ERP vs Custom Software

The question arrives phrased as a purchase decision — "should we buy an ERP or build something?" — and it is almost always the wrong first question.

The right first question is which decision the business cannot make today. Once that is answered, the software question usually answers itself, and it frequently turns out that the answer is neither: a defined process and one good tool, running for six months, before anything larger is considered.

This hub takes the commercial decision seriously. What an ERP implementation actually costs once data migration, configuration, training and the first year of support are counted. When off-the-shelf genuinely wins, and when standardising away the process that is your competitive edge is a bad trade. What "customisation" means in a vendor's contract versus what an owner assumes it means. How to read an implementation timeline that says twelve weeks.

We build custom software, so treat our view here with the scepticism it deserves — which is exactly why these posts include the cases where buying beats building, and the questions to ask a vendor, including us. A firm that cannot tell you when not to hire it is not giving you advice.

How we work on this →