Why should your company invest in a custom software system?
Recently I've been having an increasing number of chats with people who are very frustrated with software systems to the extent that they don't want to have them in their daily lives any more. I must admit that until recently I wasn't able to relate to these sentiments. Not because I didn't have my moments of anger and frustration with a variety of software systems, but because I've always accepted such encounters as a challenge. An occupational hazard, I guess.
However, the number of such interactions in my own daily life are increasing, and I'm beginning more and more to relate to software users who want the systems to do what they are built for fast and with minimal input from user's side.
Buying bus tickets shouldn't take forever because of a number of login steps the user needs to go through to complete the transaction. Sending your invoice to the insurance company shouldn't require the use of tracking cookies. Filtering and searching in a bunch of records shouldn't freeze your computer because you are forced to use a system that's old and unsuitable for the task.
A lot of these frustrating systems exist, because the company providing the service decided to "save" money by just taking an existing system, make some adjustments and ship it to end customers. By doing that, the company effectively transfers the expenses THEY had to make for a custom system to their CUSTOMERS. WE are paying the COMPANY's time savings with OUR time.
What comes next? This whole process of using a system that's not suitable, but "saves" money, reflects badly on the company. Customers are unhappy, start to spend more of their time creating tickets, and the whole thing causes more expenses for them and for you as a company. And this is also the answer to the question "Why should your company invest in a custom software system?".