- We study it before designing, because the data each tool accepts and sends out decides what can be built and what can’t.
- The steps that depend on one person today
- They go into the system while it is being built, instead of being left outside and automated later.
- Web and mobile applications
- When what has to be built leaves the office and is used by customers, sales staff or technicians in the field.
How we work
The same method as on all our projects, applied to a system that will stay in use for years and be taken over by other people: we start with a preliminary analysis so nobody inherits a system they don’t understand.
- UnderstandWe look at the real process, not the one on the org chart.
- DefineWe produce a signed list of what is in scope and what is out of scope.
- DesignWe settle the architecture before writing any code.
- BuildShort releases: there is something to test every few weeks.
- LaunchWe validate with real data before opening it to everyone.
- EvolveWe measure it, so the next decision isn’t made blind.
How it is built inside
An internal system lasts for many years and is taken over by people who weren’t there when it was built. That decides how it is put together: each responsibility in its own place, so that whoever comes later can change one without understanding them all.
No two internal systems are alike. What doesn’t change is that these responsibilities are kept separate:
- Interface
- what your team uses every day
- Integrations
- the contract with what you already have: business management, invoicing and warehouse software
- Business rules
- how your company works, in one place and not scattered about
- Data
- the real state of the business
- The code we develop specifically for your project is yours, with its repository and documentation, once the amounts due have been paid. If we use third-party libraries or services, their licences are identified before we incorporate them.
- Each layer can be changed without rebuilding the others.
- We hand it over documented, so that another team can carry on.
Before you write to us.
What is custom software, and what are some examples?
Custom software is a program built for a company’s specific process, instead of adapting the process to an off-the-shelf tool. The most common projects are an orders-and-stock system, job or case tracking, a quote generator, a booking system with its own rules and a dashboard that gathers data from several programs; these are kinds of project, not client cases (there are more in custom software examples for small businesses). If what you need is standard, buying it is cheaper, and we say so.
Do you build a custom ERP?
We can build a management system with the modules your business needs (orders, stock, customers, job reports), but starting with a full ERP is rarely the right move. We first compare it with an off-the-shelf ERP and with extending the one you already have, because a well-configured generic ERP is usually cheaper than one of your own. If building makes sense, it is done in modules and connected to what already works, not as a single program that replaces everything at once.
How much does custom software cost?
It depends on what has to be built, what already exists and how it will be maintained. That is why it can’t be done well without scoping the problem. Anyone who gives a fixed figure before knowing what is in and what is not is making a bet that someone ends up paying for. What you can know from the start is what it depends on and how to compare two proposals: the guide how much custom software costs and what drives it explains it.
Do you work with SMEs, and outside Lanzarote?
Yes. We work with small and medium-sized businesses and with companies that have no technology team of their own. We are a studio based in Lanzarote, and we serve companies in the Canary Islands and across the rest of Spain.
What happens after the handover?
You can carry on with us, with your own team or with another supplier. The handover includes the repository, the technical and deployment documentation and the transfer of the relevant access, so that another team can continue the work without depending on us.
When is custom development worth it compared with buying a ready-made tool?
It is worth it when the process that sustains your business is part of what sets you apart and doesn’t fit a tool designed for a generic sector. It is also worth it when you already pay for a licence and still supplement it on the side with spreadsheets. It isn’t worth it when what you need is standard: there, the cheaper option is to buy it. That comparison is the preliminary analysis: we make it before proposing anything, and sometimes the answer is no.
Can it be integrated with the ERP, invoicing or warehouse system we already use?
Yes, that is the usual case, and it shapes the whole project: the integration is studied before designing. The data each system accepts and sends out decides what can be automated and what can’t. We review which interfaces each tool offers, which system is the source of truth for each piece of data and what happens when one of them doesn’t respond. If something can’t be integrated, we say so at the start, not halfway through.
What happens to the data we already have in spreadsheets or in the old system?
The data worth keeping is migrated. First you have to decide which information is the right one when there are several versions of the same thing, what is left out and what needs cleaning. That part is usually work for the business and not for the system, and it helps to know from the start because it takes your team’s time. We test the migration with real data before anything is opened up.
Do operations have to stop while the system is changed?
No, that is not the plan. The changeover is prepared so that day-to-day work carries on. We validate it with real data before opening it to everyone and, when the process allows it, run the old system and the new one side by side until the team works confidently in the new one. The schedule is agreed with you, because every company has weeks of the year when it doesn’t want to touch anything.
We start with a preliminary analysis: scope, deliverable and fee agreed in writing before we begin. We usually reply in under 24 working hours.
If what you need is presence and lead generation: web development.
If you’re unsure it’s worth it compared with a spreadsheet: when the spreadsheet stops being enough.
If the price is what worries you: how much custom software costs and what drives it.