Software used to be expensive because it was slow to build.
It isn't slow to build anymore. Here is what changed, and what didn't.
The number you were quoted was right
If you were quoted $150,000 and a year for a custom system, that was the market. Building software was almost all labour: every screen, form and report typed by hand, on a day rate. You weren't paying for software. You were paying for hours.
Three things, and none of them are magic.
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01
The build got fast
The repetitive work, the database, the forms, the screens and the reports, is now generated and reviewed rather than typed. What took a week takes an afternoon.
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02
Infrastructure got cheap
Your system runs on Cloudflare's network. There is no server to buy, patch or back up.
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03
The hard part moved
The question used to be "can we build this?" Now it's "do we understand this business well enough to build the right thing?" That's where our time goes.
What software that half fits really costs.
- $1,500a month for software that doesn't fit
- $18,000a year, every year
- $90,000over five years, with nothing owned at the end
When custom costs less than a few years of subscription fees, buying a compromise stops making sense.
The hard parts are still hard.
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01
Understanding your business
It still takes real conversations with the people doing the work.
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02
Getting your data out
Some old systems still don't give it up easily.
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03
Changing how a team works
Still the hardest part, which is why we do discovery properly.
The fastest way to test the claim.
A working demo of your business, in a real system, in 48 hours. Free. If custom software still took a year, we could not do that.