Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.170 2025.12.01 Takahashi Minoru

Over-customizing and over-depending on your system makes you an easy mark for vendors

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


We have had the opportunity to
the system situations of small and medium-sized enterprises.


Regarding in-house development,
we often receive requests such as, “Our in-house system development and operations have failed, and we want to outsource,”
. Conversely,
“We don’t need to touch the systems in this area;
“Mr. X built this X years ago, and it’s running smoothly,”
.


From an outsider’s perspective, even among companies of similar size and in the same industry,
the success or failure of in-house system development
clearly depends on the actual circumstances.


In this post,
we will explore the boundary between
based on the examples we’ve examined so far.
and share with you
and share them with you.


Typical cases where in-house systems fail are as follows:
・Company-wide core systems
・Systems involving multiple departments
・Systems required to operate normally at all times


The key factors contributing to these failures are as follows:
・No margin for error
・No malfunctions allowed 24/7, 365 days a year
・Strict real-time requirements
・If high accuracy is not achieved, no one will use it
(e.g., inventory or sales performance)
・Outputs intended for external audiences
Quotation systems are relatively easy to implement, but
invoice issuance systems are more challenging
・When the company does not own the assets being managed,
it becomes more difficult to control specifications
(e.g., management of consigned inventory)
・If the person in charge, the user, or the customer
lacks communication skills
・The person in charge lacks operational knowledge
or a corporate culture that discourages asking experienced staff for advice
・In some cases, the cause is the staff member’s lack of technical skills
・The average length of service among employees also plays a significant role in success or failure


Conversely, examples where in-house systems are more likely to succeed are as follows:
・Subsystems of packaged software
Systems that perform data reconciliation and verification according to the company’s specifications
・Support systems for workflows
Systems that manage applications submitted by individual employees
by integrating Excel macros and CSV files
・Systems for BI-related functions
A system that aggregates past history and rankings for each customer
to create meeting materials
Create queries as needed when customers request data summaries
・Support systems for sales and manufacturing operations
Issuing quotes, stock sheets, etc.


The key factors for success outlined above are as follows:
・Rather than focusing on coding or technical details,
It’s more about the person in charge having a deep understanding of the company’s operations
(It’s easier to entrust tasks to someone who understands the business better than the president)
・The representative has strong communication skills
and can smoothly gather feedback from users and customers
・They don’t overly fear reliance on specific individuals,
and creating a system tailored to the specific rules of your company and customers


When considering in-house system development,
consider whether your company and the staff are suited for in-house development,
and whether the target operations are suitable for in-house development,
and I think it would be a good idea to evaluate this
I hope this
I hope this is helpful.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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