Website or custom software: which problem do you actually have?

The difference in one line

A website tells people about your business. Software runs your business. If the problem is “nobody can find us”, that is a website. If the problem is “we are managing this in a spreadsheet and it keeps going wrong”, that is software.

Signs you need a website

• People cannot find you, or find you and cannot tell what you do
• You are losing enquiries because there is no obvious way to make one
• Your current site looks dated next to competitors
• You want to sell products online in a fairly standard way

All of that is a web design job, and it is the cheaper answer.

Signs you need custom software

• The same information is typed into more than one system, by hand
• A spreadsheet has become load-bearing, and only one person really understands it
• Off-the-shelf software nearly fits, but you work around it every day
• You pay per user, per month, for something you have outgrown
• Two systems you rely on do not talk to each other

That is what Base356, our custom software division, exists for.

The middle ground people miss

Plenty of problems that feel like they need custom software are really integration problems. Your accounting package and your online shop both work fine; they just do not speak to each other, so someone re-types orders every morning.

Connecting two systems that already work is usually far cheaper than replacing either of them, and it removes the same daily annoyance. It is worth asking whether that is the actual problem before commissioning something new.

Buy before you build

If a ready-made product genuinely fits, buy it. It will be cheaper today and someone else maintains it. Building makes sense when the fit is poor enough that you are working around the tool every day, or when what you do is the thing that makes you competitive and a generic tool flattens it.

We will tell you when the honest answer is a ready-made product. Talking someone into a build they do not need is a bad way to earn a client.

Owning it versus renting it

The argument for building is ownership. Software-as-a-service is rented: the price can rise, features can change, and you stop having it the moment you stop paying. Something built for you is yours, and it keeps working on your terms.

The argument against is that ownership costs more up front and you are responsible for it. Both are true. Which matters more depends on how central the system is to how you make money.

How to work out which you need

Write down the thing that annoys you most, in one sentence, without naming a solution. “Customers cannot find our opening hours” and “we lose two hours a week copying orders between systems” point in completely different directions – and once it is written plainly, the answer is usually obvious.

What to do next

If it is a website, start with the packages. If it is software, the Base356 questionnaire takes about three minutes and gets you a scoped answer within one working day – including an honest “you do not need this” where that is the case.