In a discussion about custom software for growing businesses, someone suggested putting a number on what a custom tool could save each year. I like that idea. If the current setup involves paying for two subscriptions and having a staff member copy information between them every afternoon, let's count the staff time too. It has a cost, even if it never appears on a software invoice.
The part the subscription does not do
Imagine a business that takes bookings in one tool and sends invoices from another. After each job, a staff member copies over the customer's details, the work done and the price. They also keep a spreadsheet to track jobs that need a follow-up, because neither product quite handles that part.
The business pays for the booking tool and the invoicing tool. It also pays, in staff time, for the gap between them. Mistakes in the copying take more time to find and fix.
A custom app could put the booking, job record and invoice preparation in one place. The staff member finishes the job, checks the details and moves on. Maybe the business can cancel a subscription. Maybe it keeps the invoicing service but removes the copying. Either outcome is worth pricing.
The numbers do not need to be dramatic. An hour of repetitive work each weekday adds up to roughly 250 hours over 50 weeks. Removing that task does not magically remove an employee's salary from the accounts. It gives that person time for work the business actually needs done. If the team is stretched, those hours are especially valuable. The UK government's guide to measuring digital benefits makes the same distinction between money saved and time freed up.
The person doing that job probably knows how long it takes. The owner may remember the copying and forget the time spent fixing duplicate records.
Build the missing bit
“Custom software” sounds enormous if you picture replacing every service the business uses. That is rarely the job I am proposing.
For card payments, I would use a payment provider. For sending email, an email service. I want to build the part that follows the business's own process, because that is the part an off-the-shelf product keeps asking its staff to work around.
Sometimes a small connection between two existing tools fixes the problem. Great; build the connection. But if the business is paying for three plans, a spreadsheet and a person to keep them in agreement, I am going to ask whether one focused app would serve it better.
There is another saving that is harder to put in the first year's budget. The business can change how its own workflow operates. It can add the follow-up its team has been managing in a spreadsheet. It can stop making new employees learn the ritual of copying a customer between tabs. It does not have to wait for a platform to add the feature or move everyone onto a more expensive plan to get one useful setting. Changes to custom software cost money, of course, but the business gets to decide which changes matter.
Compare the actual costs
Suppose a focused app lets the business cancel €600 a month of software it no longer needs. That is €7,200 a year, or €21,600 over three years. Add the hours spent copying records and you can see why a development quote might be worth getting.
Then price the custom app properly: the build, moving existing records, hosting, support and future changes. Keep any subscriptions it will still use in the budget. If the old booking tool sends reminders and the new app needs to send them too, account for that. Digital.gov's guidance on building or buying software includes maintenance either way, and a UK government checklist of software costs includes migration and support.
The same honesty applies to the existing setup. If the business needs a higher subscription plan, a paid integration or continuing staff time to make it work, put those costs on the page too. I have no interest in making the custom quote look cheaper by hiding its ongoing costs. I also have no interest in pretending the current tools cost only what appears on the invoices.
The answer may be a new app. It may be a smaller piece of custom work that joins products the business already likes. What matters is that we look at the work people are doing now, including the work the software was supposed to take off their hands.
I would hesitate to call any saving permanent. Businesses change; software needs maintenance. Recurring savings are very possible, though. A business can stop paying for tools that do not fit and stop spending hours moving the same information around.
That is a good reason to consider custom software in the first place. When someone tells me a business should simply buy an established product, I want to see how that product fits the business's day. If the staff still need a spreadsheet and an afternoon of copying to finish the job, “just buy it” is not much of an answer.