Why Buying A Software Solution Is Smarter Than Building Your Own

We’ve all heard the phrase, “You can do anything if you set your mind to it.” And, while I agree with this statement in theory, I think that many people miss a crucial point: You can only do so much, even if you have the right tools and resources at your disposal. In order for someone to build their own software solution from scratch, they have to have both top-notch technical skills and deep knowledge of not just one area—like database design or web development—but several disciplines at once.

This isn’t easy work! Even if there are thousands of engineers out there who could build whatever project comes along (and there aren’t), most don’t want to spend years on end working in isolation on something that may never see any ROI whatsoever.

Even if you have the skills and resources to build your own software, an-off-the-shelf solution may still be a better choice for you
So, you want to build your own software. But should you? Even if you have the skills and resources to develop a custom solution, a completed all-in-one solution may still be a better choice for you. Here are some reasons why:

Cost – The cost of building software is often underestimated by those who don’t know much about the process. It’s easy to underestimate what it will take to build something from scratch—especially when it involves complex features or interfaces with other systems (like Sage Accounting, Google Maps, etc.). Plus, there is so much more involved in setting up a new system than just writing code—there are questions about how the data will be stored and accessed over time; questions about security of that data; questions about maintenance of that data over time; and so on… not to mention the ongoing costs of system maintenance, updates and improvements.

Expertise – In addition to knowing how much it costs to build your own custom solution; do you have enough expertise needed for doing so? For example: do your team members have enough technical knowledge? if not, are you prepared for these new costs associated with getting them (training, planning, on boarding, etc.)?

Time – Is your need for an all-in-one software time bound? Is it one of those situations where you actually needed the software solution yesterday? Because sadly, planning and building a software is kind of the same as planning to build a house, it’ll take three times as long as you planned and double the amount of money.

Knowledge sharing – now listen, I’m not saying building your own all-in-one field sales software is impossible, but what I am saying, is it’ll be difficult! The benefit of using a software provider such as Geo Rep is that you are going to be benefiting from knowledge sharing. What do I mean “knowledge sharing”? Well, I mean new ideas, new features, and functions that possibly you wouldn’t know you needed, until you need them – and by that time it’ll be too late, and you’ll fall behind your competitors.

The expert-versus-novice problem is real – It’s a problem that a lot of company’s face, and it’s one they don’t want to face. In other words, some people will have more experience than others when it comes to building software solutions. That’s why you need experts like Geo Rep, who can provide you with the software requirements that you need in the most efficient way possible.

It’s no secret that building a custom software solution takes time and money. But it also takes resources that are hard to find: developers with deep technical knowledge, customer experience experts who understand user needs and behaviour, project managers who can manage all of these moving pieces in order to keep things on track and moving forward at the right speed. It’s easy for a team—even one with great intention—to get off track just based on how many different disciplines are involved in creating something new from scratch.

By outsourcing a field sales software like Geo Rep, you can focus on the parts of your organization where your expertise lies – in other words, what makes you unique as an organization – and let others handle the rest for you.

Let someone else do the heavy lifting
I think it’s important to understand that buying a completed software solution is not only better than building your own, but also smarter. There are a lot of reasons for this, but my favourite is this: Let someone else do the heavy lifting.

Let me explain what I mean by “heavy lifting.” When you buy an enterprise-ready product like Geo Rep, you’re getting access to experienced and knowledgeable developers who have already solved all or most of the problems you’ll encounter during implementation and use of the platform. This means those issues will be out in front and dealt with before they become problems for your company. You’ll get a much smoother adoption process because there aren’t any challenges around integrating data from different systems into one place or finding data sources that meet your needs (or figuring out how to integrate them yourself). It also means that if there are gaps in functionality or features needed – the kind that arise when designing custom apps – those requirements can be fed back into subsequent releases, so everyone wins over time as new features make their way through development cycles

There you have it. While building a solution from scratch can seem like the best option, the facts show that buying a ready-made solution that can be tailored, managed, and customized to fit you and your business’s needs can be far more cost effective and time efficient. The Geo Rep Software, Technology and Knowledge is already here, ready to help you and your team!