Re-inventing the wheel

Why would you buy an apparently ‘simple’ piece of software off the shelf from a company like onesys, even if it is a Sage product, rather than utilise the time of that ‘IT wizard’ that you have ‘sitting around’ in-house? If time is of the essence, your choice is simple.

You won’t be the first prospective client to ponder over that choice, especially when it comes to paying the deposit for let’s say Sage Coretime. Irrespective of the perceived financial aspect, there are many reasons why we advise prospects against ‘re-inventing the wheel’.

Every service sector business and not-for-profit organisation has slightly different requirements because of the way they work or because of the data and KPIs required in order to manage the organisation. Around 80% of our new clients are able to match Coretime to their requirements with some minor ‘tweaks’. The rest require some modification to the Coretime application itself or they adjust the way they work. This unplanned adjustment can often have a beneficial effect on the running of the organisation, standing back and reviewing your procedures if often useful.

There will have to be some very compelling reasons why a commercial business or not-for-profit organisation would want to go through the trouble and risk of writing their own software to suit their specific requirements. Can you wait a year to resolve an issue that is bothering you now? This is what we have found.

Bespoke vs Sage Coretime

Although perhaps a little closer to your specific way of working, the bespoke software usually has fewer features compared with Sage Coretime PSA software.

Onesys will listen very carefully to your specific requirements and if Coretime doesn’t suit you, we won’t recommend it. Onesys only deliver successful projects. As a result of user feedback, useful new features are being added on a regular basis, so you get the benefits of others’ thoughts and ideas. Legislative revisions are applied eg vat rates/calculation changes. Who knows, one day even the Euro!

Bespoke in-house development time tends to be many months, sometimes years, unless the writer has no other duties. Development schedules and budgets tend to be exceeded, open-ended in some cases and in many instances the project never gets completed.
Coretime; can be up and running in a matter of days – installed in a matter of hours and training requirements are minimal.

How much time will you allow for software testing to ensure system and data reliability?

Coretime; was tried and tested over many years. From day one you can have confidence in the software and the figures / reports you will use to run your business.

If an in-house solution is seemingly preferable on the basis of cost, this is a mistake, as there never seems to be a cut-off point to time and money spent on developing it – do you actually ever know how much it costs?
Coretime; you are quoted a set price for the software, implementation and support. You benefit from the economies of scale. The expensive, arduous work has been done over many years

How will you measure return on investment, without set time-scales and a budget limit?
Coretime; your initial cost/benefit analysis and our quote can give you a very fast ROI.

Compatibility must be considered and can be tricky unless your expert is familiar with the third-party software currently in use or due for installation at a later date.
Coretime; is compatible with the most common accounts and MS applications- Office, Windows, Vista, Explorer, current and tomorrow’s versions.

Once installed, your expert may not have the time to constantly upgrade, develop or sort compatibility issues when required.
Coretime; Sage have an unrivalled commitment, know-how and financial strength to develop their applications — all included in your annual support fee.

Unless your developer is always available to sort out support issues, your users may lose confidence and time when a problem stops them from doing their job.
Coretime; first and second level support available by phone, email and on-line.

If a software issue becomes a major problem, will you find it easy to ‘get tough’ with a colleague who you perhaps car-pool or play golf with?
Coretime; your account manager is there to find a resolution to the issue on your behalf

Should your in-house developer decide to move to New Zealand or to one of your competitors, who will be able to secure your data and guarantee continuation of the system?
Coretime; first and second-level support guarantees business continuation and our clients enjoy excellent system reliability. Sage is the only software company in the FTSE 100, and the third largest business software supplier in the world.

These are some of the important points to consider when you discuss the best way forward.

Conclusion

Although the Sage solutions are very competitively priced, especially considering the quality of the total package, some prospective customers will still continue to search for that almost mythical ‘cheaper option’. As you have seen above, that ‘cheaper option’ is not always what it seems. Over the years we also have seen smaller competitors with ‘cheaper options’ come and go but you can rest assured that we will be here when you need us. But why waste time and take that risk?

Save valuable time, speak to one of our consultants about what Sage Coretime can help you achieve and minimise your risk.

Contact our consultants on 0845 026 2255 or Email

York July 2009

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