Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.126 2022.04.01 Takahashi Minoru

Why does UTM interfere with your system?

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


In this column, I’d like to discuss “The Benefits of In-House Systems”—that is,
the characteristics of building and operating business systems in-house (using only internal staff)
I would like to share my personal views.


Purchasing off-the-shelf systems can result in significant costs for both implementation and maintenance,
and can put a strain on a company’s finances.


Even in our own proposal work,
we often hear stories of failure, such as, “We tried buying a system, but it didn’t work out.”


Developing a system in-house is an effective way to determine
Developing a system in-house is an effective way to determine these factors.


[Benefits of In-House Systems]
Benefit 1: A Perfect Fit
Since employees design in-house systems from the overview down to the details,
it is possible to minimize unnecessary features (features that are built but never used).


Benefit 2: No Loss in Communication of Requirements
Since in-house systems are built by employees for employees or the company,
compared to off-the-shelf systems (those designed and built by external vendors),
the amount of communication required for requirements definition is minimized.
To put it simply, since “the users are the ones building the system, there are no misunderstandings.”


Benefit 3: Resilient to Changes
Simply by allocating employee working hours to system modifications,
you can immediately begin system modifications or specification changes.


Benefit 4: Start Small
This is similar to Benefit 3, but
with general systems, cost issues make it difficult to implement
it is easier to implement a "start small, grow big" strategy.


Benefit 5: Easy to Experiment
This is similar to Benefit 3, but
in-house systems make it easier to explore
it is easier to experiment (adjusting specifications) and find the right approach.
Systems are, by their very nature, something you “can’t fully understand until you try them.”
This advantage can be said to be a major characteristic of in-house systems.


Benefit ⑥: Above all, it’s cost-effective
The only costs involved are those for setting up the programming environment
the personnel costs for the staff and system users.
and Access, the programming environment, can be purchased for less than a few tens of thousands of yen.
As for PCs, a single mid-range machine is sufficient for system development.


[Prerequisites for an In-House System]
・The presence of employees capable of developing practical programs
・The employee in question is expected to remain with the company for the long term
・The assigned employee must be able to express opinions in a logical and impartial manner
・An environment and sufficient time are available to experiment with the program


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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