Guide

Choosing software for a small business

Every small business owner has paid for something that is still sitting unused. The pattern is always the same. The tool was bought because it looked useful, not because a specific problem was costing real money.

Name the problem first

Write one sentence describing what is going wrong and roughly what it costs you. If you cannot, you are not ready to buy anything.

That sentence also tells you afterwards whether the thing worked.

Questions worth asking

Before you pay for anything.

  • Who is going to use it every day
  • What happens to our information if we stop paying
  • Can we get our data out
  • Does it work properly on a phone
  • Who do we ring when it breaks

Off the shelf or custom

Standard tools are cheaper and faster for standard problems. Custom is worth it when the way you work is genuinely different and bending a standard tool would cost you more in workarounds.

We build custom software, and we still tell people to buy something standard when that is the right answer.

Count the real cost

The monthly fee is rarely the biggest number. Setting it up, moving your information across, training whoever uses it and the weeks of slower work while everyone adjusts all count.

A cheap tool nobody adopts is more expensive than a dearer one that gets used.

Start small

Fix one problem, live with it for a month, then decide about the next. Businesses that change five things at once usually end up back where they started.

Common questions

Is custom software worth it for a small business?

Sometimes. If a standard tool nearly fits, use it. If you are building elaborate workarounds every week, custom starts making sense.

How do I avoid paying for software we never use?

Only buy against a named problem, set a date to review it, and cancel without guilt if it is not being used.

Where to go next

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