Guide5 min read
Custom software or an off-the-shelf ERP? How to decide
Standard software is quick to start but rarely fits perfectly. Fully custom software fits, but costs more and takes longer. Here is how to choose, and the option in between.
Start from the work, not the software
List the jobs your team does every day: selling, buying, moving stock, paying staff, reporting to the owner. Then mark where people re-type data, keep side notebooks or wait for approvals on WhatsApp. Those gaps tell you what the software must solve.
When a standard ERP is enough
If your work looks like most businesses in your sector (sell, buy, hold stock, keep accounts, pay staff), a good standard ERP covers it. You start in days, pay a monthly fee and get updates without a project. Most shops, wholesalers and distributors fall here.
When you need custom software
You need custom work when the way you operate is your advantage: a special approval chain, a field team with its own workflow, a customer app, or a link to a system nobody else uses. Forcing that into generic software costs more in workarounds than building it properly.
The middle path: customise a proven core
Building everything from zero means paying again for stock, sales, purchasing and accounting that already exist. Starting from a proven ERP and adding only what is specific to you is usually faster and cheaper, and you keep the updates of the core. With IMS, the Enterprise plan includes customisation; on other plans larger work is quoted.
How to start
Ask for a discovery call, then a written proposal with the scope, screens, timeline and price before any work starts. Approve the screens first, and insist on a demo at the end of each stage so there are no surprises at the end.