A Custom Job

A customized system will provide you with the ultimate flexibility to meet your workflow, because you are going to design the system to meet that workflow. There are a number of downsides to custom software though. The initial development costs can be staggering - ranging from $25,000 to $25,000,000 or more, depending on the requirements of the system. Then there is future development. If your workflow changes or you need to add a new feature to the system you have to pay for that. If the system requirements were not properly defined this could cost more than the original development. And if the system is not flexible enough to incorporate the new feature then refactoring of existing code could be highly expensive. Stability is another factor - what happens if the original development team leaves? Everyone has heard horror stories of mission critical applications that no one can support. And finally there is user support. If the system is poorly specified, designed, or implemented then the costs for user support can be significant. Of these reasons, the most compelling one on why not to develop your own custom system is cost.

And for those of you who are considering developing the system "on-the-cheap" by having a summer intern, relative, or friend develop a simple database to meet your needs in a couple of weeks, please don't. There is a good chance that you will end up with your data locked in an unusable system with corrupt data and no support. See data conversion case studies for an example.

Bottom line: Custom software is great if you have the IT resources and the budget to support it.

See also COTS Software and Customized Software.