Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.145 2023.11.01 Takahashi Minoru

Breaking free from single-vendor dependency

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


Regardless of whether the system is developed in-house or outsourced,
building a proprietary business system
offers significant benefits in terms of "flexibility."


Every company has its own unique business rules.
These may include unique operational know-how, the company’s history,
meticulous methods for addressing client requests (clients have their own unique rules),
or calculating allowances based on unique rules and customs
If you want to implement a system tailored to your company’s specific circumstances,
building a custom business system is one of the most efficient ways to achieve this.


With packaged systems, depending on the provider,
the provider may be able to
to a certain extent.


In-house development? Outsourcing? Off-the-shelf software? Custom-built?
There are many options to consider when selecting a system.
In this article, I will discuss the pros and cons of pursuing a system with unique specifications
below, so we hope you will keep these points in mind.


■ Advantages of Customizing to Specific Requirements
・Smooth implementation
　　There is little need for interpretation (e.g., "In this system, 'XX' refers to 'YY' in our terminology..."),
　　Operators can become proficient more quickly, and the operational burden is reduced
・Reduces accounting errors and omissions
　　Once users understand your company’s rules,
　　you can focus on operating the system exactly as intended
・Business transactions and communication with clients and employees can continue as usual
　　There is no risk that the quality of service will decline in some cases simply because the system has changed
　　will not occur
・You can obtain statistical data at the desired level of granularity
　　Period, category, extraction criteria, type of data, etc.
　　Managers can view exactly what they want


■ Disadvantages of focusing on custom specifications
・With packaged systems, the cost of version upgrades becomes higher
　　(In cases where the same customizations must be recreated after an upgrade)
・The system’s lifespan is shortened
　　The source code becomes complex, and as a result,
　　the system requires specialized personnel for maintenance and upgrades


While there are other pros and cons as well,
adopting a packaged system and “adapting work processes to the system”
or insisting on custom specifications to “adapt the system to the way work is done”
I believe it is worth considering how to strike this balance when selecting a system.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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