Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.175 2026.05.01 高橋実

We Don't Have Software We Want to Sell You

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

When business owners considering a new system approach a systems company for consultation, that company will propose the software they "always sell." This is a common occurrence in the IT industry.

Most systems companies have "software they want to sell" - their own proprietary packages, packages they have distributor agreements for, solutions they've previously delivered to other companies, and so on. These are structured so that the more they sell, the higher their profit margins become.

That's why salespeople try to push these products, attempting to make them seem "perfectly suited to your business operations" - sometimes even when it's clearly a poor fit.

Even when you point out "This is how we do things here," the conversation follows a predetermined conclusion:
- "That can be handled by this software's XX feature"
- "That can be covered through operational workarounds"
- "That idea can be implemented with this optional feature"

We operate our business differently. Simply put, we don't have "software we want to sell you."

We don't carry proprietary packages, nor do we engage in distributor or subcontracting business. Therefore, after listening to your business operations and requirements, we have no inherent pressure to "sell this particular product."

Our work comes down to two options:
1. Maintaining or modifying the systems you're already using as-is
2. New development - listening to your requirements from scratch and building custom software

That's it.

Frankly speaking, this is an inefficient business model. It's a model where "economies of scale" don't work very well.

Selling packaged solutions yields higher profit margins, uses standardized proposals across the company, and makes it easier to build a sales team.

Why do we choose this "inefficient" model? The reason is simple: we want to avoid becoming the type of people who make "businesses conform to software" as much as possible. That's all there is to it.

The moment you have software you want to sell, sales and engineering staff inevitably structure proposals that favor that software. This isn't a matter of individual salespeople's or engineers' conscience - it's an organizational structural issue that comes with "having a product to sell."

We don't have this structural problem. In similar situations, we typically say one of the following:
- "Maintaining your current system as-is would cost this much"
- "If we only fix the problem areas, it would cost this much"
- "If we rebuild it, let's organize what to keep and what to change"

Which approach would be preferable for your company?

Especially for small and medium-sized businesses, systems should be "used to their fullest potential." A modest design that can be used long-term typically provides better cost-effectiveness than flashy system replacements.

We believe the reason we've been able to continue our business over the years, albeit modestly, is that SME business owners see through to this point clearly.

I hope the above serves as a reference when selecting systems.

That's all, Thank you for reading.

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